How to calculate the total power needed for a build ?

[enaberif]

Originally Posted by Xeven

Peak "gaming load" is around ~150W (~130W average). "Maximum" load (Furmark stress tests, current limiter off) is around 200W. Source

Precisely so 200w PER card = 400w in SLI which means you'd STILL have 250w to play with.

[Xeven]

Originally Posted by enaberif

Precisely so 200w PER card = 400w in SLI which means you'd STILL have 250w to play with.

Yes but the 250w/unit you stated was gross overestimation. Even 200W is overestimation unless you only "play" Furmark all the time. However, I also think that the maximum value is the safest figure to go by. I know it's estimation, but base factors should also backed by data in order to arrive at a usable figure. Garbage in = garbage out.

[trayton]

I always find your PSU you should not be taxing itself. It's best not to run it at over 80% if possible. Also make sure to stick with good well known brands (I'm a corsair fan myself).

Tons of sites that do reviews including this site (LOVE HWC) check and see what the max watt is at load and in most cases I havn't met to many people that run their comp at max for more then 6 hours (while sitting infront of it (folding is another thing though if your doing that)).

Most people can still run their rigs off of a good 650W PSU, but for people with high end parts and wanting to have some room for upgrades I personally would recommend 850W or better (good name PSU ofcourse).

Also check to make sure the PSU you get is good at holding. I did some reviews after my brother bought an ULTRA PSU and while the price was great and so is the warranty it's not a stable PSU and the volts drop all over the place so kind of risky for high end parts!

PSU's are like wifes they don't like to be miserable alone so if they go they normally take something with them :(

Best of luck!

[mo' power]

I agree. I was powering a 780i, dvd drive, 2GB ram, 1 hd and an 8800GT with an antec 850W psu three years ago. It was overkill, but I haven't had to buy another psu since and it's powering the oc'd rig I have now and I still have headroom for upgrades.

[Peetah]

Just make a nice guestimate adding in the main components like Video card and Cpu.
Account for hdd, ram and thats about it.
Slap in abit more watts if your unsure.

[_dangtx_]

very easy.

look up the wattage next to the cpu model, then add another 50 lets say for motherboard hdd...

then go here for video card power consumption : MSI GeForce GTX 580 Lightning 1536 MB Review - Page 21/27 | techPowerUp


and then look up what all this comes to combined, and then figure out how big a psu you should buy.

always always keep handy a kill a watt or a blue planet energy meter, they will tell you how much the rig is

pulling from the wall. which you can convert depending on how efficient your psu is.

[ahflam]

Was just sifting through the posts and noticed his build is almost identical to mine. Just recently built my own rig for the first time (and it was a ton of fun) judging by the responses, would it be safe to say that with essential the same build as OP, but with 8GB ram instead of 4GB, and 1 HDD instead of 2, that 750W (Corsair AX750) would be sufficient to SLI a set of 560's?
I am running only 1 right now. Also, my 2500k is OC'ed to 4.4 GHz.
I used the extreme PSU calculator but I was never confident in how accurate it was and looking at what people above have to say, it really doesn't seem so reliable =P
Any thoughts?

[KaptCrunch]

tri sli