power supplies are one of the most overlooked items when someone is building a pc.then alot of people learn why that is a big no no.when there new game rig wont play games that good.most of these folks blame the graphics card first.an underpowered graphics card can display alot of the same symptoms as a bad card would.artifacting would be the first main symptom that comes to mind.
when alot of people overclock there systems.they do not take into account the extra power required to do so.so lets kick off this discussion with my cpu an opteron 165.at stock speed my cpu uses 110 watts.ok after doing some math overclocking my cpu to 2435mhz would kick the power consumption from 110watts to 160watts.so as you can see if you were pushing your power supply to start with.it would really be over the top after a simple oc.
here is a simple tool that can help you choose how big a power supply you need.also add about 100 watts to this.that will give you a power supply.that can stand up to your system over a long term period.if you are going to be doing some serious overclocking then add about 200 watts.that way your overclock wont kill a power supply that barely meets your needs.
Power Supply Calculator
here are some links to highly recommended power supplies.keep in mind this is a short list of top notch power supplies.
First i will list super high end units.that can take high end sli/crossfire,and top end overclocked cpu's
SILVERSTONE ST1000 ATX12V Antec TruePower Quattro TPQ-1000 Thermaltake Toughpower W0155RU ATX12V / EPS12V 1000W ENERMAX Galaxy EGX1000EWL SILVERSTONE OP1000 Thermaltake Toughpower W0156RU ATX12V / EPS12V 1200W PC Power & Cooling Turbo-Cool 1KW
Next these power supplies can run high end single video card computers,and some sli/crossfire systems.
SILVERSTONE ST85F SILVERSTONE ST85ZF SILVERSTONE ST75F Antec TPQ-850 FSP Group (Fortron Source) FX Series FX760-E FSP Group (Fortron Source) FX700-GLN PC Power & Cooling Silencer 750 Quad ENERMAX Galaxy EGX850EWL
The next power supplies on the list are for the general pc
Antec True Power Trio TP3-550 Antec True Power Trio TP3-650 CORSAIR CMPSU-620HX CORSAIR CMPSU-520HX PC Power & Cooling Silencer 610 SILVERSTONE OP650 SILVERSTONE SST-ST56F ZALMAN ZM600 ZALMAN ZM500
The last power supplies i will list are for older,or low end systems
CORSAIR CMPSU-450VX FSP Group (Fortron Source) FSP400 SeaSonic S12 SS-330 ZALMAN ZM460
