LoL - The quality of the PSU and how cleanly and well it delivers the electrical power is more important then the wattage numbers. Manufacturers use wattage numbers to sell PSUs to dopes who think bigger is better.

You have a nice case that you will be using for a long long time.  Just upgrading the components every now and then like video card, MB, ram and cpu so if i were you I would buy a antec 1000 power supply and never agaion worry about your power supply for your computer again.

 Some of you people are so misguided about power supplies hahaha.

All that matters these days is the +12V(1-4) rating and the total wattage that the combined +12v gives you. The other rails/voltages will always be high enough these days, so nobody should really care about them.

Your rig will barely push a 550w top of the line PSU from any name brand such as Corsair, PC Power & Cooling, and OCZ.

You could have that rig and dual GTX 285's and easily be safe with a 750w Corsair.

http://www.tomshardware.com

http://www.anandtech.com

http://www.hardforums.com

Those are 3 simple enthusiast sites with questions like yours every single day that all get the same answer for a reason. Enjoy :)

Originally posted by precious328

Hey all, I'd like to thank you for taking the time to help me

Here is my current system:

Quad-Core Q9550
Nvidia GTX 260
ASUS P5QL PRO
4GB (2x2) G-Skill DDR2 1066
Creative X-Fi
250GB Western Digital Hard Drive
1 DVD/RW
4 Case Fans (Antec 900)

I need a new power supply; however, am running short on my "entertainment funds". I really can't spend more than $80.00. I know that pickings are slim, but I've had my heart set on a modular power supply for some time.

Will this power supply be enough to run my system without worries? It's only 550 Watts: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817341022

With the coupon, I can get it for 59.99 w/ free shipping. It also has a $20.00 rebate on top of that; thus, 39.99. However, I'd rather be safe than sorry.

What say you?!

Can you provide a link that works for the PSU.

And uhm in any case I would recommend you with a PSU that have as much A on as few 12v rails as possible. For you system a PSU that can deliver around 30A continuesly is perfectly good to use without any worries.

The biggest concern would be to not buy a malfunctioning one. ;)

-------------------

- 1 rear (standard) 120mm TriCool Fan with 3-speed switch control*
3,6W = 12v * 0,3A

- 1 top (standard) 200mm TriCool Fan
3,6W = 12v * 0,3A

- 2 front 120mm Blue LED TriCool fans
2,88W = 12v * 0,24A
2,88W = 12v * 0,24A

Quad-Core Q9550
60W = 12v * 5A

Nvidia GTX 260
?
ASUS P5QL PRO
?

4GB (2x2) G-Skill DDR2 1066*
2,7W = 12v * 225mA
2,7W = 12v * 225mA

Creative X-Fi *
1,8W = 12v * 150mA
10,8W = 12v * 900mA

250GB Western Digital Hard Drive*
4,74W = 12v * 395 mA

1 DVD/RW
24W = 12V * 2A

The above hardware
120W = 12v * 9,975A

* For some products i was not clear on the power consumptions or I did not find the exact product. In those cases I looked at a similar product. For instance the memory I went a a Kingston HyperX mmodule.

Also note that I took power consumption data for when the hardware is used. For instance when the HDD is reading or writing. And it is only the 12v numbers.

Looking at a Corsair PSU  with merely 450W. !

http://www.corsair.com/products/hx450/default.aspx
396W = 12V * 33A
296W - 120W = 276W

(Oh, yes. This leave little to no space for load on the rest of the PSU. Like 5v and such.)

So there is 276W left. That with no graphic card and mainboard in the above calculation. And looking that some sites give the full system power consumption on load somewhere around 280W with the GTX260 card.

Please provide any faults in my number.

Originally posted by Korvenus

You can get a 700 watt for less then $80. Dont get the 550 Watt.

Totally agree with this.  I upgraded from 500 to 750 because my system which is similar to yours kept rebooting because of the PSU. 

Originally posted by nickelpat

The PSU is the heart of a machine, don't cheap out on it. One cheap PSU and a fried motherboard later and you'll regret it. The 550W will probably just skirt by what you need now. May I recommend a Corsair 750 Watt unit (http://www.corsair.com/products/tx/default.aspx)? They're very realible and plenty of power for even my rig.

Exactly. Well said.  Don't go cheap on PSU.  know your 12v rail ratings ect...