Psu

[georgieh]

OK, I've finally gotten to building my first own gaming rig. I've been saving for ages and now I can finally build it xD
I have to ask some professionals on the wattage of the power supply:
intel core 2 duo e8400
ocz dimm ddr2 2x2GB
nforce 750i ftw
!geforce gtx 260!
and all the other things needed to build a new rig

I heard that the gtx 260 doesnt take much power.
So the question is how many watts should the power supply have?

Thanks for any answers.........

[vtfanmv5]

A quality 500W would do it, maybe go safe with 600W.

Also, the new Radeon HD 4870 outperforms the GeForce 260 by a bit, and it's also a few bucks cheaper.

[georgieh]

will the 500w-600w psu be enough also for the HD 4870?

[vtfanmv5]

600

[Cricket]

It's not so much the wattage output that's important, it's the quality of the power supply and the stability of the power it feeds the system that's important. You really want to avoid cheap, low quality power supplies as they rarely supply the power that is written on the label and the power tends to be "dirty" or unstable. And they rarely ever provide over-voltage protection so when they suddenly die, they can fry other parts in your computer.

Always use a good quality power supply when you build. They cost more but you really do get what you pay for with power supplies. Never, ever use a cheap, low quality power supply. Many people who do use them usually end up with a sad story about unstable performance or dead power supplies and fried parts.

See these two threads regarding power supplies:

The Power Supply FAQ

What Power Supply should I get? How many Watts? Who made it? Guide Inside

For your rig you should be fine with this 550 watt Corsair PSU.

Cricket