Power Supply question (How much do I need?)

[pirahna1]

Ok, so here's my dilemma. I bought a bunch of PC parts to upgrade my PC, but the mobo I got was too big and I can't return it. So I need a new case and power supply, but I'm not sure how big of a supply I should get.

Here's my setup:
AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+ (3.0GHz)
BIOSTAR NF4UAM2G nForce4 Ultra mobo
2 Gigs Corsair DDR2PC6400 RAM (will update to 4gig in about 2 months)
320 Gig HD (might be running another 80 gig HD)
MSI NX8600GT-T2D256E Geforce 8600GT
DVD-R and DVD drives

I'm currently running XP, but will more than likely hop over to Vista Basic (Came w/ my gf's new PC). I walked into the computer store down the street (FYI Looked like it was from 1992, old ass PC parts everywhere, no new stuff to be found ) and the guy told me I should get 400+. I don't really want to take his advice seeing the way his store looked, so I ask you BG! What kind of power supply should I get? (I plan on using this PC to play alot of games, ffxi, bioshock, half life 2, etc)

Any help would be stellar!

[Snowknight26]

400+.. 500 to be safe.

[pirahna1]

How do you determine how much power you need?

Is there some kind of listing I can look up?

[Sigi]

500 watts of a good powersupply will take you far.

Usually the more components you have, the more power you need. However, wattage is not EVERYTHING in powersupply... you want clean, good voltage on each of the rails. Surf through some of the other tech threads for other's recommendations in powersupplies to get an idea.

[Snowknight26]

AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+ (3.0GHz): 125W max
BIOSTAR NF4UAM2G nForce4 Ultra mobo: no idea
2 Gigs Corsair DDR2PC6400 RAM: ~30W
320 Gig HD: ~50W max(?) (depends on HD)
MSI NX8600GT-T2D256E Geforce 8600GT: 75W max
DVD-R and DVD drives: 50W max each

Yea, 400 seems sufficient. The more the merrier.

[Don Katsu]

500W get a good quality one. The most important thing is the Amps on the 12 V rail you should be good with 22a

[Shuemue]

Buy the best and biggest one you can reasonably afford.

[Skyylya]

buy the corsair hx520w modular PSU and you'll thank me.

Generally speaking the most power intensive parts are the GPU. Something like an 8800gtx will take about 300w on it's own with another 150-200 from the other parts +/-.

Since you're getting a weaker card the 520 would be more than enough for you and that PSU is very easy to work with and very good quality.

[ShinseiRyu]

buy the corsair hx520w modular PSU and you'll thank me.

Generally speaking the most power intensive parts are the GPU. Something like an 8800gtx will take about 300w on it's own with another 150-200 from the other parts +/-.

Since you're getting a weaker card the 520 would be more than enough for you and that PSU is very easy to work with and very good quality.

I agree with the Corsair. They are re-branded Seasonics which are pretty good quality PSUs. I have the HX620 in my computer.