noob question :(

[ricecooker29]

Hi everybody,
So I am trying to buy a new computer with customizations. I was wondering what is the benefit to having a more wattage on a power supply? Sorry for the newb question.
-Batman

[FZ1]

Hi everybody,
So I am trying to buy a new computer with customizations. I was wondering what is the benefit to having a more wattage on a power supply? Sorry for the newb question.
-Batman

The power supply must be powerful enough to run every component in your system and then some. Nowadays, 500 watts is almost the smallest you want to go depending on your configuration.

[timberwolf120]

Also gives you head room for expansion. So instead of buying a power supply with wattage that just meets your needs, you buy more. In the future, you can add things like more hard drives or a 2nd video card without going out to buy another power supply. Doing things like overclocking your cpu and gpu will increase your power draw as well.

[skier]

note that power supplies have three basic voltages that combined add up the total wattage listed, 3.3v+ 5v+ and 12v+ (and a 12v- and 5v- but those dont really count for anything important) what you want to look for in a unit is to have a lot of amps on the 12v+ rail(s) as cheaper units inflate the 3.3v and 5v rails to get their wattage rating, but very few items use those voltages, while almost every PC part uses the 12v+ source

>35 Amps on the 12v+ lines is usually good enough for most users, but it depends on your parts(better graphics cards need more amperage, so high end GFX ~GTX 280, GTX 260 lets say need 50A ; and budget cards ~GT220, GT 240, GTS 250 would need power in the 30-40A range)


for power supplies: Quality over quantity every time.