What PSU do I need for my custom gaming PC?

750W 80+ Gold or a 800W Silver.

Also. For the CPU i'd get the FX 6300 and a M5A99 EVO R2 Motherboard, as it will crush the 5800k.

PSU's are probably the more complicated component for a system build (like what to buy), definitely took myself longer to fully understand it.

One thing to start off with, as stated by someone else the recommended "minimum PSU" from AMD is a 500W, but something VERY crucial here is that this is ALREADY taking into account that PSU's are most efficient at 50-60% load. Something else people don't always catch onto is that this is for the PSU, NOT the video card, you don't need a 1000W for CrossfireX because 500x2, that's not how it works.

Some people will go adding on another 50% onto the 500W so it's "more efficient" (50-60% thing), then another say 20% for "good measure" onto that afterwards. Now they end up with a 1200W power supply, like ffs right?

This is how I determine the wattage:

#1). I Google "newegg <CPU>" and find the wattage : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N8...

#2). For nVidia cards I Google "geforce.com <GPU>" or for AMD I look up reviews for power consumption : http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/his_radeon_hd...

So now I have the two major components that use 12v power, the CPU and video card. So now I've got 100W + 138W = 238W.

HDD's and DVD drives use about 1.5A 12v each, V * A = W so 18W each. 238W + 18W + 18W = 274W. So now we're pretty much good, the fans will use like 0.1W or some small crap but we're pretty solid now lol.

RAM = 3.3v, board = ?, 3.5" & 2.5" drives = 5v (3.5" uses both, this is why you can't power 3.5" on USB, because USB uses 5v). These are never ever ever ever ever going to overload their respective rails so we don't need to worry about these k.

So realistically you could throw in like a Corsair 430W and be fine, but I usually like having the native connectors as well, plus it'll be more efficient on a stronger PSU. So here's what I'd recommend:

XFX 550W: http://pcpartpicker.com/part/xfx-power-supply-p155...

Like the other guy said, Seasonic make the best power supplies on the market, and Seasonic just so happens to make all of XFX's units (and also Corsair's all above CX600). These are usually cheaper than from Corsair or Seasonic so I really like XFX here.

Another thing to point out, using this PSU you're looking at about 52% load on the PSU (when your system is at 100%), of course this just so happens to be the sweet-spot for power supplies right? No, this happens every time for me, the solid PSU manufacturers make their PSU's so that they will run at their best with the native connectors that it comes with; makes sense right?

So basically if you buy a solid PSU that has the minimum number of native PCI-e connectors that you need, you're buying the right PSU; funny how simple this ends up.

Rule of thumb a 1GB pics card requires a 400W PSU or higher to run card and rig in an effort to prevent updates down the monitor i might go 600 - 700W, ther would not be a lot rate change

Your PC really doesn't have a lot of power requirements, I would recommend focusing on quality of the total wattage.

Seasonic makes some of the best PSU's out there, and are backed by a five year warranty. This PSU:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N8...

Comes in at about $70 and the 80-PLUS rating means it won't produce much heat and will also provide stable, clean power for a long time.

The video card has a minimum 500w PSU requirement, if you're going bare bones get you a good quality 650w-750w, if you are planning on using the PSU for 3-4 years or plan on adding more cards to the system then consider 800w+

As John has said the manufacturer states 500W. That is what he considers is required to run the system although in reality it will not use that much in normal running.

As he also suggests go for one that is slightingly higher.

As to the 1200W unless you want to cook your dinner on it don't bother

According to this online PSU calculator, http://www.extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorli...

... based on what you have there, assuming a DVD burner, and 3 total high performance 120mm fans (I'm taking your high performance cooler as one)...

368 watts. Seriously. That's all. Try it yourself and see. So, a nice modular Antec 500 watt should do you fine.

Nice Specs bro :D

I'd go with 700-800W PSU depending on how much future upgradeability you want :)

Personally, i would just go buy a 800 watt. Job done. Thats a pretty beefy gpu.

and 850 watt. For when you want to upgrade that badboy up.