How much power would my PC need for these upgrades?

[Rexelend]

An Nvidia Geforce 9500 GT, Intel Core 2 duo 2 E7500 2.93GHz, 2GB stick of RAM and I have an Intel D102GGC2 motherboard. I currently have an emachines E3042 and I can't find anywhere on the 'net that says how much psu it has Please help, thanks!

 

[foothead]

It will have a crappy OEM PSU, which you should replace regardless of if it can supply enough current. Cheap power supplies have a tendency to blow and take the entire computer with them.

 

[Rexelend]

It will have a crappy OEM PSU, which you should replace regardless of if it can supply enough current. Cheap power supplies have a tendency to blow and take the entire computer with them.

Where can I get a not expensive but decent power supply from that will accomodate those upgrades? I am from the UK.

 

[bullzi]

It will have a crappy OEM PSU, which you should replace regardless of if it can supply enough current. Cheap power supplies have a tendency to blow and take the entire computer with them.

Good piece of advice.

Something most folks generally overlook is the power supply, I've seen people build $1,000 dollar machines and run $40 power supplies then wonder why their motherboard quit working. PSU is where the money should be, it's your first line of defense for all of your hardware.

Where can I get a not expensive but decent power supply from that will accomodate those upgrades? I am from the UK.

I lot of people I've talked with from the UK shop at Microdirect.co.uk, personally since I'm in the US I have no experience with them, simply word of mouth.

 

[Indigo]

A good name brand power supply of about 450 watts is all you'd need for something like that. I don't know UK sites very well, but brands to look for are Corsair, Coolermaster, Seasonic, and even some of the higher end Rosewills.

 

[foothead]

A good name brand power supply of about 450 watts is all you'd need for something like that. I don't know UK sites very well, but brands to look for are Corsair, Coolermaster, Seasonic, and even some of the higher end Rosewills.

450 watts is overkill. 300 would be enough...

 

[Indigo]

300 watt power supplies die too often due to crappy components, even in some of the high end name brand units. We use Antec and Seasonic 300's here at work, and they die all the time, but the rest of their lines are great - we moved to 400's and 450's and the problems went away.

Keep in mind that this is on older Core 2 Duo systems - 1.67 and 1.83 GHz systems with minimal RAM and slower hard drives. I understand your argument though.

 

[Rexelend]

So I guess I'll get a 450W just to be safe. Thanks for your advice everyone.

 

[Aastii]

So I guess I'll get a 450W just to be safe. Thanks for your advice everyone.

A 450W isn't necessarily a 450W PSU by the way. Your cheaper, low end units are rated at the peak power, ie. the max power that it can output, they aren't rated at the power output that they can sustain. Even though the peak power may be 450W, if you get the load up to those sort of levels, the unit will fail. 400-450W would be more than enough for the system, but will give a bit of headroom, which is usually better as between 50-80% efficientcy is where PSUs are most efficient, just make sure that you stick to better brands, such as Antec, Corsair, SeaSonic, XFX, Silverstone, Be Quiet!, PC Power & Cooling and Enermax