How much power supply is needed?

[The_Silent_One_1]

I have wondered for some time what the best way to calculate necessary power wattage for systems is. I have usually tried to error on the high side, but as I add more and more components to my system, I wonder how much room to spare I have or if I'm nearing the end of my power supply's limitations. Is there a way to figure on CPUA = XX Watts, CPUB = YY Watts, SATA Hard Drive = WW Watts etc.

My main system right now.

Enermax 460W ATX Power Supply

Lian Li PC-60 Alluminum Tower with 4 8cm fans.
Athlon 64 3400+
Gigabyte K8NS Pro
2 Sticks of 512MB PC3200 Kingston ValueRam
Gigabyte GeForce 6800 GT 256MB
Sound Blaster Audigy2 Platinum
Mitusmi 8in1 Floppy Drive
LG 16X8 Dual DVD-RW
LG 16X DVD-ROM
3 Seagate 160GB SATAII 7200RPM 8MB (2 in SATA RAID)
2 Maxtor 160GB ATA133 7200RPM 8MB (2 in ATA133 RAID)
1 Maxtor 200GB SATA 7200RPM 8MB
1 Tiakom 56K PCI Hardware Modem

[gazzak]

This website will give you a guide to how much power your system is using. It only takes a minute or so to calculate so give it a try.

[gazzak]

I just ran the calculator for your system and came up with a figure of 420W, and that's not including 1 HD so possibly another 25W making a rough figure of 445 Watts peak.

Maybe a bigger power supply would be advisable.

[The_Silent_One_1]

I just ran the calculator for your system and came up with a figure of 420W, and that's not including 1 HD so possibly another 25W making a rough figure of 445 Watts peak.

Maybe a bigger power supply would be advisable.

Thanks, that's a handy site for future reference

[WebHead]

I got 318 for mine. However, I didn't see a spot for it to include the power drawn from the cpu fan(s) and/or the psu fan(s). It had a spot for case fans, but thats it.

[TechZ]

Here's a handy video that has some pretty interesting results:
http://www.3dgameman.com/vr/thermalt...review_03.html
The Tt Silent PurePower - TWV (Total Watts Viewer) PSU is 480 watts. The package includes more than most regular Power Supplies. Included are a 80mm case fan & a TWV device which shows real-time wattage use & controls up to two fans. This product is more than adequate for just about any power-hungry computer system