How accurate is "estimated wattage" on PC Partpicker?

[Tacitus]

The title says all really - what I have in mind comes out to an estimated 398 Watts, I've at present got a 500W PSU on the parts list. I wont be overclocking the CPU, unsure as of now about GPU, might slightly OC it.

[DoubleY]

It's on the high side. If you you want, you could tell us your system specs and we can give you a good PSU to use  

[Freaky_spider]

its pretty acurate, mostly it overestemates

[nixproducer]

to my knowledge accurate enough i have tried many different PSU calculators and they always said around the same or even less wattage than pcpartpicker so i would trust it

[Createinator]

PCP adds up the maximum wattage of each part and gives you the sum.

[isHypnophobic]

My experience is the same as what people have mentioned: they're slight overestimates.

[dizmo]

I usually find http://www.extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp to be pretty good.

I just round up a level or so.

Making sure you're buying a quality PSU helps, as they're usually closer to the claimed wattage rating.

[Tacitus]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

 

CPU:  Intel Core i5-4440 3.1GHz Quad-Core Processor  (£128.22 @ Amazon UK) 

Motherboard:  Asus H81I-PLUS Mini ITX LGA1150 Motherboard  (£49.38 @ Amazon UK) 

Memory:  Patriot Viper 3 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  (£52.30 @ CCL Computers) 

Storage:  Crucial M500 240GB 2.5" Solid State Disk  (£82.74 @ Amazon UK) 

Storage:  Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  (£40.09 @ Aria PC) 

Video Card:  Asus Radeon R9 290 4GB Video Card  (£317.99 @ Aria PC) 

Case:  Fractal Design Node 304 Mini ITX Tower Case  (£61.00 @ Amazon UK) 

Other: Silverstone SST-ST50F-P Strider 500W 80+ Bronze Compact Full Modular Power Supply (£60.00)

Total: £791.72

(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)

(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-04-21 20:14 BST+0100)

 

This is the build at present. Any modification of the PSU needs to factor in the length - it can be no longer than 140mm so the modular cables don't clash with the GPU.

[Tacitus]

So, when you're considering a new PSU do you try and find something as close to the estimated wattage, or do you tend to give yourself a bit of headroom, and how much headroom?

[Mo5]

What I do, is I look at the wattage the GPU manufacturer says for that GPU and add another 100W

[The_Strict_Nein]

A 500W PSU should do you, something like the Corsair CX500M, or the EVGA 500B.

 

Both are solid power supplies and will definitely be within length spec

[Tacitus]

In that case then my 500W PSU, which is 102 Watts over the estimate should do then.

[lufihengr]

So, when you're considering a new PSU do you try and find something as close to the estimated wattage, or do you tend to give yourself a bit of headroom, and how much headroom?

Well what I did was calculate the wattage of all the parts and then doubled it..... So my psi runs at about 50% when at full load, right where it is most efficient.

[brownninja97]

It always goes to a worse case scenario thing.

[atrash]

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

 

CPU:  Intel Core i5-4440 3.1GHz Quad-Core Processor  (£128.22 @ Amazon UK) 

Motherboard:  Asus H81I-PLUS Mini ITX LGA1150 Motherboard  (£49.38 @ Amazon UK) 

Memory:  Patriot Viper 3 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  (£52.30 @ CCL Computers) 

Storage:  Crucial M500 240GB 2.5" Solid State Disk  (£82.74 @ Amazon UK) 

Storage:  Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  (£40.09 @ Aria PC) 

Video Card:  Asus Radeon R9 290 4GB Video Card  (£317.99 @ Aria PC) 

Case:  Fractal Design Node 304 Mini ITX Tower Case  (£61.00 @ Amazon UK) 

Other: Silverstone SST-ST50F-P Strider 500W 80+ Bronze Compact Full Modular Power Supply (£60.00)

Total: £791.72

(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)

(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-04-21 20:14 BST+0100)

 

This is the build at present. Any modification of the PSU needs to factor in the length - it can be no longer than 140mm so the modular cables don't clash with the GPU.

 

 

For a psu no longer than 140mm with enough wattage for that gpu,as far as I know only Silverstone have them.

[Tacitus]

For a psu no longer than 140mm with enough wattage for that gpu,as far as I know only Silverstone have them.

 

Thanks for that, it'll save me the effort of having to look around.

 

I was initially trying to stick to a £700 budget but the performance of the 290 really tempts me. However, it may mean upgrading PSU to one that's also going to cost an extra £20 (or £30 for a 550W gold 80+ one).

 

Ughh, decisions, decisions

[atrash]

Tacitus, on 22 Apr 2014 - 03:45 AM, said:

Thanks for that, it'll save me the effort of having to look around.

 

I was initially trying to stick to a £700 budget but the performance of the 290 really tempts me. However, it may mean upgrading PSU to one that's also going to cost an extra £20 (or £30 for a 550W gold 80+ one).

 

Ughh, decisions, decisions

 

That Strider 500w is good enough for the system tbh. You'll be pulling much less than 350w with that gpu in full load.

[Tacitus]

That Strider 500w is good enough for the system tbh. You'll be pulling much less than 350w with that gpu in full load.

 

Won't the rest use over 150W? Or are you referring to the whole system?

[atrash]

Tacitus, on 22 Apr 2014 - 05:10 AM, said:

Won't the rest use over 150W? Or are you referring to the whole system?

 

Yupe the whole system. The card power consumption is around 250w + cpu around 85w (all full load). Add 10-15 w for the hdd (on load).

 

My numbers are just an estimate but it shouldn't be that far off

[Tacitus]

Yupe the whole system. The card power consumption is around 250w + cpu around 85w (all full load). Add 10-15 w for the hdd (on load).

 

My numbers are just an estimate but it shouldn't be that far off

 

Thanks a lot