The first thing i'd like to clear up is yes I do know calculators exist for this and i did use one which is why i came here in the firstplace ...
Alright here is my current pc build:
Asrock 970 extreme 4 mobo
AMD FX-6300
AMD Raedon HD 7770 1gb
Western digital 1 Tb 7200 rpm
2 x 4gb sticks of Corsair Vengence
5 120mm fans
And I have a crappy 500watt cooler master PSU powering all of this.
Now what I'm looking to do is add another 7770 for crossfire and a blu ray drive ... The problem is I picked up the psu for really cheap on a 1day newegg sale and it only has 1pcie 6 pin connector along with the fact that underload the fan gets annoyingly loud ... So I used thermaltakes calculator and it told me I needed a 100 something dollar 750 watt psu which I'm pretty sure is somewhat overkill.
Which is why I've come to you guys ... I need someone to recomend a powersupply that fits my needs, preferably modular although not necessary and doesn't break the bank ... the most I'm looking to spend is about $40 give or take a few.
Any help is appreciated.
I think that the PSU is one of the most overlooked thing in a build. Having a stable, quiet and powerful PSU is very important and I do not think that it is possible to do that for $40. I would take a look at some power supplies in the $70-$85 range with at least 600watts
Hope this helps. Also I always recomend seasonic power supplies, they are reliable, efficiant and pretty much the best you can get (they make the power supplys that many other companies sell)
Ya get a 700 watt or so power supply because 40 dollar ones are not well made. I put a great powersupply into my build because its one of the biggest needed components
lol, no, you don't need a 750 watt PSU to power crossfire 7770s. At most, a build such as this will only consume around 350 watts (give or take a few watts). You'd be fine with a 500 watt PSU. But it greatly depends on the quality of the PSU as well. If you are rocking a Crapper Master 500w PSU with an efficiency of 65% and 3 12v rails, then yeah, you're gonna have some problems. I'd recommend something like this...
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004RJ8EKI/?tag=pcpapi-20
It's a bit out of your budget, but it comes with all the cables and plugs you'll need. It's 80+ certified, has a strong single 12v rail, and is manufactured by Seasonic.
But the ^550watts would be enough? Even if at some point i in the future i upgrade to a single 7950/7970 how much would my system pull?
550w is plenty for any single gpu setup and stay away from raidmax and coolmax they are bad psu's
500W is more than enough for that rig, even with dual 7770s. I'd look into the Seasonic G 550, or, for just a little bit more, a Lepa G650. Both are 80+ Gold, semi-modular, and more than enough power for dual 7770s. Another option are the Rosewill Capstone series PSUs; affordable if you go for non-modular, but the semi-modular models are noticeably more expensive.
Why risk destroying you system with a underpowered cheap psu? The xfx psu posted above should be ok for xfire 7770's though would near its limit if you ever did overclock anything. If you plan on having a system that you want to possibly upgrade & that wont die in 6 months, spend a little extra cash and buy a psu that has some headroom. When a psu dies it can take out everything.
For 2x7770's > AMD specifies a minimum of a 600w psu & have a maximum combined +12 Volt continuous current rating of 30 Amps or greater
Radeon HD 7950 - 25A and a 500W psu minimum
Radeon HD 7970 Ghz Edition - 31A and a 550W psu minimum
Strong single rails > multi rail setups.
To cover all bases i personally would go with something like this - http://www.amazon.com/SilverStone-Single-Certified-Active-ST60F-ES/dp/B004MKNNH6/ref=sr_1_7?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1370567061&sr=1-7&keywords=silverstone+power+supply
Psu wont struggle and be every efficient, & is still really cheap. Silverstone psu's are up there with seasonic quality.
- 600W 24hour continuous power output
- single +12V rail with 42A
I dont mean to come across as being harsh its just that it sucks when pcs die due to overwhelmed psu's or dirty psu's. Clean strong power is a pc's best friend.