Power for Quad Core ?

i have a corsair 450vx and with the dropping prices of the q6600 i was wondering if my psu could handle it. i did a little research and found this power consumption chart the system they used had a gtx and a qaud core and they were using less than 400w. is this accurate?

http://techreport.com/articles.x/14573/15

 

it is very likely that your PSU would have no trouble with the Quad Core CPU... however what else do you have in your computer that is taking up power?

 

three hard drives a dvd drive an 8800gt five case fans and a wireless card.

 

That sounds like a bit much for just a 400 watt psu...

try this power supply calculator (just add in your system details)

http://extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp

 

The VX 450W will be able to handle that. It may get a bit warm but it'll get the job done. If you want to overclock the CPU, however, and that's certainly something to consider, you may want to consider a 550W VX or better yet 650W TX.

 

thanks guys. i checked out the power calculator and with a stock q6600 at load it doesn't get anywhere near 450 but when overclocking it get really close. so i will buy a new psu before i get a quad.

 

In general the outervision power supply calculator is over-zealous, but it is a useful measurement as you shouldn't really be using more than 70% of your PSU's maximum capacity for lengthy periods of time.