Advisable power supply for a 9800gt video card?

i need to buy a new power supply unit and a video card . i like the 9800gt video card but what power supply should i get - how much watts . also how much is the minimum



MY PC SPECS

HP Pavillion a6650f

amd quad core 2.2 GHZ processor [9550]

6gb of ram

500gb hdd

vista home premium 64bit|||The 9800GT doesn't actually draw much power. According to nVidia, it draws a maximum of 105 watts: http://www.nvidia.com/object/product_gef… (click on the specifications tab).



That's nothing compared to their top-of-the-line GTX295, which draws a maximum of 289 watts! http://www.nvidia.com/object/product_gef… (the power figure is also under the specifications tab).



Anyway, the 9800GT's 105W draw is 9.75 Amps on the +12V rail.



Your Phenom Quad Core will draw 125 watts, which is 10.5 Amps on the +12V.



Rest of your HP Pavilion (since it's a microATX machine with just 1 HDD, 1 ODD, and can run just 1 video card, which means NO SLI), will pull 5 amps. Add all those amps up, and you got a total load of 25 Amps maximum draw on the +12V rail.



You can actually run that whole setup on a Corsair 400W PSU with 30 Amps on the +12V rail, with 5 Amps of headroom to spare (which is plenty enough to power anything else you can possibly ever stuff into a tiny microATX setup like that HP). You do not need a 600W PSU.|||For any moderately high end video card, like the 9800gt, at least a 600 watt power supply is recommended. If you can't find a moderately priced one, you can probably get by with a 500 watt supply without a problem.



I would check newegg for a power supply, they usually have pretty good deals on computer hardware.|||I'd recommend a 500W or 600W power supply, but a high amperage on the 12 volt rail(s) is also important. Video cards use quite a bit of amps, so look through the power supplies, and buy the one with the most amperage.



For an example, my 430W PSU has a total of 38 amps (better than the average voltage regulation) on the 12v rails, which means It can run my video card on it (ATi 4870).



Some good, trustable PSU brands would be: Antec, Thermaltake, and Corsair. Energy Efficiency is also a big thing



Good PSU's that are under $100:



http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as…



http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as… (NOTE: ONLY HAS ONE 12V RAIL)|||one of the best PSU's out there is PC Power & Cooling...go with the 500W to be sure you'll have enough power not only for the 9800 but I'm sure you'll want to upgrade other items also! Check newegg.com for prices. dont go "cheap" on a PSU...your case, PSU, and fans will probibley out last the rest of the computer! At least that way you wouldn't have to replace everything!|||i would say any decent 400w would be minimum, but if you don't want to take the risk go with a 500w (any new psu should be efficient enough for your needs)

make sure it has a six pin pci-e connector (or more)