⚡ Power Supply Calculator
Calculate the exact PSU wattage your PC or workstation needs — with efficiency ratings and headroom recommendations
🧠 CPU & Cooling
🖥 GPU
💾 Storage & Memory
📡 Peripherals & Extras
| Build Type | Typical Load (W) | Rec. PSU Size | Min. Efficiency |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic Office / HTPC | 80–150W | 350–400W | 80+ White |
| Budget Gaming | 200–300W | 450–550W | 80+ Bronze |
| Mid-Range Gaming | 300–450W | 550–650W | 80+ Bronze |
| High-End Gaming | 450–600W | 750–850W | 80+ Gold |
| Workstation (No GPU) | 200–400W | 500–650W | 80+ Gold |
| Workstation (Pro GPU) | 500–800W | 850–1000W | 80+ Gold |
| Extreme / Overclocked | 600–900W | 1000–1200W | 80+ Platinum |
| Multi-GPU (2x) | 800–1200W | 1200–1600W | 80+ Platinum |
| Certification | 20% Load | 50% Load | 100% Load |
|---|---|---|---|
| 80 Plus White | 80% | 80% | 80% |
| 80 Plus Bronze | 82% | 85% | 82% |
| 80 Plus Silver | 85% | 88% | 85% |
| 80 Plus Gold | 87% | 90% | 87% |
| 80 Plus Platinum | 90% | 92% | 89% |
| 80 Plus Titanium | 92% | 94% | 90% |
| PSU Size | Best For | Max Components | Typical Form Factor |
|---|---|---|---|
| 300–400W | HTPC, Mini-ITX, Office | iGPU + storage only | SFX, SFX-L, ATX |
| 450–550W | Budget Gaming, iGPU WS | CPU + budget GPU | ATX, SFX-L |
| 600–650W | Mid Gaming, Content | CPU + mid-range GPU | ATX |
| 750–850W | High-End Gaming | CPU + high-end GPU | ATX |
| 1000–1200W | Enthusiast, OC | CPU + flagship GPU | ATX, E-ATX |
| 1500–1600W | Extreme / Multi-GPU | Dual GPU + HEDT CPU | ATX, E-ATX |
| System Load | 80+ Bronze PSU | 80+ Gold PSU | 80+ Platinum PSU |
|---|---|---|---|
| 100W System Load | 122W from wall | 115W from wall | 111W from wall |
| 200W System Load | 244W from wall | 230W from wall | 222W from wall |
| 400W System Load | 488W from wall | 460W from wall | 444W from wall |
| 600W System Load | 732W from wall | 690W from wall | 667W from wall |
| 800W System Load | 976W from wall | 920W from wall | 889W from wall |
A Power Supply is simply the tie between the power grid and any device that requires it to work well. Its main task is to receive power from the source and change it to the right voltage, current and frequency that a certain device requires. Here why one sometimes calls them converters or adapters, the name depends on the kind of change that they do to the output.
For desktop computers the Power Supply unit, or PSU for short, takes the AC power flow from your wall outlet and changes it to the low DC voltage on which modern computers truly run. Every current PC depends on a switched Power Supply to do that main job. Besides the conversion itself the PSU also removes electromagnetic noise and protects against voltage spikes.
What a Power Supply Does and How to Choose One
That guard is what helps everything work smooth inside the computer.
Power supplies come in several different kinds. Linear supplies use linear control to keep the output voltage steady. The input voltage first passes through a transformer to lower it, then one corrects and filters it until it becomes steady current.
Switched supplies work on an entirely different principle, one can split them into coil-based and capacitor-based models. From my experience, linear units work well for lower currents, where noise-sensitivity matters a lot. Even so, they have problems with heating, when the difference between entry and output is big.
Here is something that commonly confuses folks about the watt ratings. A Power Supply of 750 watts does not use 750 watts every moment of the day. If your system only needs 500 watts, the PSU delivers only that, nothing more.
A higher watt rating simply shows that it is able to give more energy, if the system needs it. Interesting is, that a 500-watt PSU commonly works more effectively under 400-watt load than a 1000-watt unit with the same task.
Should one get a PSU with a rating above the kneed of your current system? That truly is a wise decision. Maybe a 650-watt 80+ Gold unit cares for everything that you have now, but it gives space for future changes, for instance, when you want to upgrade to a more mighty graphics card.
Because swapping Power supplies between computers is easy, it truly does not pay to buy one that barely covers your current needs.
Cheap Power supplies can be dangerous. A low-quality high-watt unit could fail in months, and if a PSU fails, results quickly become sad; we talk about smoke and possible damage to other parts. A higher unit, on the other hand?
Those can serve more than a decade, protecting against power cuts and harsh conditions without pause. Interestingly, big brands like Corsair get their units from original equipment makers, mostly in China, and then add their own finishing. Most of those supplies are indeed made by the same small number of companies and simply resold underthem various names.
A strong PSU combines input protection, correction, conversion stage, energy storing, output filtering, regulation and full security, everything in one body.
