power supply question

[luminosity]

This question is related to PCs, but I need quick help, and I'm not sure where to put it. Someone I know is needing to buy a desktop computer, and they're not interested in a mac (sadly). It's recently come to my attention that some brands of desktops have had underpowered power supplies, and I'm wondering if there's a relative "minimum" number of watts you should have in your power supply if you have a decently-powered system.

Is 350 enough, or should you be looking more at 400-500 (or more)?

 

[dmr727]

If your friend isn't planning on upgrading the graphics card, then whatever PSU is installed should be fine. But down the line, if he/she wants to install a better graphics card, he might need to upgrade the PSU as well.

 

[NATO]

If it's a very basic system (ie, using integrated graphics, sound, network etc), a good quality 350W PSU should be fine, although for anything more involved I'd probably recommend a 500W+ just to be sure.

Quality is the key though, you can pick up cheap power supplies that are rated at 350W etc, however they rarely put out that kind of power, nor is it likely to be particularly good quality output. You get what you pay for in that respect..

My two cents anyhoo...