How to calculate how much power supply power do I need for my PC [Diciembre 2022]


Assembling a computer, whether it is with newly purchased parts or reusing parts that we already have, always presents a series of complexities in terms of the compatibility of the components and the fact that they can work with each other. One of those complexities or things to consider is the power supply power necessary to operate all components to their maximum capacity.
In many cases the quick solution is to make very light and rudimentary estimates of the power required and choose the power up. What this usually means is that we end up buying a power supply with much more power than we really need. The consequence is that to buy a source with more power than we need, sometimes it either costs more money or we sacrifice other characteristics such as the efficiency of the source and its quality.
In order to be able to choose the power of our power supply appropriately or to know if the power supply we have is sufficient for the components with which we want to mount it, we need to perform a power calculation that is close to reality.
We have the solution right here at GEEKNETIC, where you will find a homegrown power supply calculator to facilitate the calculation and that in less than a minute you can know the power supply power necessary for your PC.
We explain here below step by step how to use it:
- To get started, you need to access the power supply calculator itself. For this you can go to the top menu of this website and in Utilities click on Power Supply Calculator. Alternatively, click here to access.
- What we are going to find is a form with drop-down selectors where we can specify the components of the PC whose electrical power in watts we want to calculate.
- First, we will choose the type of motherboard of the equipment. Most likely it is Dessert. When in doubt, it is better to mark that option.
- Once this is done, on the right we must choose the brand of the processor of our equipment. This will activate the adjoining processor selector loading only the models of the selected brand.
- Due to the large volume of references that we have in our database, we have enabled the possibility of writing fragments of the name in the selector in order to easily find the processor model that corresponds and choose it without having to go looking for it through an endless list.
- The system will automatically mark as quantity “1” processor. However, if we find ourselves in the less common situation of having a motherboard with more than one processor socket, we will have to choose the corresponding number.It does not matter the number of cores of the processor, or if it has an integrated graphics card. Our system is able to recognize it and take into account all the characteristics that it carries when making the calculation.
- In the next section we will start by choosing the RAM memory type. If the PC for which you are calculating the power supply has been purchased from 2014 to 2020, it is most likely DDR4 memory.
- Choose the memory size of each module, and choose the number of modules. Remember that if you have modules of different sizes or types, you have more memory selectors at your disposal.
- The next step is to choose the graphics card, just in case you have a dedicated graphics card. The way to do it is identical to the way you choose a processor. The brand is chosen first and the graphics chip model and the number of graphics cards are subsequently chosen.Important: Many PCs do not have a dedicated graphics card and rely solely on the graphics card integrated with the processor or soldered to the motherboard. If this is your case, you should leave this section empty since the integrated graphics cards have already been taken into account when choosing the processor.
- We will continue configuring the rest of the components, including the different types of storage that we have and their quantities, and the same with the rest of the categories available in the power supply calculator.
- The fans of the case and the cooling system will have to be added and marked depending on their size and as follows:
- If you have an air cooling system, we just have to add their fans to the sum of fans in the case, indicating their size.
- If we have liquid cooling by parts, we will have to choose the type of pump and take into account its fans and add them to those of the box.
- If we have a prefabricated liquid cooling kit no we have to add their fans in the fan calculation nor will we have to indicate the pump.
Important: In the case of graphics cards, their fans should not be added to the fan count since the consumption of the graphics card that will be taken into account in the calculation already includes the consumption of the fans.
- Once we have finished specifying all the components we just have to click on the calculate button to get a result like this:
The recommended power is the power range of which the source that we must install for the PC whose components we have configured in the calculator must be.
With the obtaining of the calculation process, the calculation process concludes. However, the GEEKNETIC power supply calculator also allows us other functions such as share unique links and edit results as we can see below:
- After having pressed the calculate button and obtained the result, we will see below it a single link that we can use to access the result later. If we click on the blue copy icon to the right of the link, the link will be saved in our clipboard so that we can put it in a forum, on social networks, send it by email or share it in any other way that we consider appropriate.We can also click on the different social buttons available to share it easily and immediately.
- Whether we click on the button “See detailed result” or if we access the link that we have discussed in the previous section, we will obtain a detailed result of the calculation:
- From this detailed result view we have the possibility to edit the configuration. To do this, we must press the “Edit Configuration” button at the bottom of the page that shows the detailed result.This takes us back to the form where we configure the PC again in order to make some modification starting from the previous one and to recalculate the source power we need.
Important: The new result that we obtain will be saved independently with a single independent link and without modifying the previously obtained result, both remaining available indefinitely.
Conclusion
This concludes the process necessary to calculate the required power supply power for your PC using the GEEKNETIC power supply calculator. The result you have obtained will give you a close idea of āāthe maximum power that the PC can consume at maximum load, allowing you to choose the optimal power supply for the PC for which it is intended.
Keep in mind that we constantly update this tool in order to have all the necessary components, including processor and graphics card models that are being released.