The CarPC Store

PSU Wattage Calculator
Last Updated April 20, 2006


Determine how big of a Power Supply you need for that CarPC. If you have any recommendations or would like to see more features on this, please Contact us on what new features or new data you need/want to see.

Select your CPU:

Select the Type of Video:

Select the Quantity of Memory:

Number of 3.5" SATA Hard Drives (25 Watts each):

Number of 3.5" EIDE Hard Drives (20 Watts each):

Number of 2.5" Hard Drives (5 Watts each):

Select your CPU Fan:

Select a Keyboard:

Select a Mouse:

Other Drives:
Floppy Drive (5 Watts)
CD-ROM Drive (Full size or Slim) (20 Watts)
DVD-ROM Drive (Full size or Slim) (25 Watts)
CD-RW Drive (Full size or Slim) (20 Watts)
DVD/CDRW Combo Drive (Full size or Slim) (30 Watts)
DVD-RW / DVD+RW Drive (Full size or Slim) (25 Watts)
3.5" Zip Drive (10 Watts)

PCI Cards:
56K PCI Modem (4 Watts)
PCI Network Interface Card (4 Watts)
Sound Blaster - All Models (7 Watts)
Sound Blaster w/ Front Bay (18 Watts)
PCI SCSI Controller Card (25 Watts)
Additional PCI Cards (avg) (5 Watts)
Additional PCI Cards (avg) (5 Watts)
Additional PCI Cards (avg) (5 Watts)

External Devices:
(Only check if device draws power from the system.)
USB 1.1/2.0 Device (5 Watts)
USB 1.1/2.0 Device (5 Watts)
USB 1.1/2.0 Device (5 Watts)
USB 1.1/2.0 Device (5 Watts)
USB 1.1/2.0 Device (5 Watts)
USB 1.1/2.0 Device (5 Watts)
USB 1.1/2.0 Device (5 Watts)
USB 1.1/2.0 Device (5 Watts)
IEEE-1394 FireWire Device (8 Watts)
IEEE-1394 FireWire Device (8 Watts)

Other Accessories:
80mm System Fan (2 Watts)
80mm System Fans (2 Watts)
80mm System Fans (2 Watts)
80mm Lighted System Fan (3 Watts)
80mm Lighted System Fans (3 Watts)
Cold Cathode Tube Light (3 Watts)
Cold Cathode Tube Light (3 Watts)
Internal 6-N-1 Memory Bay (10 Watts)

Hardware automatically taken into the equation (25 Watts):

  • Motherboard (25 Watts)

Your Recommended Minimum Power Supply is Watts Peak !!*
Please take time to read the following paragraphs:

*This calculated Power should be understood to be the Absolute Maximum Worst Case Scenario. In many cases you will be able to divide the calculated power by 2 and achieve a Minimum Continuous Power rating that a power supply must be capable of delivering. Most Power supplies give their ratings in Peak Power or Continuous Power which is not the same as Continuous Power. To be as safe as possible, use the exact numbers given by this calculator to guide you in purchasing a power supply.

The information here was pulled off of many different web sites and is not my own. Much of data was obtained from data sheets. Some is from jscustompcs.com.
Many thanks to Oleg for providing us the following link to which we attribute the most current Video Card Data, and to Micron for their Power Calcualtors, and to Wikipedia for some easy-to-find data..
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