they don’t have to be followed 100% right?
the Video card companies are assuming you have the maximum amount of power-consuming items plugged into your computer right?
so if I’m using a little mini-itx board, i3 CPU, 2.5" HD, no Optical, I should be able to run a min-550W Card with my 450W PSU right?
right?
Look at some benchmarks that include max power consumption for your card and CPU. If the sum doesn’t exceed 450W you’re pretty much safe.
well a minimum power supply would suggest dont go lower than that.
psu’s are piss cheap anyway. upgrade that and enjoy good times
well I have a nice and small case with a proprietary PSU, would rather get a lesser VC than a bigger Case/PSU
You can try it, but if the power requirements error message shows up or if you run a game and your computer instantly reboots, probably time to get a more powerful PSU
I ran a ATI 4670 with a stock 280W power supply on a Pentium D 2.8GHz Lenovo computer for a long time… I actually bought a 400W power supply at some point, but it started giving me problems, so I put back the older one and it still worked fine.
wow cool site, says I only need 375 watts total with the Fermi, 267 watts with a 6850 
I’ll have to go with the greater power efficiency of the ATI, on principle alone
The PSU is the one thing you don’t want to skimp on. If you have a poor “anything else”, you get a poor framerate. If you have a poor PSU, you get smoke coming out of your computer.
Founded in 2004, Leakfree.org became one of the first online communities dedicated to Valve’s Source engine development. It is more famously known for the formation of Black Mesa: Source under the 'Leakfree Modification Team' handle in September 2004.