if you dont have enough power, your computer will crash when the demand spikes. if you have a cheap supply, it will die quicker, and can potentially take out other parts.

So in other words, an "average" one with enough power should do right?

well the main thing is to check what power your graphics card requires. then go a bit above that.

a lot of cheap power supplies dont even provide what they state, when looking for powersupplies amperage/rail, efficeny, wattage, and just general build quality (components used) are all important factors

check out http://www.jonnyguru.com/ his power supplies are top notch and he even disassembles the units. chances are that if he hasn't reviewed it or a similar model in the same series then its not worth even looking at.

in general PC power & cooling (Silencer) Enermax (Galaxy, Infinity, Liberty), OCZ (GameXStream, EvoStream), Antec (they vary), Seasonic, Corsair, and Silverstone are all going to be good psus.

use www.shopbot.ca and www.pricebat.ca to search the items you want, then price match online @ ncix.

I saved a good 10% off the total bill even with NCIX sale pricing.

in addition

more psu doesn't cost that much more IMO and usually higher quality ones have more shit inside of it to protect it from blowing up, i remember opening up some enermax, and opening up some antec, adn you could see the diff purely in components and how it was all put together...

bump

i was interested in what OP ended up building but he's banned?

anyone else in here ended up building i7 system? what did you end up with and how much did you spend?