When selecting a chassis to house a game rig, we look for just the right mix of features and styling. It's important to have sufficient room for expansion, quality case design, plenty of fan mounts to keep things cool, and maybe a window or two for showcasing our expensive components and immaculate wiring jobs. But how much attention do we give to the power supply--that "brick" that keeps the juice flowing to all our PC's parts? Most often, not enough.

The power supply unit--PSU for short--is usually the last thing we consider when upgrading our PC. That's a big mistake. To perform its job the power supply needs to provide sufficient electrical energy to the computer's various parts. While guidelines exist for determining exact requirements, they're based on power drawn from each component--information that's not always readily available. Yes, you can do the research and apply the formulas to derive exact specs, but that's really not necessary; general recommendations will suffice.

While the average computer may get by with a PSU rated at 200-250 watts, those running the high-end components found in game rigs require substantially more power. Personally, I recommend employing a PSU of at least 300 watts minimum regardless of the hardware installed in your system. For high-performance computers--those featuring cutting-edge CPUs and video cards--it's not unreasonable to incorporate a unit of 350-400 watts or higher. With power suppl...

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