how do i know how much power i need?

[phildaint]

question is in the title....

 

[eztrog88]

Add up the wattages of all your components and add about 20-25% to be safe. What are you trying to run? As long as it's nothing too fancy, any PSU over 320watts should be fine.

 

[Geoff]

http://www.extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp

 

[Gravegun]

Lol, 38W for the laptop?

 

[ceewi1]

There are numerous PSU calculators over the Internet, some better than others. You can also take a look at http://www.computerforum.com/90110-power-recommendations-video-card.html to get an approximate idea.