I have never built a PC and I was wondering how do you know what kind of power supply will work with certain motherboards?

What specifications tell me if these two are compatible or not?

Power supply:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817371009

Motherboard:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131182

(Note im not buying these I just want to know what specs tell you if its compatible)

Those two are compatible. Both are nice pieces of hardware.

You will note that the PSU has both a 4 pin and 8 pin CPU plug. 8 pin is required for Quad Core CPU's. Most PSU's will indicate Quad Core ready. Or not. As well as SLi ready. Or not.

Next you will notice both PCI_E 6 pin and 8 pin connections. The latest and greatest graphics cards require the 8 pin.

As a general rule when you go high end which both those products are there is little problem as they are geared towards the latest hardware.

Then the question is to make sure the Wattage is high enough to run your hardware.

Here is a scan for that:

http://www.extreme.outervision.com/p...ulatorlite.jsp

Originally Posted by jephree

Those two are compatible. Both are nice pieces of hardware.

You will note that the PSU has both a 4 pin and 8 pin CPU plug. 8 pin is required for Quad Core CPU's. Most PSU's will indicate Quad Core ready. Or not. As well as SLi ready. Or not.

Next you will notice both PCI_E 6 pin and 8 pin connections. The latest and greatest graphics cards require the 8 pin.

As a general rule when you go high end which both those products are there is little problem as they are geared towards the latest hardware.

Then the question is to make sure the Wattage is high enough to run your hardware.

Here is a scan for that:

http://www.extreme.outervision.com/p...ulatorlite.jsp

I'm still a bit confused I don't see the 4 pin and 8 pin information on the Specs tab. Maybe you can give me a better example (instead of my 2 newegg links) or some web page explaining?

You need to go to the manufacturers web site for the details.

With Newegg click on: Manufacturer Info.

I just used the pictures to get a brief overview of that PSU:



I am about out the door for the night but will be back tomorrow.

I will look for some site that might help you further.

In general:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_power_supply

Alright, Thanks a lot Jephree!

Here is another tutorial:

http://www.smps.us/computer-power-supply.html

Anyway by comparing the specs of the motherboard and those of the PSU is fairly easy. Again using Newegg click Manufacturers Info and also look at the picture slide show.

As always ask away here and we can help.