How to decide what Power Supply to buy?

[JaxDrumm]

Hi, I was wondering about factors to think about when buying a new power supply.

First off, I think I should tell you what I already know:
I know what SATA and MOLEX cables are.
My specs:
Graphics Card: Asus NVIDIA GTX 650
CPU: Intel Pentium E5400 2.7GHz
Ram: 4.00gb DDR3
Mother Board: Dell OK83V0
And two hard drives

My current power supply's max output is 300 Watts, and I'm kind of surprised my computer hasn't crashed yet.

Thanks for reading, I understand everyone here is a volunteer, and I'm grateful for someone to even read this post.

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi and welcome to SevenForums,
PSU's well you always or at least I do = always think of future upgrading,
Too little power is never a good thing and only limits your upgrading abilities.

2nd would be quality units only.
Off brand or very cheap psu's aren't worth risking existing or newer hardware.
Look a warrantees,
EVGA G2 and P2 units have 10 year warrantee's well worth paying a little more for
Wattage wise depends on what you need and possibly need in the future
Possibly a new build

Personally a EVGA 850 G2 or P2 would be my preference but i'm sure if you're not wanting to SLI = run 2 gpu's a 750-650 G2 or P2 would be fine.

 

[Mellon Head]

Something to consider, if you have an OEM computer, such as a Dell: You may have trouble fitting an aftermarket power supply into the space left by the old one. Also, some OEM computers have a different connector arrangement for the motherboard connector.

These are factors which must be considered when looking at a power supply for an OEM computer. You have a Dell motherboard, so I assume your computer is a Dell product.

Other than that, I would only add one more brand to ThrashZone's excellent advice: Seasonic - another good brand in PSUs, though the warranty isn't as long as an EVGA product.