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As long as what I have can handle something of Unreal Tournament 3 caliber (which it can, as the benchmark on my card for that game was spectacular), I'm fine with it. I don't need a 9-series GPU, because no matter what it will be better than this ATI X300.

I usually take what the calc comes up with --and add at least 100W to that number-- for future upgrades...more for a gaming rig. When you will push your hardware to the limit all the time-- why take chances ?
Strong build now equals longer overall life, better performance, longer time between upgrades.

eXtreme Outer Vision - eXtreme tools for computer enthusiasts
339W Result + 100W = 439W. Ouch.

Newegg - Power Supply Calculator
479W Result + 100W = 579W. Oucher.

I just tried those on top of the ones that were giving me low 300s (like around the 305 mark), and now I feel like I won't be able to run my build at all until I get my "final" PSU.

If you wait for feb, another next gen card will be around the corner, so you might as well wait for that..and then another next gen card will be coming soon, so why not wait for that also?
See the trend?

Nice build Rodents...the calc in my signiture is spot on for Power Supply Unit...use it

EDIT: oh, you have - 440watt isn't too bad... my old system was using close to 600watt...now i have an 850watt

Thanks for that, GaRHaR. Nice to have someone back me up for my choice to just get one of the top cards of this gen. I personally have waited long enough to finish this where that slight power increase wouldn't be worth the time spent waiting for the new card.

So, does the result for the eXtreme Outer Vision calculator mean that I will at least be able to run the computer until I upgrade the PSU (which it seems I'll be doing next)? If so, how erratic will the performance be? I did put a few things into the calculator that I don't have yet such as another DVD-RW drive when I only have a DVD-ROM right now, and a front-bay card-reader even though that's way off. Will that mean my result is actually enough lower for me to at least feel safe for the time being?

Man, I really need to get an A+ Cert textbook so I can just use a forklift turn to page 70 million and check the answer for myself.

Is there a way to figure it out? Probably-- but by the time you got a prediction-- you'd have it built-- you may do fine w/that PSU-- there may not be any performance issues.
I just tend to over-build now-- because I have no patience with problems.
as I've said many times -- I consider the PSU to be like the foundation of a house. You would not build your big/expensive dream-house on a foundation of cardboard --would you ? Of course not... but that's just ME. I tend to overdo it a bit. What can I say ?
Plus-- the tendency I've observed at a lot of Gamer/Overclocker sites... is toward the same thing-- these guys talk about 1000-1200 watt power-supplies for gaming rigs. Some of that is probably just "bragging rights", too.

Well, I've always planned to get a bigger PSU, but before my dad upped me to that 8800GTS, I had enough to upgrade a little bit with the PSU that came bundled with my case before getting a new one. Our foundation was about as good as cardboard and we had it recently redone; possible, as this is.