Just surfing and came across this article at THG about power supplies and consumption of your components.
http://www6.tomshardware.com/howto/2...pplies-02.html
It seems that so many of us have problems that come out of nowhere, power supplies are often overlooked.
Quote from Tom's;
Practical Advice: The Perfect Power Supply
Before going out to buy a new power supply, it is first necessary to measure the power demand of your computer system. If the computer fails to boot up after switching it on, most users' initial assumption is that the power supply is defunct. If, however, the system constantly crashes during operation, or the screen freezes, most users will begin to look for faults on the motherboard and in the components. But, in this case, as well, it is worth checking the power supply prior to replacing either the motherboard or the graphics card.
Particularly with power supply models at the bottom end of the range that have been in use for a long time, voltage stability can diminish drastically. If the computer has recently been upgraded with new components, the old power supply will quickly become inadequate. Prior to purchasing a new power supply, a number of basic factors should first be considered.
Good article, worth the read.
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