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Yep - spend $20 on a cheap Kill A Watt meter from Newegg;

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16882715001

 

Measure the draw of your current system without the new video card.  Record your findings.  Go out and find the rated power draw of the 6870 and 6950 you're looking at.  Add that to your current power draw.  That will give you a rough estimate of how much power you'll need.

 

I always allow at least a 20% cushion between the power rating of my power supply and the peak power required by my system. 

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I would just get the 450w, honestly. I have a friend that ran with an i3 2100, 2 dimms DDR3 1333, 2 hard drives, 1 optical, and a 6850 on the 380w, but my guess is that anything more than that is really pushing the limits of it's power.

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Seriously people PSU calculators are easy to find!!! Search is your friend...

 

http://www.bing.com/search?q=psu+calculator&qs=HS&form=QBLH&pq=psu+cal&sc=8-7&sp=1&sk=

 

But the beat way to measure the real time power consumption is Watt meter.

I always use them while overclocking test to measure the total power consumption on load & idle condition.

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Seriously people PSU calculators are easy to find!!! Search is your friend...

 

http://www.bing.com/search?q=psu+calculator&qs=HS&form=QBLH&pq=psu+cal&sc=8-7&sp=1&sk=

 

But the beat way to measure the real time power consumption is Watt meter.

I always use them while overclocking test to measure the total power consumption on load & idle condition.

 

I 100% agree but a lot of people do not have them. The easiest way is to use the PSU Calculator which usually gives you some headroom when it figures the need.

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