Calculate the recommended power supply wattage for desktop computer

If you are going to DIY build a desktop computer, you might be wondering how much wattage of power supply unit (PSU) should your computer use, that will be sufficient and not overkill.

In fact, you can calculate the recommended power supply wattage using the online eXtreme Power Supply Calculator, claimed to be "the only power supply calculator trusted by PSU manufacturers and computer enthusiasts".

Just click on either one of the links below:

• The default eXtreme PSU Calculator Lite
• Thermaltake Power Supply Calculator
• Cooler Master Power Supply Calculator

This handy tool will calculate the estimated power consumption based on information including the motherboard, CPU, video card, RAM, harddisk, disc drives, PCI cards, PCI Express cards, USB devices, fans, cooling system, etc.

Dell Malaysia monitor deals

Good news if you plan to buy a new monitor: Dell Malaysia is having monitor deals now. Last day is 29 July 2010 26 August 2010.

Here are the deals:

17" monitors:

• E170S - RM164 RM109 discount
• P170S - RM122 RM132 discount
• E1709W - RM159 RM114 discount

18.5" monitor:

• IN1920 - RM100 discount

19" monitors:

• E190S - RM194 RM132 discount
• P190S - RM113 discount
• E1910 - RM83 discount

20" monitors:

• ST2010-BLK - RM150 discount
• E2010H - RM93 RM103 discount
• 2007FP - RM305 RM239 discount
• 2009W - RM443 RM143 discount

21.5" monitors:

• SX2210T (multi-touch with webcam) - RM430 RM530 discount
• U2211H - RM169 discount
• E2210H - RM107 discount
• P2211H - RM120 RM140 discount
• U2211H - RM169 RM179 discount

22" monitors:

• 2209WA - RM262 RM190 discount
• E2210 - RM177 RM115 discount
• P2210 - RM237 RM165 discount
• U2211H - RM179 discount

23" monitors:

• U2311H - RM131 RM151 discount
• E2310H - RM243 RM160 discount
• P2311H - RM112 discount + RM50 coupon code "C55HJQRH7$5N4C"
• U2311H - RM131 RM151 discount

24" monitors:

• ST2410 - RM270 RM290 discount
• U2410 - RM316 discount + RM150 coupon code "5F7137L?4685FX" RM233 discount
• G2410H - RM127 discount

27" monitors:

• U2711 - RM437 discount + RM500 coupon code "QNS1W96C1MT$LZ"

30" monitors:

• 3008WFP - RM1,132 discount + RM700 discount RM1581 discount

Visit Dell Malaysia website for detail specification and pricing information.

* The above information is for reference only, and might not be the latest information. For actual latest discount and pricing information, please refer to Dell Malaysia website.

You might probably be interested to also read about:

• Compare LCD screen size of standard and widescreen monitors

Compare LCD screen size of standard and widescreen monitors

Nowadays there are 2 main flavours of LCD screen monitor, namely:

• Standard panel with aspect ratio of 4:3, shape similar to the screen of CRT monitors
• Widescreen panel with aspect ratio of either 16:9 or 16:10, which is the current major trend

Many might not aware that there are actually 2 types of aspect ratio for the widescreen monitor. The 16:9 aspect ratio is commonly used for television, while the longer shape 16:10 aspect ratio is more common in computer monitors.

You might have noticed that the widescreen monitor looks smaller than the standard monitor with same dimension measured in inches. The is because the measurement is on its diagonal. Widescreen panel has a longer diagonal, compared with the standard panel of same height. In other words, widescreen panel will have a shorter height than standard panel of same diagonal length.

Using some basic trigonometry calculations, I have come out with the following table to compare the estimated dimension (height x width) of  the 4:3, 16:9 and 16:10 screens.

The theory is simple. Given the aspect ratio, we can find out the diagonal angle with their reverse tangent. Once we know the diagonal angle and the diagonal length of a screen, we can calculate for its height and width.

As we can see from the above table, a 23" 16:9 panel and/or a 21.5" 16:10 panel is having about the same height as a 19" standard panel.

With a shorter height, while you can enjoy a wider screen view, you probably need to do more scrolling for vertical display, as less line is shown in the widescreen.

How will be the overall viewing area then? With the above information of their height and width, it is not difficult to calculate and compare their viewing area, as shown below:

Hope that these 2 comparison tables can help you to decide and get a monitor of your right expectation.