550 /should/ be enough, correct. However, as Nuitari asks, what brand,
and is it UL/CE certified or not? If not, as I said, the rating's worth
less than the sticker it's printed on.
550w doesn't mean much actually. It is the total power output it is
capable of, under ideal conditions.
You have to see how much each individual voltage can take amp wise.
In the time of 300w power supplies, there were a lot of cheap ones that
had a 10A 12v line. 10a * 10v = 120watt, which is definitely not what
someone would expect from a 300w power supply.
Then came the 350w ones with the same rating for 12v, so no gain there.
Better ones had at least 15A for 12V as the CPUs started using much more
power.
I am currently using an Antec SmartPower 2.0 450W power supply.
It has these ratings:
+3.3V * 32A = 105.6W
+5V * 30A = 150W
+12V1 * 15A = 180W
+12V2 * 17A = 204W
According to the documentation, the combined output of these cannot exceed
440Watts (there are some watts for +5V standby and -12V).
+12V1 is what does to the motherboard and peripherals and +12V2 goes to
the processor(s).
You should calculate how much you are using power wise with all of your
peripherals to see if your power supply is strong enough.
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