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Will a higher watt power supply fry my motherboard or does the motherboard only draw what it needs?
I have an older system, and I'm trying to put an top of the line graphics card in it. The system came with a 300 watt power supply and to put in this video card, I need at least 400 watts, but I'm thinking going higher because I have 4 internal Drives connected to this system (2 hard drives, a DVD Drive, and CD drive that can be disconnected because I have no use for it). Anyway, someone at Best Buy told me that putting in a 400 Watt power supply would fry the mother board. I was thinking this guy was just trying to get me to buy a new system rather than having me just spend $75 on a new power supply. The system is an Emachines T3265 and it uses the AGP interface for the video card. Does the mother board only draw the power it needs?
Ok, I know, top of the line for AGP Technology.
7 Answers
- Anonymous1 decade agoFavorite Answer
It won't fry the motherboard, the guy at BB must've been an idiot. You should consider a 500 or 550W PSU for your system with all that stuff you have in there. I have never heard of a computer being fried when you put a perfectly good PSU in it. Just make sure you get one that has all the right connectors that you need.
- Anonymous5 years ago
you don't have to worry about the PSU frying the board. basically,the PSU will produce as much power as the mobo needs, no more, no less. The ratings you see for PSU is just the maximum, not the constant. as a general rule, you want: 50 watts for the cpu if it is a single or dual core 100-125 watts for a quad core 100 watts per graphics card (so 200 watts for 2 graphics cards in SLI mode) 200 watts for the motherboard and a normal number of drives 20-30 watts per extra case fan or drive So, in general, 400-500w is the minimum, 600w if you are running 2 graphics cards or many case fans/drives, and 700+ for many drives and multiple graphics cards.
- Anonymous1 decade ago
It only draws what it needs. I mean, there's like a bajillion (exaggeration) watts going to your house, but your 60W light bulb only draws 60 watts...
On a side note, I question the logic on putting a "top of the line" video card in an older system. It's highly likely that your system will bottleneck the video card.
- Anonymous1 decade ago
Well lol, he's full of crap. I could possibly understand if you were getting a 1000 watt PSU for it. That might be overkill, but it won't fry your system, but the thing is, you won't find a top of the line video card that uses AGP technology
- GamrillenLv 41 decade ago
The wattage number on any computer part is not the number of power that it draws continuously, but the maximum amount of power that it can draw if needed.
That being said, yes, your motherboard will only draw the power that it needs.
- StrikerLv 51 decade ago
yes the motherboard only draws the power it needs in order to operate. You can upgrade to a bigger power supply just make sure it fits in the case properly.