Comments for Is it safe to install a higher wattage power supply in my computer?

Comment from Saad Mirza on 2008-09-03

2008-09-04T06:22:49Z

Dell usually goes by what the Specs say, but I would have suggested for you to go around 500W rather than 800w.

I would also check for any OS issues, you can look at Event Viewer to see what's going on, that could also be your Video Card.

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Comment from automatic_ab on 2008-06-04

2008-06-04T20:50:07Z

I have a Dell Dimension 4550 running XP, 1Gig RAM, Intel P4 3.06HT, Seagate 160Gig HDD. Recently I bought a BFG Geforce 7800GS OC. My PSU was only 250w and the card requires atleast 350w. So I went out and picked up the 800w BFG PSU to power the card and everything else. I start notice that when I put my machine on Stand-By for the night, I come back in the morning and the machine won't come back on. All the while, I know that the machine is powered up b/c I can hear the fans going. I have to do a hard boot. Then I start getting random reboots, the situation progrssively gets worse until one day I go to my office b/c I hear this rattling sound, it's the PSU. I turn the machine off, open up the box, take a look at the PSU, I smell it but it's not burnt. As soon as I try to reboot, I see a flash come from the PSU; it died. It has a lifetime warranty, thank God, so I call BFG and then send out a new one. I start to put the machine on Stand-By to test if the same thing happens. It doesn't, atleast not yet. A week goes by and even though I don't get the random reboots, my machine won't come out of Stand-By. The monitor is black, I wiggle my mouse, press some keys and nothing. Meanwhile the machine is on b/c I hear all the fans going. I have to do a hard boot. I call BFG again and they explain to me that they can change PSU again but the chances of the replacement being bad too are "astronomical". I agree to a certain extent. So I call Dell and they say that the machine can only handle a 250w psu. Now here's my question (finally right?!) I believe it's true that "It's better to have too much power than too little." and I believe it and understand how psu's work, why is Dell saying that my machine can only use a 250w psu? I don't get it. Can anyone help with this?

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A comment on: Is it safe to install a higher wattage power supply in my computer?

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Comment from dream on 2008-02-11

2008-02-12T06:19:54Z

I want to upgrade my computer power supply, do I have to buy the same physical size? or does it matter? I try searching for one that the same size but they all diffrent sizes, am afraid I buy one and it wont fit? and does the brand matter since there so many..

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A comment on: Is it safe to install a higher wattage power supply in my computer?

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Comment from Matthew Thompson on 2007-04-10

2007-04-11T05:11:12Z

Look at these power supplies. Many of the replacement power supplies that are recommended are actually much higher wattage than the original power supply.

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A comment on: Is it safe to install a higher wattage power supply in my computer?

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Comment from Ken on 2006-12-19

2006-12-19T16:26:54Z

Speaking of "peak usage", I have a friend whose computer would work just fine -- until he tried to burn a CD, at which point the system would fail. It turns out he upgraded from a CD-ROM to a CD-R drive, and the original power supply had just enough power to run the system as-built. The extra power needed to write to a CD-R pushed it over the limit. I replaced the power supply with a higher-wattage one, and everything was fine.

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A comment on: Is it safe to install a higher wattage power supply in my computer?

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