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Question from Julian:  My older brother has offered to help me build a gaming computer using the money I got for my birthday.

He gave me a list of parts to order and everything looks ok, but I have a question about the power supply.

He said a 600 watt PSU will power everything I’m planning to put inside the system but that I should buy a 750 watt PSU in case I ever want to add anything else to the system.

The thing is the 750 watt power supply that he recommended will cost about $40 more than the 600 watt one I’m looking at on Amazon.

What I’d like to know is do you think it’s worth an extra $40 to buy a larger power supply than I really need, and do you think the 600 watt power supply will be big enough? [Read more…]

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Question from Roger G.:  Hi Rick. I recently ordered a new desktop computer that has a 350 watt power supply in it.

I bought a new video card for it, but when I went to install it the instructions said the computer’s power supply needs to be able to put out at least 550 watts.

I checked online and there are several different kinds of power supplies to choose from and I don’t know exactly what kind I need to buy.

I called the company that sold me the computer and asked what kind of power supply is inside it. They told me it’s a standard ATX-type power supply.

My questions:

1 – Can I replace this computer’s existing power supply with a larger one without burning up anything with the excess power?

2 – If so, can you recommend one?

3 – Can you give me a rough outline of the process required to physically swap out the power supplies?

Rick’s answer:   [Read more…]