Hello ! I am sooooooo new to psu's !

[Star]

And I have only been researching them for about two days now 8O
My HP Pavillion Media Center TV PC Intel Pentium D dual core computer has an Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950 card on it which I am going to disable and replace because I would like to do some 3 D gaming (ie. EQ2.) Well, when researching cards I opened up my computer case and saw my psu only has 300 watts max. I would really like to upgrade my power supply before getting a new card and know next to nothing about power supplies.

I have a few questions which will probably sound very silly but I would not ask them if I knew the answers :?

1) Are there "internal" and "external psu's" ? If "external" do you turn them on and off ?

1)I am unsure of what stats to look for in the power supply except that it has to be "atx." I read in the sticky in this forum that if you buy a power supply that exceeds your computer's power requirements that it cannot "hurt" your computer. Is this true ? So maybe if I just bought an "atx" power supply with as high stats as I can afford my computer would be safe ? (I saw some that offered 650watts for $150 or therabouts, even though I would be more than happy with 500watts.)

My stats are AC Input (47-63Hz) 100-127V/8A, 200-240V/4A.
DC Output +5V=/25A, +12V=/19A, +33V=/18A, -12V=0.8A, +5VSB=2A

+5V & +3.3V Shall not exceed 175 Watts
+5V &+12V shall not exceed 268 watts
max output power 300 watts

Can somebody please give me some recommendations on what to buy or even what I should start looking for in what to buy. I am just concerned that I may buy the wrong kind of psu and blow up my computer :roll:

 

[neosoul]

You are right to watch the ratings and I don't know of a dedicated external PSU though it is a clever idea. For now lets stick with the internal ones so on to my suggestions:

I would rather you get a 'true' rated PSU meaning one that can produce and sustain most of the power during operation. This means no heavy 'dips' and 'sags' during operating on a wide range of temperatures. Some PSU's advertise high watts but only at very very ideal conditions otherwise it would be at XXX Watts.

The first thing to do is to figure out if your PC even accepts a standard ATX powersupply (for physical fit) and if there's any power connectors only available on a PSU from HP.

Next grab a good PSU, my suggestions are Antec True500 / NeoPower 450+ / Enermax 500+ / Seasonic 500+ (450/430 will do but it's not much more for a 500 ) Note that even though these are less wattage than your 650 it costs the same.

Then install

So question 1) I dont know, but I think NO.

2) You can not hurt it from a larger PSU, but you CAN hurt it from a low grade one (lots of power dips and sags can hurt your internals).

 

[Flewis]

What about one of those booster PSU's purely for graphics cards, you could still use your existing power supply for your system and buy a booster for the graphics cards, it might work out cheaper.