Can I have too much power?

[gr3n4d3g1rl]

My case has a 500W PS and these are my components...I was wondering if too much power could damage them?

Seagate Barracuda 320GB HD
Gigabyte Socket, GeForce 6100 ATX AMD MoBo
Radeon X1950GT Video Card
2GB, 240-PIN SDRAM (dual channel)
AMD Athlon 64 X2 4600+
I also have a dual tower DVD recorder/burner

 

[shantic]

LOL a 500w is not considered to much power

 

[bigwater]

What brand is the psu-

 

[ALANMAN]

You cannot have 'too much' power. PC components will not draw more power than they need.

 

[caskachan]

I belive you can never have too much power, you power supply wheneve bought , will be rated at the max, outpout wattage it can deal, given you have hardware that sucks in that much wattage um... how do i say it simple x.x

the psu, in working order, will send out an standard voltage output, 12v 5v, each component you use uses that voltge, but some require more "juice" than other, this means they will still use 5v or 12v but will drain more wattage (more electricity at the same voltage) so you usally DO want a big Psu so you never run into problems, when your psu cant power up all of your components


i asume 450watts psu are the standard at this point, and peopel with SLI / 4 sticks of ram / 4 hard disks will be looking forward for 1000k psu or 1.2k psu's

hope this clears up o.o

 

[erloas]

Well you can have too much power, but it is when things go wrong. A power supply going bad can cause too much power, but that doesn't seem to be what you are asking.

In terms of "can my power supply be too large and cause damage to my system" then the answer is no. The only issue with having a power supply much greater then your needs is that power supplies have a range that they run most efficiently at (I think its in the 60-80% of max range but I'm not sure and it does depend on the PSU). So if you are running at like 40% load of your PSU you might be less power efficient then if you were running at 60%, but with a 500W power supply that is not an issue at all.

 

[rogerdandy]

Erloas has the right idea. If the solid state regulator goes in the powersupply it can SOMETIMES cause issues. DC is reasonably stable and out put is based on the limitations of your regulator.(combinations of current and voltage for output are limited to your total capacity, wattage) If your current goes high in failing your voltage falls and vice versa. If your rectifier circuit fails this is where most "dramatic failures" arrise in the form of distroyed components etc as AC can go directly to your components, in failing PSUs only. Most modern PSU come with internal breakers of sorts that trip out on over load and restore once powered down and powered back up again. As far as normal operation having more available wattage is not a problem.

 

[gr3n4d3g1rl]

just checking...

 

[mrmez]

Hahaha... soz i HAD to laff.
Typical grl question

"The files are inside the computer!!??"