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Can a stronger power supply hurt my mobo? HP says yes, others say no. What's the truth?

My stock power supply is 250 watts. I'm trying to upgrade my video card and need more power. HP says my MOBO is only "rated" for 250 watts and a more powerful PSU could "burn up" the Motherboard. Others have said that's not possible - the board only uses what it needs. The computer is only 4 months old - I'd rather suffer with poorer graphics than fry it, but I really want better performance. I need THE definitive answer. HELP!

Public Comments

1. no a powerfull PSU wont harm your system
2. What HP is saying makes no sense.
3. The wattage rating is what the power supply CAN put out if need be! If your system draws more than that, the POWER supply could fail. This has nothing to do with the motherboard. There is NO reason a larger watt power supply would burn up a board unless the board was malfunctioning in the first place! The power supply will ONLY put out what the board and peripherals needs! Whoever told you this is an idiot.
4. I can put a 1500 watt power supply in a basic Pentium 4 machine and won't hurt anything. The computer only uses what it needs.
5. The TRUTH is....HP is lying through their teeth. They want you to have to buy a new computer, so they scare you away from upgrades. But as others before me have said....a Bigger Power Supply will not hurt your computer at all. Like a lightbulb....your motherboard will only use the power necessary to run the components. The Socket for the lightbulb needs to be able to supply more than enough power otherwise you will actually have reduced performance. I have never seen ONE motherboard fried by a power supply that has a Wattage rating too High. On the other hand i have seen many processors, and power supplies blown up by too much VOLTAGE...not Wattage.
6. Well of course HP says yes, they want you to buy THEIR cheap little rinky din power supplies. The psu will only give the mothebroard what it needs, this is usually on a 5volt rail. everyhting else is split up on 12 bolt sail these things are for graphics cards, hard drives, cd players, lights, whatever. and this wattage can be as big as you want it. if there is unused things on the power supply, then it remains that way. it won't be channeled into the motherboard, nor will it over use your other things. the extra wattage is just sitting on stand by until you plug osmething in for it to be used. Buy ANY power supply that fits oyur case. Hope this helps
7. In OEM Products such as HP...there may be a situation that could damage the PC.. === Usually a PSU..will provide the necessary CURRENT...and there will be no Surge of Current as long as the Mobo does NOT malfunction... === Since OEM..uses Support...these people could cause a mal-function at some point...if you should CHANGE--the PSU..you should dis-continue useing HP-Support... === All PCs are built on FORM FACTOR...if you follow the Form Factor--your safe(100-%)..of the time... === If I were in your situation..I would build a New PC...from scratch---useing that 250-watt PC as my starting point--in PC-building... Find a Tower--- Buy a Motherboard...a CPU..some RAM... get a Optical Drive(S-ata)... a HDD(System C:/drive)S-ata... a Power Supply..like 600-watts... I researched my first PC..for 30-days... I built it in 2-hours..but really didn't start it up for another 30-days... Checking all my Connections... I bought a Full Version of Windows[tm]XP-Professional ($$279.00) ..SP2/ but Vista Home Premium would be better(same price)... === Don't mess with your 4-month old PC...learn your PC... ...[end]
8. Power supply rated in watts is the amount of power that it can handle to the load. That is to say, your power supply wattage should be greater than the load consumes otherwise the power supply may fail if not the circuit being supplied wont work. The truth is you need at least 400 watts, just make sure the PSU (power supply unit) will be compatible with your system, that means it will fit and have the right output plugs for your hardware.
9. The definitive answer is that HP is full of poo! A computer only uses the power it needs, and no more! You could have a 10,000 watt power supply, (exaggeration), but if the computer only needs 100 watts, it ONLY uses 100 watts! ONE THING you need to watch for!!!! Don't know if your HP computer falls into this category or not! SOME pre-built computer manufacturers went with being a proprietary manufacturer. Most only did this for a while. (MAC still does) In the area of the power supply, and more specifically the 20/24 pin ATX motherboard power cable, they did a 'Switcheroo'. The wires that go down in that connector have certain voltages. 3.3 volts, 5 volts, and 12 volts. (There is also a 'Soft Power On' wire, but we'll get to that in a moment) The Yellow insulated wire is Always -> 12 volts. The Red insulated wire is Always -> 5 volts. The Orange insulated wire is Always 3.3 volts. The Green wire is the Soft Power On wire. The Black wires are Always Ground wires. They go in specific socket holes in the connector. It's a standard setup. SOME manufacturers changed that! The color code for the voltages is still the same, but they put the wires in a different place! A different socket hole! Here are photos of how a standard setup is for a 20-pin ATX motherboard power cable, a 24-pin ATX motherboard power cable, and a 20 + 4-pin ATX motherboard power cable, A.20-pin:http://www.playtool.com/pages/psuconnectors/connectors.html#atxmain20 B.24-pin:http://www.playtool.com/pages/psuconnectors/connectors.html#atxmain24 C.20 + 4-pin:http://www.playtool.com/pages/psuconnectors/connectors.html#atxmain20plus4 Whichever connector type you have look at your existing motherboard ATX power cable now. Match it to the photos. MAKE sure your color codes of the wires, match that of one of those connectors! What if it doesn't? You plug in a power supply, that the color codes of the wires don't match, and you can watch sparks fly, as you press the Power On button! Not trying to scare you. Trying to make you aware! What would I do? S'up to you. Your computer is still under warranty IF, the wires were switched around, I (<-) would take a needle, put it in the side of the socket hole for the power wire in the connector, and remove the wire. Then, after I removed the wrong wire in the socket hole, where this wire is supposed to go, I would stick the right color wire, in the socket hole where it goes. (Sorry about the Run On sentence!) At the end of every wire in the motherboard power cable connector, is a flat spade metal connector. (Female) On the side of the flat spade connector is a tang. A small piece of metal that sticks up. Kind of like this -> l' <- (Okay, let's see you try to illustrate one! lol!) The needle pushes the tang flat, against the flat metal spade connector. The tang is what locks the flat spade connector in the socket. Just My 2Cent's!
10. No. Theoretically if there were insane PSU voltages like 2000 watts in ADDITION to a failing power control chip on the motherboard then it *could*, but otherwise completely false.