A friend is replacing his power supply, it only has a 180w power supply (which I thought would of been bigger, his PC is only 2 years old), does it hurt to install a 300w power supply??
Thanks
Rick A.

I would get atleast a 400W, I have a 300W now, about to get a 580W. But if all he needs is 300W, it should do ok, I have alot hooked up to it.

Thanks Goten

The stated wattage of a power supply can be misleading. Chances are that his 180w was a quality true power-rated supply. You can find that cheap supplies rated at 300 watts are actually less capable than his 180watt!
It's a case of paying for quality. Choose a decent 300 or 350 watt branded PSU made by a decent company like Antec and you'll be ok. Expect to pay at least £30 ($45) for a suitable one.

I actually found a 580watt on newegg for $35

I still stick by 'you pay your money, you take your choice'. Cheap PSUs will only cause problems. The PSU is possibly the most important part of any system as far as reliability is concerned. If a cheap PSU blows it can take a lot of other components with it. Pay a bit extra for a dcent make and then at least sleep peacefully!

Antec true power
a little pricy, but well worth it's cost
It has steady current/ voltage and as the true states true x wattage (x for whatever rating you would get) It's also quite quiet too.

When all else fails beat the $%!* out of it!!!

A 300W psu may not be compatible with his 180W. What kind of computer does he have?
If you don't know, try running everest home edition and tell us the motherboard type. Many Emachines, Gateway and other brand machines from a couple years ago will not work with an atx psu.

180W sounds like a micro atx too

When all else fails beat the $%!* out of it!!!

Thermaltake W0014 Silent Purepower 480W with Black housing - Xaser Edition ATX 2-Fan Power Supply for $59 looks good to me, I may buy soon.

Dude, do your homework before you buy! Check these two sites or you may be sorry:

http://www.jscustompcs.com/power_supply/

http://www.firingsquad.com/guides/power_supply/default.asp

It's a QVC PC the only ID is the AMD processor sticker on the front. His PS is dead, the old one was a "In Win", the new one is a "Power Age"....
Thanks for all of the Replies
Rick A.

If you installed a new more powerful PSU and it works, then it is OK. More watts won't cause the PC to burn up.

a new psu will not hurt the machine

but a new psu might not work at all. You won't know until

1) you try it

2) or post the motherboard

My system(P3 750MHz 256M.B.SDRAM) came with a 145W P.S. I have added a graphics card a sound card an additional drive (CD-RW) and a slot fan for extra cooling. I had a friend give me a brand new 350W P.S.U when he decided to upgrade his P4 with a 450W P.S. B/4 ever using the P.C. I was excited to have a stronger P.S. to install .However as a previous reply stated ,I ended up having a micro ATX P.S. and the 350W was for a full size tower ,it simply would not fit in my tower. Since I have been looking for a P.S. that would work ,however I also was warned that many may not be compatable. Iam still using the 145W with no problems ! Here are the spec's> Micro ATX power supply is a 145W, six output unit with remote on/off, energy star certification, UL, CSA, CB, TUV, NEMKO and CE approvals. Includes -5V output, which provides the flexibility for use with Micro ATX or ATX motherboards. Compact PS3 Form Factor allows use of standard computer cases. On/off "kill switch" on back of power supply, readily accessible on rear computer panel. Airflow drawn out of case into surroundings by 80mm internal fan. Manufacturer P/N FSP145-60SP.
Good Luck Nick

"I am still using the 145W with no problems !"

Then do not change power supplies. Anytime your system is stable, your power supply is adequate.

Power supply requirements are roughly a function of system loudness. That is not because of the fans you may have added, its because of the fans that came with the cpu and video card.

If every poster would include their motherboard model the world would be a better place. But instead we helpers are usually kept in the dark.

Ok, guys, I finally have his PC. This is the issue, the old PS would only run about 2 sec. and then kickout, I installed the new PS and it's doing the same thing, runs about 2 sec. and kicks out. I had it running about 5 mins. one time before it quit, but never got a post or the 3.5 never accessed, but the CD did....
Thanks
Rick A.