Replacing my power supply

[heroman711]

So my computer stopped working the other day and through an autopsy, i narrowed the problem down to simply replacing my power supply. I opened my computer to look for the wattage, volts, etc. required by the power supply. I was told I should look for the wattage and buy something that either matches or exceeds it. The thing is that my power supply says in all caps MUST NOT EXCEED 160W. Ive been told that 160W is very low. Also, what does "+12v rail" mean? Should the voltage of my new power supply match the old ones? can i exceed the voltage? Is there anything else that i must look into before buying my power supply?

what should i look at. The input amount of volts or the output?

 

[Kroto]

the "+12v rail" is the voltage rail that supplies power to the most demanding components including the processor, drives, cooling fans and graphics cards.

I think what your PSU is saying when it says MUST NOT EXCEED 160W is to make sure the components power needs does not exceed that. You should be fine getting one with more wattage than that, i don't see why you would have a problem because more is better usually.

 

[wol-va-rine]

if your system was running on a 160w psu, then you can get a better one in the 300w-400w range really cheap, this Antec 380w would be more than enough to power your system and could handle some upgrades as well, $30 after MIR is pretty cheap for a good psu...

 

[familyman1]

I second that Antec. 80 plus certified, PCI Express 6-Pin, $45($30 after rebate)! If all you need is 380 Solid Watts of power, it's a steal!!