ps compatibility?

You mainly have to go by the specifications and the type of power connection seen on any one board. Older boards will commonly use a 20pin main connector where P3, P4, Socket 754, 939, 940, AM2 boards will require the 24 or 20+4pin type connectors. The supplies with 20+4pin connectors can also be used on older 20pin model boards.
 
There are a few different standards of power supplies, but about all you see anymore is ATX and ATX 2.0. A new motherboard will probably have ATX 2.0, but is sometimes compatable with the older ATX standard.

Older ATX power supplies had 20 pins. 2.0 has 24 pins and is usally advertised as 20+4 because the last 4 are removeable for older motherboards.

Depending on the system, you may or may not need to look at the specs of the power supply. Most any sized PSU would be fine for your average machine. However, if you play to play games or use a good amount of drives, you may want to checks the amps rated on the 12v rail. (There are also some with two 12v rails...) Total amps on the rail(s) should be somewhere around 20amps for a mid-range system.
 
yeah, don't worry at all about that, just watch what amperage all the rails get. unlike most things on computers nowadays, most psu's are universal well except on dells, but that's a different story... :)
 
Yeah, wattage generally doesn't mean a damn thing. It's current that matters. A lot of people make that mistake, same as with stereos.

For example, a high current, low wattage amplifier will 9 times out of 10 annihilate a high wattage, low current amplifier. Same goes with PSUs.
 
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