Guide: Upgrading a Power Supply (PSU)

This guide will cover how to replace or upgrade the power supply in a typical consumer PC.

PC being used as an example is an HP pavilion with a 300w power supply

First, remove the side panel

Highlighted are the four locations that this power supply connects to items in the case.
1) sata power cable to the hard drive
2) sata power cable to the DVD drive
3) 24pin ATX to the motherboard
4) 4pin ATX12v to the motherboard

All power connections discontected

Remove the screws fastening the current power supply.
Keep these as you will use them to mount the new power supply.

There may be an additional latch inside the case that will need to be depressed to free the power supply.
It may take a little wiggling to free the power supply.

You are half way done, set your old power supply aside

The new power supply will be a Corsair CX430

Mount the new power supply ensuring the fan is pointing into the case (or out of the case in the event the case has venting for the power supply)
Fasten the power supply using the screws that held in the previous power supply

Your current motherboard may have a 4pin ATX12v socket.
Your new power supply will probably have an 8 pin EPS/ATX12v cable

This cable will either be 2 independent 4 pin cables, or it will latch together using hooks as shown here.

Plug this in as shown. The right hand set of four (with the latch on top) is used.
You can also identify which set of four is correct by examining the peg shapes. The correct side will have a combination of square pegs and curved pegs.

Plug in all power cables that you removed earlier (2 mobo, 1 hard drive, 1 dvd drive in this case) and replace the side panel
Congratulations, you have upgraded your power supply.