upgrade power supply?

[LexusAmaru]

 HI! I have a hp 270-p013wb and I have been trying to add a graphics card. The cards I have bought have fit alright, but when I power up all i get is a black screen. Do i need a bigger power supply? is it even possible to take out the old and put in a new power supply? Thank you!

[WAWood · Accepted solution]

@LexusAmaru 

Some video cards have their own power jacks for the additional power required to run them because they do not get enough power from the main bus.  You need to check yours to see if it has those.

Also, you need to look up specs for the video card you have and see what PSU rating it suggests as minimum.

And finally, generally, you can NOT simply replace an HP PSU, even if the replacement physically fits the case.  Why?  Because HP desktops nearly always have audio/USB jacks mounted in special plates in the cases, and those require special connectors on the motherboards to work.  If your motherboard has such connectors that requires leads from the PSU, a standard commercial PSU is not going to have those leads, and that will result in some hardware no longer working.

But that varies on a case-by-case basis with individual PC models -- and yours might not have that limitation.

[LexusAmaru]

Thank you so much!! Turns out, my new card DOES work, but now my webcam does not> LOL Such is life!