New Power Supply + Old Board & Electricity 101

[Ares]

Ok, here's something i'm not entirely familiar with. Maybe someone out there knows the answer to this one.

I'm putting together a linux box (finally) out of bits and pieces of a few old machines i have laying around. I'm planning to use a motherboard that originally was powered by a 200 watt Power Supply and a 500 mhz AMD chip. I recently bought a new case for my new build and it came equipped with a 400 watt Power Supply. Now i'm wondering, is there a such thing as supplying TOO MUCH power/wattage to a machine? I'm not sure how the whole thing works, and i admit i really should study up on electricity 101 to familiarize myself.

Will i have any problems powering my older mainboard with my newer/much more powerful Power Supply? The power supply has the right connector for the mainboard, so that's not a problem. I guess to summarize...

Does the mainboard and peripherials draw (or suck in) whatever electricity/wattage it needs, or does the power supply give a certain amount of wattage/juice to the devices depending on it's own size/wattage? Some basic electricity 101 is needed here. Just wanna know if there's a chance i'll supply too much power to my old board and fry it lol.

The more i think about it... i think the devices draw in what they need. Which means i'd be fine... right?

 

[pc_boy]

Yes, the motherboard only takes as much as it needs from the power supply, the PSU doesn't force 400watts or watever of electricity into the Motherboard. If you read on the labe, it will even say "400Watts MAXIMUM power" or something like that. The amount of watts is the maximum amount of power the PSU can give out.

 

[Ares]

Kewl. Thanks. I figured it was something like that but it doesn't hurt to ask. I'm no electrician, so i wasn't sure how the equipment was supplied it's power. Now i know.