silly question reguarding mobos

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FatylPCs
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silly question reguarding mobos

Post by FatylPCs » Sun May 02, 2010 5:17 pm

i have always used motherboards with apporpriate power supplys, so im just curious if i can use a 20 pin psu on a board that has a 4 pin adapter connection.

i have 2 powersupplies laying around and the smaller one is a 20 pin and wanted to stick with it scince it will fit into a small form factor case

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jdmlight
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Re: silly question reguarding mobos

Post by jdmlight » Sun May 02, 2010 5:35 pm

FatylPCs wrote:i have always used motherboards with apporpriate power supplys, so im just curious if i can use a 20 pin psu on a board that has a 4 pin adapter connection.

i have 2 powersupplies laying around and the smaller one is a 20 pin and wanted to stick with it scince it will fit into a small form factor case
If you're asking about whether you can use a 20-pin power supply on a 24-pin motherboard, the answer is no, not easily. :wink:

However, if you wanted, you could make an adapter that fills in the extra four pins with the appropriate voltages.
20-pin ATX pinout -and-
24-pin ATX pinout

If you're asking about the little four pin adapter that plugs in somewhere near the CPU, iirc that one is just +12v and ground. You can use an extra Molex plug for that one.
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nevermind1534
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Re: silly question reguarding mobos

Post by nevermind1534 » Sun May 02, 2010 5:38 pm

It may actually work without an adapter, depending on the video card you have installed. Some motherboards even come with a cap over the extra 4 pins. If it works (with or without an adapter), I'm not sure how long it will last if you have a nice video card, because I don't know of any decent high wattage modern power supplies that only have a 20 pin connector.
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FatylPCs
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Re: silly question reguarding mobos

Post by FatylPCs » Sun May 02, 2010 5:41 pm

well i know that a 24 pin powersupply wont work, but im using this motherboard http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6813500045" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; and was curious as to usin a stander 20 pin PSU will work with it or if i have to use the 4 adapter (the 12v connection that sits next to the CPU)

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Re: silly question reguarding mobos

Post by nevermind1534 » Sun May 02, 2010 5:44 pm

I see what you mean now. It only needs that extra separate 4 pin connector. That board doesn't draw much power, so it should be fine. I can't guarantee if the PSU will still be good in a few years, but I don't see why it won't work. You do need that separate 4 pin connector, though. The CPU requires the extra power from the 12V rail to function properly.
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Re: silly question reguarding mobos

Post by FatylPCs » Sun May 02, 2010 5:50 pm

hmm... should i make an adapter from the ground and 12v off of my PSU?

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Re: silly question reguarding mobos

Post by nevermind1534 » Sun May 02, 2010 5:57 pm

FatylPCs wrote:hmm... should i make an adapter from the ground and 12v off of my PSU?
You could make one, but one made specifically for it might be better. The pinout can easily be found online if you want it.
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FatylPCs
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Re: silly question reguarding mobos

Post by FatylPCs » Sun May 02, 2010 6:31 pm

well in answer to neverminds question, im not running a vid card at all - just using the onboard vid

and i'll be looking for pin outs tonight just in case

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Re: silly question reguarding mobos

Post by jdmlight » Sun May 02, 2010 7:58 pm

FatylPCs wrote:well i know that a 24 pin powersupply wont work, but im using this motherboard http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6813500045" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; and was curious as to usin a stander 20 pin PSU will work with it or if i have to use the 4 adapter (the 12v connection that sits next to the CPU)
Yes, you have to use the 12v connection that sits next to the CPU. It's the #1 thing that's happened to me and a few of my friends when building our PCs - we forgot to plug in this connector and it won't boot. (ketchup, squintus, and a few others that aren't on benheck all said they wouldn't forget this, yet we all did :lol: )

Here's an adapter from Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/CablesToBuy-Power ... _4?ie=UTF8
For $5 + shipping, I wouldn't bother making your own.
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FatylPCs
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Re: silly question reguarding mobos

Post by FatylPCs » Sun May 02, 2010 10:13 pm

yeah... learned that one the hard way... looks like imma use a big ugly one till i can get mine in from new egg lol - can any one recomend a budget pc status monitor kinda like the one on the Doom3 case mod?

Image

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jdmlight
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Re: silly question reguarding mobos

Post by jdmlight » Sun May 02, 2010 10:36 pm

FatylPCs wrote:yeah... learned that one the hard way... looks like imma use a big ugly one till i can get mine in from new egg lol - can any one recomend a budget pc status monitor kinda like the one on the Doom3 case mod?

Image
You can mod a PSOne screen to accept VGA. That's a really commonly-used screen in custom PCs. (well and everywhere really)

That's an awesome case mod btw.
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FatylPCs
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Re: silly question reguarding mobos

Post by FatylPCs » Sun May 02, 2010 10:46 pm

jdmlight wrote:
FatylPCs wrote:yeah... learned that one the hard way... looks like imma use a big ugly one till i can get mine in from new egg lol - can any one recomend a budget pc status monitor kinda like the one on the Doom3 case mod?

Image
You can mod a PSOne screen to accept VGA. That's a really commonly-used screen in custom PCs. (well and everywhere really)
is there something smaller prahaps i can use? im stuffing a media center into an old xbox shell
That's an awesome case mod btw.
yeah i found it online a few months back and loved the LCD on it BUT its a tad out of price range atm lol

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