20 to 24-pin Power 1

[jdubbish]

Curious if it would possibly hurt my MOBO if I used a 20 to 24-pin adapter.

The reason I'm looking into this is because my case's front panel power supply is branching off of a 20-pin adapter, yet my MOBO uses a 24-pin adapter. So i have two options as follows:

1. Connect the 20-Pin adapter directly into the MOBO leaving the 4 left pins open. I fear this will not supply enough power to my MOBO.

2. Use a 20 to 24 Pin adapter to fill all 24 pins on the MOBO yet still enable my front panel to have power. Also concerned that this will not get enough juice to my MOBO.

I have contacted the manufacturer of the case to get their suggestion, and they suggested Option 1 above.

What do you all think about my options? Should I try to talk the manufacturer into creating a 24-Pin adapter for me (which is unlikely)?

It would be great if I could use a 4-pin or 3-pin power adapter to get the juice to my front panel, but the case calls for a rare 5-pin power connector on the front panel that cannot be found anywhere.

Thanks!

 

[dakota81]

The 20 to 24 pin adapter doesn't really do anything useful. The extra wires are there to allow the motherboard to draw more amperage if needed & have more stable voltage. The adapters do not work towards the purpose.

Most all motherboards work just fine with the 20-pin connector in a 24-pin slot. If you wanted to put a top-end cpu with a top-end graphics card, then you're looking at a new power supply anyways. In the mean time, use the adapter if you'd like, but you're getting no benifits from using it.

 

[jdubbish]

My power supply has a 20+4 pin adapter, so that's not the issue. The issue at hand is that the 5-Pin connector that powers the front panel of my case is stuck in a 20-Pin connector, and there are no alternatives besides using only 20-Pin or using the 20 to 24 pin adapter.

From what you've said, it sounds like using the 20 to 24 pin adapter will give no benefit over using just a 20 pin connector in the 24 pin slot.

Thanks for the info, it is much appreciated.

 

[paparazi]

I think I get what you mean!
The manufacturer in their wisdom has stuck the front panel loom into a 20pin power plug!

As dakota indicated, the use of only 20pins is not an issue for the average user UNLESS, high powered graphics cards and top end processors are used (the higher current draw then requires the extra pins)

This board will almost definately have the additional 4pin P4 socket as well anyway.

Martin

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[pbb72]

I've been using an Asus P5GD2 motherboard (24-pin) with an Intel P4/530 (3 GHz) and an Asus-branded ATI X300 (fanless) graphics card, connected to an Antec TruePower 380SP (20-pin, just left the last 4 pins uncovered) powersupply for over a year. The computer has been up and running around 75% of the time, no major problems.

Everything worked fine until two days ago, when the PC didn't want to start up anymore. Fans running, but BIOS and harddisks not accessed. The computershop tried a 24-pin PSU, and everything worked fine again.

I can't say with certainty that the 20-pin connection was the cause of the malfunction, but it seems a likely explaination.

 

[paparazi]

pbb72
You wasn't really going to have a problem with just the 20pins on this setup as your hardware current demands are not that high.
In this case the PSU simply gave up the ghost and probably went down on one rail, certainly nothing to do with only having 20pins connected.
Still a 380watt Antec would have been reasonably streched, I hope your new PSU is of equal quality.
Martin


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[pbb72]

Thanks for the reply Martin! Any suggestions for brands I should look for as a replacement for my PSU? I don't really have much knowledge in that area, and I don't know if I can buy another Antec here (I moved to Norway since then).

Peter

 

[paparazi]

No Problem,

All of the following I know are top shelf "quality" power supplies:

Antec, Enermax, FSP (Sparkle), Fortron Source, Jeantech, Hiper, Tagan, Zalman, Cannelwell Technology, Seasonic, Thermaltake and Akasa.

Although your present PSU is probably Version 1.3 standard? you might as well get a newer Version 2.0 or newer, with 24pins (as long as it has the four detachable for older motherboards like yours) most do.
The reason simply is because they are backward compatible and this newer version means you will be set for a future upgrade to a motherboard with the latest 24pins.

Guess it also makes sense to be looking for one with 450watts or above, again for the same reson (future upgrade)

Martin


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[paparazi]

My spelling!
Meant to say: ChannelWell Technology.


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