motherboard auxiliary 12 volt connector

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Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt (More info?)

a theoretical question....
if a board was started without the 12v aux conector plugged to the psu
would any damage be done?
thanks
relloman

 

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Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt (More info?)

hairy colleague wrote:

> if a board was started without the 12v aux conector
> plugged to the psu would any damage be done?

The 20-pin socket has only 1 yellow 12V wire, and it's good for only 8
amps or so, mostly because of the contacts, and motherboards with CPUs
faster than about 2.0 GHz will draw slightly more current than that
from the 12V output. But if the contacts haven't become charred or the
surrounding nylon body hasn't darkened much, you should be OK.
Prolonged operation without the 4-pin 12V connector can melt the nylon
or char the contacts, and motherboard voltage regulators without
undervoltage protection can overcompensate for the low incoming voltage
and damage themselves.