Do I Really Need A 20 - 24 Pin Conveter For My Motherboard/PSU?

[godbrother]

Hi, in the Graphics Forum, I posted a thread regarding combining 2 PC's into one for a friend. Anyways, I've gotten to the stage where I need to switch motherboards around, but the only problem is the motherboard that I need has a 24 pin power port, whilts the PSU only has a 20 pin out power cable. I tried it like so and the PC started up and went to desktop etc, but is it safe? Do I really need to buy a converter?

Specs:

PSU: FSP Group Inc. 350W PSU
CPU: Pentium 4 2.8Ghz HT LGA775 (prescott??)
RAM: 2 x 512MB DDR PC3200
GPU: 7200GS PCI-E
MoB: MSI MS-7046

I checked on a few PSU counculators, and the most that I ever need on full load is 320W's. The only problem is, will the 20 pin power this up fully? I'm sure it should but I just want to be on the safe side.

Regards.

 

[laluma22]

i had a intel core 2duo and mobo with 24 pin but i had a 400W 20pin supply so i just tried it was a few years ago it did not work
so i bought a cheap 24pin psu and it actually worked fine nothing was defekt after trying 20pin in 24pin

but i suggest you to buy if you want a new supply for furthere upgrades maybe a small supply like Combat Power CP 750 750Watt 44€ it also has a eps connector (4+4pin) for new mobos

hope i could help for questions just pm

greets laluma22

 

[godbrother]

^^ To be honest, the budget has been closed, my friend gave me $50 to salvage what ever I could find second hand on ebay and I did His PC blew out and his has broke as me.

So will it stay stable and keep running? Why is the 24pin needed anyways? What is the difference between that and the 20.

Regards.

 

[godbrother]

Waiting on a solid awnser, as I'm on hold to reinstall XP and I don't want to try everything out along the process if it won't be stable.

Regards.

 

[laluma22]

so the 24 pin has been made for the new cpus who need more power than other so it could be that because you have a older p4 processor you even dont need 24 pin thats why i am saying the difference is the power between ^^

maybe you just buy a adapter it costs 3$ maybe

probbaly it will work but you have to take care that there are 12+ and 12- not 10+ or - and the rest of 14 the other

greets laluma22

 

[jsc]

OK. The extra 4 wires (yellow - 12 volt, red - 5 volt, orange - 3.3 volt, and black - ground) are for extra current carrying capacity for the later full featured motherboards..

I had the same problem earlier this year. My 8 year old household computer died. Had a 400 watt Antec with 20 pin main power connector and 4 pin EPS cable in it.

Replaced the motherboard with a Gigabyte G41 motherboard, an E5200 CPU, and 4 GB of RAM. The old PSU powers it with no problems.

All I can suggest is try it and watch the system carefully for a while. I think that success will depend on the quality of the PSU more than the wattage.

 

[laluma22]

jep and if you get bsod or smt other it means not stable^^

 

[nforce4max]

It all depends on the boards requirements are. Most sli and crossfire boards need ata 2.0 or newer but some 775 boards will work fine with older power supplies like my biostar p4m890-m7-te with a Enermax EG475p-VE atx 1.3 (old but very good) and I have no troubles at all running conroes along with a ati x1900xt. When looking for a new board that will run with your Prescott but will compatibility for the 65nm and 45nm CPUs that will run with older units research the best you can and call customer service if needed regarding a board of choice BEFORE purchase. Last option get a new psu from newegg. AS for the 20 to 24pin convert they can be found online for a few bucks but you need to know atx version your psu is and the boards needs. It does no good to use the converter cable if the board won't accept the psu trust me I tried with my asus p5nsli (nforce4) while trying to use my Enermax psu that is only 1.3 while the board needed 2.0 even with the cable. When I tried several times it would only light and spin the fans for a sec then cut off. So I had to hunt down another psu for it that was not el cheapo el crapo like apevia is. Settled for a nice antec neopower 550 for only $40 used.

PS sorry for the long post.

 

[godbrother]

It's a fairly old board... It has DDR ram The only todays feture on it is the fact that it supports PCI-e.

So... Anyone can confirm? I really don't want to fry everything.

 

[godbrother]

^^ Specs for the motherboard on the first post.