Power Suppy 20 Pin and 24 Pin

[jollyjohn]

G'day all
I bought a 360W Gigabyte Superb Power Supply. My problem is the connector to MB is 24 pin instead of 20 pin. Is there an adapter from 24 to 20 pin connector, or should try to exchange the PSU?

Regards

John

[edDV]

The extra pins are there to add amps to the motherboard.

Most allow you to split off the 4 newfangled pins.

Image from : http://www.smps.us/20-to-24pin-atx.html

[jollyjohn]

Thanks edDV. I'll have a look at that.

John

Edit

I had a look. It's one piece and cannot be splitted. I'll try to exchange it as the adapter is about AU$17.00 with shipping.

Thanks mate.

John

[DB83]

The illustration shows the extra pins slotting to the side of the others.

Some connectors have the extra pins slot in a vertical direction [20pin]^v[4pin] (sorry for my poor diagram)

[Poppa_Meth]

Exchange it. Gigabyte isn't exactly top notch for a PSU anyway. Corsair, Antec, or Seasonic would be my choice.

[wingnut2003]

or you could get one of these http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3599290

[DB83]

or you could get one of these http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3599290

Which would be no use whatsoever.

The OP already has a 24 pin connector from the PSU.

[DarrellS]

I think he meant one of these...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812530004

[DB83]

I think he meant one of these...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812530004

Now that one does look more useful.

[The_Doman]

I think he meant one of these...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812530004

Now that one does look more useful.

You only need a adapter lead if there is no room for the overhead from the larger connector.
If there is room you can just hang the extra pins off the connector.
The pins are keyed so it can (normally) fit only one way.

[jollyjohn]

Happy New Year to all of you.

Problem solved. I did what The_Doman suggests. After digesting edDV's diagram I tried leaving the extra pins hanging out off the connector. It worded fine.

I'm sorry Poppa, I read your post too late to exchange it. I'll have Corsair, Antec, or Seasonic in mind next time.

Thank you all for the replies

john

[Poppa_Meth]

You'll probably be fine with it. Gigabyte is a good brand they just aren't generally a PSU company.

[bevills1]

Recently I encountered the opposite circumstance where the PSU was 20 pin while the mobo was 24 pin. I could have used the 20 pin male to 24 pin female adapter, but I happened to have an extra PSU with 24 pin connector and simply swapped the PSU.

[edDV]

Recently I encountered the opposite circumstance where the PSU was 20 pin while the mobo was 24 pin. I could have used the 20 pin male to 24 pin female adapter, but I happened to have an extra PSU with 24 pin connector and simply swapped the PSU.

The extra four pins duplicate existing pins as shown above. They did this to allow the motherboard to consume additional amps.

[redwudz]

The extra four pins duplicate existing pins as shown above. They did this to allow the motherboard to consume additional amps.

They also did that because the individual Molex pins would overheat with too much amperage passing through them and melt down the connector. A major problem if the pins had been replugged a few times and had loosened.

And just because there are four extra pins on the ATX connector doesn't guarantee that they are on a separate power supply rail. More of a problem with cheaper PS's.

The higher amperage draw of some video cards and some of the higher wattage CPUs also caused this change. Most newer high power video cards use a separate PS connection.

But with older systems, no problem with using a 24>20 pin adapter or just letting the extra pins hang over the side.

[The_Doman]

Recently I encountered the opposite circumstance where the PSU was 20 pin while the mobo was 24 pin. I could have used the 20 pin male to 24 pin female adapter, but I happened to have an extra PSU with 24 pin connector and simply swapped the PSU.

When really in need to you can also use a 20pin ATX plug directly into a 24pin connector.
But of course that is only advisable to do with a system which draws not so much power.

[jollyjohn]

I found this in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_supply_unit_(computer)