Safe to use power Adapter

[J_S]

Hi

I have an old motherboard (P4). It stopped working so had to get a new one. Only problem is that the new board has a 24 pin power plug where my power supply has a 20 pin connector. Found that you can get a 20 to 24 pin adapter.
is it safe to use this on a new board?

 

[Venomous]

Hi

I have an old motherboard (P4). It stopped working so had to get a new one. Only problem is that the new board has a 24 pin power plug where my power supply has a 20 pin connector. Found that you can get a 20 to 24 pin adapter.
is it safe to use this on a new board?

Are you sure?

If that PSU was replaced before then it is likely to be able to handle a 24pin set up. have a careful look at the cables first. There could be a small plug that can "slide onto the 20pin part". That would effectively make it a 24pin plug.

Often when buying PSUs they are set to 24pin & people have to remove those to work on a 20pin board if that's what the board uses.

Granted there were some PSUs that cannot take 24pin. But if you double check that you could save yourself a few rand.

 

[oldhat]

Firstly, as Venomous said, most PSU's will have a 20pin connector with a 4pin addon. However, some only have a solid 24pin connector & an adaptor is required. They work well if used with due care(make sure it's the right adaptor & that it's plugged in the right way!). Best of luck...

 

[garyc]

Using an adapter to go from an old 20 pin power supply plug to the current 24 pin layout is not a good idea. This can overload some of the pins on the plug. From <http://www.pcuser.com.au/pcuser/hs2.nsf/lookup+1/BD49CA5565DC5759CA25714100137F7B>:

Before anybody goes using a 20-pin to 24-pin adaptor and an older ATX power supply with a newer motherboard which requires a 24-pin connector it'd be best to sit back and reflect first on just what the system actually is. If the system is a rather basic home or office productivity system, with not a lot of components installed or peripherals connected to it, then you might get away with using such a configuration. The 20-pin to 24-pin adaptor provides an additional 12 volt supply to the motherboard by 'splitting' the 12 volt line. (In other words, the extra leads are there for a reason.)

But if the system is a high performance gaming system, or perhaps has lots of components installed, or a highly demanding graphics card installed, or maybe a number of USB devices regularly connected and drawing power from the motherboard, then the adaptor will NOT be a good idea. In such situations it would definitely be best to replace the old power supply unit with one which is more suitable.

Remember, wattage rating isn't enough in itself when it comes to power supply units. The unit needs to be able to deliver stable voltage levels, and adequate amounts of power to the places where it is needed. The 12 volt 'rail' being split in that older 20-pin unit may not carry enough power to cope with the increased load placed upon it.

 

[J_S]

Thanks
Machine really only being used to look at photos and other basic things. Will rather be safe and just replace the PSU.