the ultimate "do i need a 24pin PSU ?" thread

[Cfour]

Hey guys I got the following system and I'm installing the hardware today...

CPU: AMD Athlon 64 Venice 3000+
Motherboard: DFI Lanparty
Memory: 1GB
Video Card: 6600GT
Hard Drives: 2 80GB Seagate SATA-150 for RAID 0
Will have a DVD Burner and DVD drive hooked up as well.

Power Supply: I currently have a 350W Enhance power supply, but I'm wondering if that will hold up or not.. so if any of you guys think that I should goto the 450-500 range, let me know.

If it doesn't work, there is a local store here that I will swing by the pick up a new one and I'd like you guys to suggest a couple quality ones from the following link in the event my current power supply doesn't work...

http://www.nanosys1.com/power-supply-protection-atx-power-supplies.html

 

[Budarow]

Originally posted by: kingrygar
Well, I gently put the computer together,.....

Try all your connections and sure all connections/sockets/cards/RAM are firmly seated...maybe you put your pc together too "gently"

 

[kingrygar]

Well, my new 24 pin Antec 430 came in today, and still no luck! I guess it's not the power supply issue after all...... I'm gonna get another motherboard first and see if that's it, if that doesn't work, I'm guessing I got a crap processor.

I sure can't think of anything else! Thanks for the help friends!

 

[Xcellere]

I'm using a DFI Ultra w/ a 24 pin convertor, do I need to use it w/ my 20 pin Antec TruePower550?

 

[Some1ne]

I'm using a DFI Ultra w/ a 24 pin convertor, do I need to use it w/ my 20 pin Antec TruePower550?

The answer to this question, regardless of MB make/model, is to simply consult the mainboard documentation (or possibly their online support/FAQ section). If the board was designed to support a plain 20-pin connector, it should say so and explain how to make the connection, just like my MSI Neo4 manual does. If the manual makes no reference to the possibility of using a 20-pin connector, I'd say stick with the adapter.

 

[GuitarDaddy]

I am continuing to see people having problems with the new 2.0 dual rail PS's, like the Antec 430 with 17a 12v1 and 17a 12v2. Especially with 6600GT's because they pull all their power from the mobo (same rail as the CPU). When overclocking the CPU and/or GPU it overloads the rail feeding the mobo.

 

[flexy]

hey guys...just want to chime in for a change

When i wrote that FAQ i NEVER in my dreams expected that it will be made sticky....and i am totally amazed how many views this thread already got and that it is the first sticky thread here on AT in general hardware

I also want to thank all the people who give advice here and help keeping this thread a helpful resource for everyone !

flexy

 

[rise]

Originally posted by: GuitarDaddy
I am continuing to see people having problems with the new 2.0 dual rail PS's, like the Antec 430 with 17a 12v1 and 17a 12v2. Especially with 6600GT's because they pull all their power from the mobo (same rail as the CPU). When overclocking the CPU and/or GPU it overloads the rail feeding the mobo.

the truepowers don't have anything on the 12v2 line but the cpu.

 

[compguy786]

has anyone recwently used a thermaltake soprano case w/PSU, im about to get that case, and a MSi nforce 4 motherboard, some ppl say the sopranos PSU has a 20-pin adapter, some say it has a 24-pin, which one is it ?

 

[BOLt]

Well done. Thanks for the clarification. I guess I took a risk buying that Enermax Noisetaker 470W 20-pin, but it's a strong PSU and the BFG GeForce 6800 GT OC PCI-e GPU that I bought came with the extra power connectors (even though it was OEM).

I'll definately link to this thread often, as I get many questions from my friends and customers (I co-own an informal computer company).

 

[exar333]

if the board is native 20 pin, run 20 pin

if the board is native 24 pin, run 24 pin

avoid adapters like the plague...they may work, but they just add another value in the equation for good power to your system...dont be cheap on power, you will eventually pay for it!

 

[Lark888]

I've been running stable for months now (Prime95, many different high end games, etc) with:
an overclocked 3200+
an ATI X800XL video card
1-120mm fan on case
1-92 mm fan on CPU
1 - 80mm fan on Northbridge
1-40mm fan on PWM,
3-160GB Maxtor 7200 drives
1 - NEC 3520 DVD
1 GB Ram
a 7 in 1 Card Reader


On a 20-pin Antec 380S Power Supply. Rest of setup in in signature at bottom. I do however, agree with previous poster about using 20 pin or 24 pin as dictated by power supply. Splitting the 20 pin rail in parallel to also power the additional 4 pins does not seem to be a good idea.

 

[Siddy]

Ive got a A8N-Sli deluxe board, which is dual (sli) pci-e, atm my psu is only the 20pin, although an extra 4pins go into another part of the board.
Since i am currently at school and have limited computer time, my comp sucks, with the chassis of a monster (a8n-sli) but the guts of a duck (64 3000+, 512mB ram, ax300 gfx) i have no need for a higher wattage PSU, my "350 ISO" does the job. I havent tested it but its probably more like 300 Watts... but when school is out and i 'DUAL IT UP' im going for 500+ watts 24pins for sure.

 

[cptCuervo]

I was stable with a 480W 20pin Thermaltake Silent purepower until I added an extra Gig of ram. Running Battlefield 2 with 2GB DDR400 made my system crash and reboot like crazy. I took out the extra ram it was fine. I can only assume that it was the PSU, because the RAM tested out fine with MemTest.

I'm going to throw in a 24pin and see if it helps stability.


MSI K8N Neo4 plat (v.1.5)
AMD64 3200+ (venice)
ATI X800XL
2GB Corsair XMS DDR3200
WD Raptor 74GB
WD 120JB x2
SB Audigy 2 ZS

 

[jdopple]

There no question that trying to build a bug free rig by research in advance, is a fools errand. 8 months into it, it might be another 10 years before I get it all lined up just right.

That said. I happened to buy the Antec Sonata case quite a while ago (380w ps), planning to move much sooner that I have.

So now , with a proposed setup of MSI K8N Plat, AMD 3000 Venice , and a 6600 GT, or plain 6600, do I have a problem with the 20 pins or not? Reading this thread, some say yes , some say no.

Any advice on how to proceed?

 

[jdopple]

Free bong and load for anyone that can reply to my last mesage,

 

[Some1ne]

That said. I happened to buy the Antec Sonata case quite a while ago (380w ps), planning to move much sooner that I have.

So now , with a proposed setup of MSI K8N Plat, AMD 3000 Venice , and a 6600 GT, or plain 6600, do I have a problem with the 20 pins or not? Reading this thread, some say yes , some say no.

I have that exact setup, plus 4 HDD's and 2 optical drives running off of the 380W PSU that ships with the Sonata (note also that I have the "original" version of the PSU that's rated for 18A @ +12V, while if your purchase occured in the last 6 months, you probably have the upgraded PSU that's rated for 24A @ +12V), so you should not have any problems whatsoever in terms of PSU capacity.

In the mainboard manual, you will find a section that describes exactly what you need to do in order to operate the board with a 20-pin PSU...it's not hard at all, and if my system is any indication, the board works just fine when used with a 20-pin PSU.

 

[jdopple]

Yeah, I have the 24 amp version. did some reading on the new 24 pin format, and it's mostly an issue with power hungry Vid cards. Hopefully , since I will not be getting any monster $500 jobs, it won't be a problem.

Only thing that's nagging me is the cold boot problem overclocking the MSI boards (219 bug). Do I take a chance and hope they get it fixed in a new bios?

 

[Some1ne]

My understaing is that the "219 FSB" bug only affects a very limited range of Winchester chips. Specifically, those that carry the CBBID stepping (or whatever that specifier is), produced from 51st week of 2004 until the Venice was introduced. I got very lucky and ended up with a CBBHD from the 50th week of 2004, and it is not subject to this issue. I had no problems overclocking my chip to 2,464 MHz, and never encountered the "219 FSB" bug. I have also heard that as of BIOS revision 1.5 final, this issue is fixed even on the CBBID chips.

So, if you have chip in hand (but not the mainboard yet), you might to check out the chip and see if it's a CBBHD or CBBID, and get a different board if it happens to be a CBBID (or just run at stock until you can flash the BIOS). Or, if you haven't purchased the CPU yet, just make sure you get a Venice based one, and you don't have to worry about this issue. I've seen reports of people getting Venice-based chips to 2.7 and almost 2.8 GHz on the MSI board using air cooling with no reported problems.

 

[jdopple]

Thanks. I thought from all the reading I've done that even the Venice had issues. We'll see soon enough . Ordered it all , and will be getting the Venice from ewiz ($115 oem).

Picked up evga 6600GT from the dreaded TigerDirect, since they have it at 179, and a 30 rebate. Good price on that one.

 

[Some1ne]

Yeah, I have the 24 amp version. did some reading on the new 24 pin format, and it's mostly an issue with power hungry Vid cards. Hopefully , since I will not be getting any monster $500 jobs, it won't be a problem.

Actually, even with one of those it seems like you'd be fine...I just got a 7800 GTX on e-bay (which I'm not keeping...I got it cheap because it was poorly advertised so I'm going to relist it shortly), and even with my 18A @ +12V 20-pin PSU I've been powering the card just fine (although I had to disconnect my two optical drives because I was out of free molex connectors...it was that or disconnect my case fans, which seemed like a bad idea). I've been taking screenshots and running benchmarks to get content for the e-bay ad, and it's performed just fine through the gaming, benchmarking, and overclocking tests (gets a nice 8700 3d-marks overclocked), and the PSU doesn't seem to have any problems with it (although admittedly I've only been using it for a day).

 

[Xionide]

Dude you fricken rock. Thanks for this.

 

[Illidan]

I've got a power supply (300 watt, 13A on the 12v rail) and going to upgrade to A64 3000+ 6600 GT PCI-E. I'm pretty sure this is a high quality PSU despite the old 20pinness and the low 12v amperage, because when the lights blink and Dad's computer reboots mine doesn't even notice

Thing is, if I plug my 20pin cable into a 24pin PCI-E mobo and plug the 6600 GT in, is there a chance of frying anything, or can I just test and see whether I need the new PSU?

(Basically, will trying to boot up with the power supply damage anything else if it doesn't work, or will it just lose power?)

 

[vnvenice]

get a 24pin just to be safe .... i had a 20 pin and it would NOT work for my DFI board. it was a 520w 20pin PSU too... i bought a 500w fortron and everything worked perfect and i overclocked well too.

 

[Pr0d1gy]

Indeed. 550w Antec TP2.0 here...works like a charm.