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

[BeakerChem]

Just to make sure I have this all set, please tell me if I am wrong on anything here:

I have a dual 12V rail PSU, rated at 18A each rail (Combined 36A, as listed on the PSU). This is plugged into things the following way:

24 pin connector to the board, no adapters (24 pin PSU, 24 pin board), an EZ plug molex port on the MB which is plugged in with a molex, and a 6pin PCI-e plug plugged into my BFG 7800GTX.

My power to the video card is therefore theoretically coming from:

The 4 extra pins on the 24 pin main power cable (5.5 A?) + the EZ plug Molex (6A?) + the 6 pin PCI-express plug (??? A). The problem is that I need 24 A min (as per BFG tech support) to run the freaking video card. Although they may be off on their math, as they also say it needs ~115 W, which is only 9.6 A, hmm.

What I wonder is: With 18A per rail, do I have the power I need here?

What I am hoping is that the case is:

24 pins 4 pin extra - Rail 1 with the CPU?
EZ plug is probably on Rail 1 also.
PCI-express plug on rail 2?

So, 5.5+6A on one rail and up to 18 on the other? But then I have to pull at least 6A (24A-18A) off of the CPU line, and the X2 4800 needs a fair bit of current too.

Confused...

 

[Djhazzard]

heh

 

[LUILAX]

Sesperate need help??


What about this new ATX 600 wats PSu from Okia

this is the web site. can you review this and let me know is it a good PSU??

http://www.bccpc.com/Okia%20Blue%20LED.htm


Complies with ATX

600W Power Supply

Low Noise & Ripple

High Efficiency

Over-Voltage Protection

Short Circuit Protection on all Outputs

Energy Star / Green Power

3 Color LED Fan

Temperature Controlled

 

[LUILAX]

can any body review thsi site with feature for OKIA 600 watts??

pls see link.

thanks



http://www.bccpc.com/p4new%20power.htm


look at all the way to the bottom and it will show

URL specs and cert..

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

I'm not going to go through all 18 pages, but you can techincally run a DFI NF4 board w/o a native 24 pin PSU, but I don't recommend doing so.

IF you run into any problems and post on DFI-street, they will tell you to throw your PSU away and get a new one, so don't complain that 20 - 24pin adapters aren't working. I honestly think a lot of people are trying to scrape by with the bare minimum here and it's not worth it.

You will also need all 4 plugs into the motherboard. 12V molex, 5V floppy connector (yes get a splitter if you only have 1 power connector for floppy... i.e. OCZ Modstream PSUs need a splitter), 24 pin ATX, +4 pin 12V.... You should do this EVEN if you're running an A64 3000+ (not OCed) with an X300, 1 HD and 1 CD drive. The board will boot with bare minimum but once again, you will get flamed to hell at DFI-street if you're doing the bare minimum.

 

[imported_ceefka]

Whatever the specs, I wouldn't buy from a manufacturer that I don't know and that hasn't got any reviews out.

I also do not believe in overpowering my rig. SLI-people and hardcore overclockers do not take chances and buy heavy PSUs. If you're not one of them, try to pick a silent PSU with adequate power. There's no use sitting next to a vacuum cleaner when you can have silence.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

Originally posted by: ceefka
Whatever the specs, I wouldn't buy from a manufacturer that I don't know and that hasn't got any reviews out.

I also do not believe in overpowering my rig. SLI-people and hardcore overclockers do not take chances and buy heavy PSUs. If you're not one of them, try to pick a silent PSU with adequate power. There's no use sitting next to a vacuum cleaner when you can have silence.

Misconception. 600W power supplies don't run louder than 300W power supplies if you're only pulling in 300W. The 300W will be running hotter because it is running at 100% capacity.

You buy good PSUs regardless whether you overclock or not. If you do overclock, you have even m ore reason to buy a good PSU.

Good PSU does not mean vacuum cleaner in noise. Good PSU means better stability and actually QUIETER operation. Why? Good PSUs will be more efficient so they don't dissipate more heat. Good PSUs use 120mm fans so they can spin quieter. Good PSUs have good airflow design so a single fan is e nough to pull the air out.

My Seasonic S12 600W runs unbelievably quieter than my old Antec 300W on my old rig. I swapped the PSUs and tested them on an Athlon 1400 and damn right it was quiet. Even on my more power hungry A64 3700+ @ 2.64 and GF7800GT, it runs quieter.....

 

[a2005]

I WAS BUY THIS http://www.eurobids.net/auctiondetails.php?id=100028
this will be overclocked?

 

[imported_ceefka]

Originally posted by: DLeRium

Misconception. 600W power supplies don't run louder than 300W power supplies if you're only pulling in 300W. The 300W will be running hotter because it is running at 100% capacity.

You buy good PSUs regardless whether you overclock or not. If you do overclock, you have even m ore reason to buy a good PSU.

Good PSU does not mean vacuum cleaner in noise. Good PSU means better stability and actually QUIETER operation. Why? Good PSUs will be more efficient so they don't dissipate more heat. Good PSUs use 120mm fans so they can spin quieter. Good PSUs have good airflow design so a single fan is e nough to pull the air out.

My Seasonic S12 600W runs unbelievably quieter than my old Antec 300W on my old rig. I swapped the PSUs and tested them on an Athlon 1400 and damn right it was quiet. Even on my more power hungry A64 3700+ @ 2.64 and GF7800GT, it runs quieter.....

You are right about better PSUs having better efficiency and so on, but let me clarify. What has not been pointed out in this thread is that efficiency determines how much of the wattage drawn from the wall socket is translated into heat.

In this article you can see why having a 600W PSU is not always advisable. While the unit itself might not make extra noise for cooling, your case fans might. Also, you're wasting precious energy

The most efficient work on a 600W PSU is done at higher loads than with a 350W. If your system draws 280W while you're trashing aliens in your favourite game (just guessing here), the 600W typically operates at less efficiency than a 350W would.

Besides, an old 300W Antec for such a rig would seem inadequate to me. I am not suggesting that you should underpower your rig. Any maxed out PSU operates past its max efficiency.

 

[gplracer]

I have a Fortron 530 watt power supply with a 20 pin plug. Would it be ok with the following system?

Athlon64 3200 - overclocked
Corsair 3500 DDR
7800gt video card
WD Raptor
WD 160gig drive
nec3540a dvd writer
liteon 52x cd writer
tv tuner

Thanks!

 

[PicHold]

LITE-ON Black IDE DVD Burner Model SOHW-1693S Black - Retail
ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
eVGA 256-P2-N518 Geforce 7800GT 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card - Retail
AMD Athlon 64 3700+ San Diego 1GHz FSB Socket 939 Processor Model ADA3700BNBOX - Retail
Thermaltake VENUS 12 80mm Ball Cooling Fan/Heatsink - Retail

I will be running raid0 74gb raptors, and probably 3-4 other IDE drives. Will have at least 1gb corsair XMS platnium

I will also be overclocking. So, what PSU should I get?

Will this:
Antec NEOPOWER 480 ATX 480W Power Supply - Retail

Be enough to power the rig?

Or would this case/psu combo be enough?
Antec LifeStyle SONATA II Piano Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 450Watt SmartPower 2.0 ATX 12V V2.0 for AMD & Intel systems Power Supply - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811129155

 

[Richdog]

This guide is great... just helped me make the decision to use my 20-pin in my 24-pin DFI SLI for the moment lol... until I get an Akasa PowerPlus 650wwith quad 12v rails.

 

[Roomraider]

Under heavy SLI gaming conditions my rig would shut down in less than 5 minutes, just as if I pressed the power off button during the game. Now keep in mind these shutdowns were not system crashes or BSOD's, because there were 0 errors in the event logs.
When I built both my rigs I did lots of research, power supply was at the top of the list due to SLI power demands. I grabbed 2 Thermaltake W0049 680 watt Purepower units as soon as they hit the market. To sum it all up I spent weeks changing out different hardware and reloading OS's because I just refused to believe that Themaltake could have a bunch of brand new power supplies that would only fail under SLI mode. Thermaltake RMA'd me a new 1 and guess what? Same problem!!! I switched over to an Nvidia SLI Certified unit and never had another shutdown & I'm now able to overclock.
Problem identified (Design Flaw) Warning to SLI users, do not invest in a power supply that does not seperate the SLI connectors. Namely 7800 GTX's will pull over amps from a single 2 connector SLI line. Spend a lil more $$$$$ and buy an (Nvidia Certified SLI) power supply. Don't make the same mistake i did. Don't buy a Thermaltake!!!!!!!!!


::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Rig # 1 Gaming & Video Encoding

MOBO =ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe (Bios V.1013) Nforce 4 vers.6.66
CPU =AMD Athlon 64 X2 4800 Dual Core TOLEDO @ 218 mhz x 12 @
1.40 v = 2.65 GHZ
CPU Cooler =Zalman CNPS7700-Cu
PSU =950 watts peak (PC Power & Cooling) 850 ETX-PFC SLI Cert.
MEMORY =2xCorsair 512Mb 3200 XMS PRO/Dual channel 2-2-2-5 @ 2.90 v
Video =2xBFG 7800 GTX PCIE OC W/matching Serials & DVI-D Dual Link
cable Forceware Vers.81.84
HDD =2xWD-74 GB (SATA) Raptor HDD/Raid(0)configged
2xMaxtor 300 GB SATA HDD
OPTICAL =2xPlextor PX716-SA(SATA)/PX716-AL(Trayless IDE) 16xDual
Layer+-DVDRW-48xCDR
CASE =Lian-Li P60 W/clear side panel
SYS. Fans =4 Blu 80mm/1 Blu 92mm(roof/exh)& 4 Blu Cold Cathode Lite Strips
MONITOR =Sony SDM-P234 23" 1920x1200 native DVI-D Dual Link Interface
SOUND =Creative Audigy-4 Pro,YamahaDSP-A3090 7.1ch amp/2 Boston
Acoustics Micro90/Bose AM-5 W/Sub

See it here http://img291.imageshack.us/my.php?image=PC1001.jpg
http://img291.imageshack.us/my.php?image=PC1003.jpg


::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Rig # 2 Gaming & Theater
MOBO =MSI K8N-NEO4/SLI (Bios V.3.6) Nforce 4 vers.6.66
CPU =AMD Athlon 64 FX55 Clawhammer @ 200 mhz X 13 @ 1.5 V = 2.61 GHZ
CPU Cooler =Zalman CNPS7700-Cu
PSU =Thermaltake Purepower 650 Watt SLI Edition
MEMORY =2xCorsair 512Mb 3200 XMS PRO/Dual channel 2-2-2-5 @ 2.75 v
Video =2xBFG 7800 GT OC PCIE W/matching Serials W/DVI-I to HDMI Single
Link cable Forceware Vers.78.03
HDD =2xWD-74 GB Raptor (SATA) HDD/Raid(0)configged
OPTICAL =1x Plextor PX716-SA (SATA) 16xDual Layer+-DVDRW-48xCDR/RW
1X LG DVD Rom (IDE)
CASE =Lian-Li PC-800B Theater Case
SYS. Fans =2 Blu 80mm/1 Blu 100mm(roof/intake)/2 40mm Rear Exh.
MONITOR =Sony KDS-R60XBR1 60" LCD HDTV 1920x1280 native 1 RGB-15/
2 HDMI Interface
SOUND =On-board 24 bit Creative SB Live/Fiber Optic SPDIF Out
Yamaha RX-V3000 DTS 7.1 ch Reciever/4 Rotel RB-1080 2ch 200 watt
amps/2 Paradigm Monitor-90P 250 Watt Front Towers W/Built in 525
Watt Powered Sub Amp/1 Paradigm CC-370 175 Watt center/
2 Paradigm AMS-300 150 Watt in-wall L/R rears/
2 Paradigm AMS-300 150 Watt in-wall rear DTS centers
2 Boston Acoustics Micro90 Front effects spkrs
See it here http://img291.imageshack.us/my.php?image=PC2-006.jpg
http://img291.imageshack.us/my.php?image=PC2001.jpg

 

[Budarow]

I was worried that my PSU with it's 20-Pin ATX wasn't going to cut it with a "high end" PCI-E video card, but my PC works great. I suspect it would also work just fine in SLI mode with dual 7800GTs, but haven't put it to the test and to be frank, may never (i.e., by the time my video card CAN'T PLAY new games with high visual quality, the next generation "higher end" 1 card solution will likely be priced good enough to justify only using 1 video card again).

As long as your PSU has a lot of amps on the 12-volt rail (e.g., ~28 amps), I don't think too many peeps would have a power supply issue.

 

[SunnyD]

flexy - thank you for this thread, it answers exactly what I was about to post. You rock.

 

[MrX8503]

This is a great thread and it answered alot of my questions that many sites do not. But i still have a few more questions.

I just bought a sapphire x800 gto 256MB. The GTO, not the GTO2. (Tried to get the GTO2, but was cancelled due to out of stock, sucks). I've noticed that the Sapphire gto does not have a 6pin connector, so how is this card powered? I assume that the card just draws power from the pci-e slot itself, but the box says it needs to be connected directly to the PSU. So i'm confused.

Also, does anyone have a suggestion on what 400w+ PSU with 24-pin i should get? I was looking at Topower. I wanted to stay in the $50+ range. Thanks

 

[cmulder]

I have Pentium D Dual Core and Thermaltake Silent Power 20 Pin supply. Do I need the 24 pin power supply? Mine seems to be working fine with 20 pin.

 

[spyork]

I'm thinking about picking up a Sonata II for a HTPC project I'm working on. I've got an Abit NF7-S NForce2 board laying around which has a 20-PIN connector. The Sonata II case comes with a 24-PIN power supply. Can I use a 24-PIN power supply with my 20-PIN motherboard? Thanks...

 

[Roomraider]

you'll need the proper 24 to 20 pin adapter.
You can get one for $6.99 @ http://www.newegg.com/product/Product.a...maltake+PSU+Adapter+Cables+Model+A2169


MOBO =ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe (Bios V.1013) Nforce 4 vers.6.66
CPU =AMD Athlon 64 X2 4800 Dual Core TOLEDO @ 218 mhz x 12 @
1.40 v = 2.62 GHZ
CPU Cooler =Zalman CNPS7700-Cu
PSU =950 watts peak (PC Power & Cooling) 850 ETX-PFC SLI Cert.
MEMORY =2xCorsair 512Mb 3200 XMS PRO/Dual channel 2-2-2-5 @ 2.90 v
Video =2xBFG 7800 GTX PCIE OC W/matching Serials & DVI-D Dual Link
cable Forceware Vers.81.85
HDD =2xWD-74 GB (SATA) Raptor HDD/Raid(0)configged
2xMaxtor 300 GB SATA HDD
OPTICAL =2xPlextor PX716-SA(SATA)/PX716-AL(Trayless IDE) 16xDual
Layer+-DVDRW-48xCDR
CASE =Lian-Li P60 W/clear side panel
SYS. Fans =4 Blu 80mm/1 Blu 92mm(roof/exh)& 4 Blu Cold Cathode Lite Strips
MONITOR =Sony SDM-P234 23" 1920x1200 native DVI-D Dual Link Interface
SOUND =Creative Audigy-4 Pro,YamahaDSP-A3090 7.1ch amp/2 Boston
Acoustics Micro90/Bose AM-5 W/Sub

 

[spyork]

Actually that adapter looks opposite of what I need. I need to convert a 24-PIN powersupply to 20-PIN. That Thermaltake cable converts a 20-PIN powersupply to a 24-PIN. Is there an adapter that converts 24-PIN to 20-PIN? Thanks...

 

[spyork]

Actually I just found an adapter that came with my 24-PIN Coolermaster powersupply that converts to 20-PIN. I'm assuming this should work with an Antec powersupply?

 

[Roomraider]

All manufactures should be universal, It should work for you. Good luck!

 

[yllus]

Just wanted to thank the OP and others for this thread, it saved me a bunch of time in tracking down a 20 to 24 pin adaptor tomorrow! My AMD 3700+ is happily booting along on my Sparkle FSP300-PN PSU.

 

[kapeedmaro]

thanks

 

[Hikari]

What about Seasonic? Their 430+ models have 20+4 on them, and they are whisper quiet to boot.