Solved power supply 20 pin vs 24

[p5200]

Will a 20 pin ps work in place of a 24 pin If not, what will not work properly? Thanks! I plugged the 20 pin into the 24 socket and everything seemed to work but no graphics? The graphics card gets it's power from the motherboard so, could the missing 4 pins be why I have no graphics on the monitor?

 

[Brink]

Hello p5200,

It's not recommended to use a 20 pin PSU cable on a 24 pin motherboard power connector. It would be recommended to update your PSU to one that has a 24 pin power cable.

All about the various PC power supply cables and connectors

You can plug a 20 pin cable into a 24 pin motherboard and it will work just fine. At least, it will for a while. They added those extra 4 pins for a reason. When you plug a 20 pin cable into a 24 pin connector you're not providing the extra current carrying capacity which may be needed by the motherboard. If your motherboard's current requirements are low enough then it will work properly with only a 20 pin power cabled plugged in. But if the motherboard draws enough current, then you can overheat the 20 pins you're using on the 24 pin connector.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[p5200]

Have you seen where I edited my original post? Thanks!

 

[badger906]

yeah itd almost certainly the issue. a pci gpu without its own power can draw upto 75w from the pci lane. which its not getting because of the missing 4 pin connector

 

[p5200]

yeah itd almost certainly the issue. a pci gpu without its own power can draw upto 75w from the pci lane. which its not getting because of the missing 4 pin connector

This is just testing I'm doing right now cause my daughter took the tower to the shop and they told her it was totally toasted. I did verify the 24 pin ps was no good and, I also noticed someone had changed the voltage selector on the rear of the ps to 230v.

 

[Brink]

In addition, that graphics card requires a 6-pin power cable from the PSU to be connected directly to the card.

Please note what I posted above about using a 20 pin power cable on a 24 pin connector. You risk burning out the connection if it overheats.

 

[p5200]

I plan to remove the ps from my backup tower which has a 24 pin plug also it's rated at 550 watts continuous instead of buying a new ps and if everything works, I'll order a new one if still not working properly I'll do more testing with the 24 pin supply. Thanks very much for all the help folks!

 

[Brink]

Glad we could help.

 

[Layback Bear]

You have got some good advice but if I may I would offer one more little goody.
When your 20 pin connector gets overheated and damaged it has also damaged the motherboard where the connector plugs into.

Now what is the reason for this.?

A connector is designed to handle xx amount of Amps.
When a piece of hardware requires more than xx amps than that connector can handle safely the manufacture will add a bigger connector or another power connector like in the case of your video card.
When you try to force xx amps through hardware or its connection that it is not designed for it creates heat, (lots of heat) and you will get a burnt or melted something.
Hopefully the motherboard is not damaged.

 

[p5200]

Doesn't seem like the socket over heated but, I guess I'll find out soon. Thanks!