Need Explaining

[Baltan]

What i dont get is does it matter what power supply you use on any motherboard???

If so how do you know what power supply your motherboard uses?

Baltan

 

[DonNagual]

Yes, there are some rules as to what PSUs work on what motherboards.

Can you give us your motherboard make/model? Then we can tell you what your motherboard needs, exactly.

 

[Baltan]

I have a Gigabyte GA-K8NS nForce3 250 Skt 754 1000FSB, DDR400, SATA RAID LAN, 8ch Audio, USB2, ATX Motherboard.



I ways also wondering how u find out what power supply motherboard etc need!

 

[JMMD]

That's a pretty basic motherboard. It needs a 20 pin connector (which is standard) and a 4 pin 12v which also comes on pretty much any board. Most 24 pin PSU's can work fine on a 20 pin Mobo, if you get a more modern power supply. What video card are you planning on putting in there?


BTW, The auto-link takes you to the wrong board.

 

[LipsOfVenom]

so um.....how do u plug in a 24 pin power cable into a 20 pin motherboard slot? I've done it the other way already, but i don't know if this way is possible

 

[Baltan]

I want to know how you know what power supply to get for any make/ module motherboard!

 

[LipsOfVenom]

it doesn't matter what make/model of a power supply you use for your motherboard. I.e. you can use Antec or Ultra Power supplys on any mother board you choose to. the only thing that matters is wattage available and most modern ones will be enough for you

 

[DonNagual]

Certain motherboards use certain "form factors" of PSUs but the majority of today's home computers are using the ATX12V form factor.

The other thing to watch for when matching the right PSU for your motherboard is the pin connectors. There are adapters available for just about everything these days anyways, but it is nice to not have to use them. Newer motherboards need a 24-pin connector and a secondary connection to the motherboard is often also needed depending on your motherboard. Most new (good) PSUs come with all the wires you could possibly need.

Then there are things like, does it have the special connectors for high end PCIe graphics cards, S-ATA power connectors etc. Again, adapters are easy to get ahold of and often come with the parts themselves so no worries.

The main 3 things you want to watch when buying a PSU are:

1. Form factor is matched: most will be ATX12V, you can confirm this in your motherboard's manual.
2. You have enough Watts for your system
(you can calculate your needs here: http://www.extreme.outervision.com/index.jsp)
3. That the PSU you choose is putting out decent amps on the 12v rail(s). For most systems 24amps is plenty but if you are putting together a high end machine with dual graphics, raid arrays and dual core CPUs you should be looking in the 30amps + range.

And then the most important part is to not buy CHEAP psus. If you go through this forum you will see hundreds of threads with people who have these new systems they have put together yet .... strange unexplicable crashes that they can't find the reasons for. Most of the time it is their new psu putting out bad juice.

An excellent read on which companies are good and which are not is here:
http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=792566

 

[DonNagual]

so um.....how do u plug in a 24 pin power cable into a 20 pin female motherboard slot? I've done it the other way already, but i don't know if this way is possible

A lot of the 24pin PSU cables actually allow you to "snap off" 4 of the pins to convert it to a 20pin. But for those that don't, you can buy an adapter like this one:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16812101122

 

[Baltan]

Thanks for the help!

 

[acoroian]

if you get a 24 pin power supply they provide that adapter if they dont have a snap off thingy.

So you wont need to buy the adapter =D

 

[YellowC4S]

There are a number of things to be considered. What do you plan to run in your system? Is noise an issue with you? Look at how EFFICIENT the PSU is. Ok, there is supposed to be 12v on the rails but how much does that fluctuate? Personally, I like Antec, Enermax and another one that I cannot think of the name right now. I use an Antec Phantom 500 in my system because I want quiet, reliable, efficient power.