Power Supply deferences of these 2, please?

[EzTechGuy]

Power Supply question please?
My Dell 2300 Power supply has a 20 PIN ATX Cable Plug and a 4 wire plug which is: 12V (P4) What’s the difference or name differences between a power supply that has both the 20 PIN ATV Cable Plug & 4 wire Cable Plug 12V (P4) ? Some similar power supply’s has the 20 PIN ATX Power Supply Cable and Plug but does not have the other 4 wire Cable Plug 12V (P4) ? What is both called by name or what’s their different style names please?

I wanted to test my buddy’s pc power supply out on my older pc but my pc didn’t have or didn’t have a power supply that has 2 cables. The one pc of my buddy’s didn't have the 2nd power supply cable of the 1 4 Hole Plug with two yellow and two black wires and it smoked my pc motherboard, the plug was the same but voltages musta been very different.

Note: didn't have any Power Supply manuals or nuttn.

Wanting to learn more is why asking.

Please reply?

EzTechGuy

 

[vegasgmc]

Most Dells have a proprietary ATX power connector. It looks the same as a standard connector but is wired differently and plugging it into a non-Dell mobo will destroy the mobo.
Most newer boards have the extra 12v lead because there are so many extra things on boards these days like onboard video and sound and RAID controllers, USB, Firewire.

 

[RealBlackStuff]

Here's an overview of the different standards
http://www.endpcnoise.com/cgi-bin/e/faqpsus.html

and some more info, plus the standard 20-pin wiring diagram.
http://www.directron.com/2powersupplies.html
Compare that to the Dell ATX-plug. Not all of them are different anymore!