ATX 4 pin to 8 pin adapter question

[Mr Muggles]

I'm possibly buying a Saphire board that uses 8 pin connector, my PSU only has 4 pin and is 500w. I only use 1 GPU card and my system is not a heavy usage system so power requirements are quite low. I was thinking of buying an adapter cable so I could buy this board, or another board like the new ASUS 880 baords for example but as I say these new boards and the 790fx boards need an 8 pin ATX cable, which I don't have.

Will I be committing a cardinal sin using my existing PSU to power one these 8 pin ATX boards?

thanks in advance

 

[thestepster]

you can use a 4 pin in an 8 pin board mate but id advise you to replace the psu aswell as it sounds pretty old

 

[alienware]

Ampage is the important thing. As Stepy said a board will switch internally so there's no reason to buy adapters (4-8 and 20-24).

However since 20 and 4 times have changed. Most notably in the GPU department. I would not advise any sort of overclock whatsoever and get a new one ASAP.

 

[Mr Muggles]

Ampage is the important thing. As Stepy said a board will switch internally so there's no reason to buy adapters (4-8 and 20-24).

However since 20 and 4 times have changed. Most notably in the GPU department. I would not advise any sort of overclock whatsoever and get a new one ASAP.

I can't buy a new PSU. Damn and blast these 8 pin boards ha ha this is my PSU http://www.ocztechnology.com/products/power_management/ocz_500w_stealthxstream_power_supply mine is the US version so has two PCI-E power connectors.

I'll see how it goes using the 4 pin cable and if I have stability issues i'll but the 8 pin adapter, for what it's worth. Failing that, a new PSU will have to be 'acquired'

 

[thestepster]

that should be fine mate but as alien says i wouldnt try and overclock as its prob not gonna give the board enuff juice

what's the rest of your kit?

 

[tinytomlogan]

Corrrrrrrrrrr dont buy a saphire motherboard

 

[thestepster]

Corrrrrrrrrrr dont buy a saphire motherboard

surprised alien didnt catch that one

 

[Mr Muggles]

surprised alien didnt catch that one

There aren't any decent AM3 boards on ebay lads for 30/40 quid 2nd hand

I'd like a crosshair IV of course haha the most I can spend is £60 for a new board wich is why i'm trying to buy 2nd hand so I can spend more on the RAM.

I'm basically playing with pennies lads

 

[thestepster]

if you have a small budget mate try and hold off and save up and get something thats going to last u

 

[Mr Muggles]

Corrrrrrrrrrr dont buy a saphire motherboard

Have you reviewed the 790 FX board Tom? I wouldn't even consider a Sapphire board normally. The MSI fuzion or crosshair IV would be nice but no can do...I canny afford them like!

 

[alienware]

Corrrrrrrrrrr dont buy a saphire motherboard

10000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 and ten percent verified.

DO NOT. REPEAT *DO NOT* BUY A SAPPHIRE MOTHERBOARD

No bios updates, Engrish customer service that can't understand what you are asking them http://engrish.com/

Avoid like a nice stinging dose of the clap. All they care about is the initial sale and then they don't bother to support any later CPUs.

What socket do you need. What ram are you going to run. Micro ATX tend to use slightly less power as they have less slots to power. Some even still have a 4 pin.

I'll see how it goes using the 4 pin cable and if I have stability issues i'll but the 8 pin adapter, for what it's worth.

Rolleyes facepalm. I don't think you understood what I said dude. An 8 pin socket is hard wired underneath to send the two 12v + lines (usually yellow) and the two 12 - lines (usually black) into 4 of each. The problem will not be about the amount of the pins you have or the wires. It will be because your 12v rail does not have enough juice (not wattage AMPAGE) to power up the CPU. If it does? great. However, DO NOT overclock. Newer power supplies have an 8 pin or two split 4 pins yes but that doesn't matter one jot because it's all about the ampage those rails can feed to the CPU.

The same goes for 24 pin ATX. Right under the board there are either 4 extra tracks splitting the 5v lines you need for ir OR the motherboard will have a system to switch the power intake to 24 pin by spreading the power itself. But again that isn't the problem. It's down to rail ampage on the 5v line for that one.

A few years back I had a 450W Antec tru power PSU. It powered a Celeron D along perfectly. I then decided to get an MSI ATX board (cheap red one) and a 1.8ghz Conroe C2D. It didn't fire. I made an extra 4 pin myself and soldered it to the correct wires. Still didn't fire. I then wasted $15 on a 20-24 and it still didn't fire. I ended up having to get a new PSU.

 

[Mr Muggles]

10000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 and ten percent verified.

DO NOT. REPEAT *DO NOT* BUY A SAPPHIRE MOTHERBOARD

No bios updates, Engrish customer service that can't understand what you are asking them http://engrish.com/

Avoid like a nice stinging dose of the clap. All they care about is the initial sale and then they don't bother to support any later CPUs.

What socket do you need. What ram are you going to run. Micro ATX tend to use slightly less power as they have less slots to power. Some even still have a 4 pin.

It's for a AMD 965 BE CPU I bought yesterday. I'm selling my current bundle so need RAM and MOBO for £100 maximum. You guys have convinced me too avoid the sapphire board on ebay ha ha

 

[Rastalovich]

You must be able to find a mobo from another manufacturer.

Heck, I seen a new mobo from AsRock sporting a 939 socket over the weekend !

 

[alienware]

965 is a bit of a pig IIRC (greedy). Infact no it's 125w TDP same as the 940 955. Should get a 400mhz OC before you cap the TDP.

If you can get some DDR2.

http://www.asrock.com/mb/cpu.asp?Model=ALiveXFire-eSATA2

http://www.advancetec.co.uk/acatalog/Asrock_ALiveXFire_eSATA2_motherboard.html

£30 or so. Note it has a slow HT speed but TBH? for the pennies it is absolutely untouchable. Don't plan on huge OCs though because it can only run up to 140w TDP before it craps out. It's 4 pin though and 20 pin. So your PSU should deffo get it to fire.

Great boards. I use one with my Crossfired Radeons and have a spare under the bed

 

[Mr Muggles]

965 is a bit of a pig IIRC (greedy). Infact no it's 125w TDP same as the 940 955. Should get a 400mhz OC before you cap the TDP.

If you can get some DDR2.

http://www.asrock.com/mb/cpu.asp?Model=ALiveXFire-eSATA2

http://www.advancetec.co.uk/acatalog/Asrock_ALiveXFire_eSATA2_motherboard.html

£30 or so. Note it has a slow HT speed but TBH? for the pennies it is absolutely untouchable. Don't plan on huge OCs though because it can only run up to 140w TDP before it craps out. It's 4 pin though and 20 pin. So your PSU should deffo get it to fire.

Great boards. I use one with my Crossfired Radeons and have a spare under the bed

Thanks again mate. my old system was a DDR2 system so i'm not going back. I need a decent AM3 board and 4gb DDR3 RAM 1600mhz for under £100

Now that's a challenge

TOM!!!!!!!!!!!! whacha got in your loft mate?? it's "help a noob with some parts" day

 

[thestepster]

this might be of interest mate i know ocz aint much these days but thats pretty cheap

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/173105

 

[alienware]

this might be of interest mate i know ocz aint much these days but thats pretty cheap

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/173105

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/giga...(x16)-ddr3-1800(oc)-sata-3gb-s-sata-raid-matx

Should about do it. I wouldn't dare go for a full ATX board on 500w.

 

[thestepster]

ive had 3 gpu's and a full atx board running off a 480w no bother

 

[alienware]

Yeah with enough ampage. It's like what Tom mentioned the other day. He had a small wee PSU and was deliberately trying to blow it up by overloading it but it refused to go

Some of them can take it like a man, others just squeal and whimper

 

[thestepster]

the one i was using was an enermax toughpower II 480w