Uncreative Labs

Posted: Sun Jan 08, 2006 9:38 pm

I have to get a stupid adapter to provide power to the P4 processor. Does AMD force you to do such a thing? That's one thing that will settle the AMD/Intel debate rather quickly. I have to either order the cable and pay outrageous shipping (I saw one site charge $6 shipping on a $0.79 part!!!!!!) or hope the Kankakee computer store has that blasted adapter.

Joined: 22 Oct 2005 Posts: 61 Location: sunny AZ

Not sure what you're talking about...is it that square 4 wire connector from the power supply, that is on all the newer PSUs? that I've never needed an adapter for because I needed a new psu on the computers I've upgraded to P4?

Guest

Yes, the new Athlon 64's require it as well. You shouldn't have to get an adapter though unless you are using a really old power supply; all new power supplys already have the proper conector on them so no one is really forcing you to do anything other than get rid of your antique power supply and buy a modern one.

Posted: Mon Jan 09, 2006 2:41 am

It is that connector. The board itself has a 20 pin main power header while the new power supply has a 24 pin connector. The older ATX-ish (ATX is obviously not a standard. See also: Dell, 20/24 pin adapter, CPU power header) power supply has the 20 pin header but no CPU power header.

Thanks for the info Anonymoose. Obviously matching motherboard, RAM and CPU aren't enough, I have to match the power supply, connector layout on the back, date of assembly, phase of the moon, and number of Oxygen atoms in a 50 mm diameter circle around a spec of dust randomly chosen by someone else.

Now for a question: What's so great about ATX that it can't be called ATX 1.0 and ATX 2.0 like USB does?

Joined: 22 Oct 2005 Posts: 61 Location: sunny AZ

they call it P4 compatible ATX when describing power supplies, don't they?

Posted: Mon Jan 09, 2006 4:18 am

Actually they do. There was ATX 1.1, 2.0, 2.01, 2.02, 2.03, 2.1 and finally we are at ATX 2.2 today. I'm not sure which version added the 24-pin connector but it is required for the PCI-Express bus and newer processors. I believe it adds a second 12V rail to the system to improve power distribution to hungry components or something like that. All new power supplies and motherboards will have a 24-pin connector so not to worry, it is a standard. Smile

Posted: Mon Jan 09, 2006 4:20 am

I think I left some revisions out like ATX 1.2 but you get the idea.

Posted: Mon Jan 09, 2006 4:50 am

The version number of ATX is then VERY important. Everything I see leaves it off. It's like talking about something specific to Windows NT 4.0 SP3 and referring to it always as "Windows."

They call some supplies "P4 compatible" but "compatible" doesn't mean much. It means it will work with the device but not necessarily without special hardware or without charging you more for that special tag. It also doesn't mean something without the tag of compatible /won't/ work.

Joined: 22 Oct 2005 Posts: 61 Location: sunny AZ

another fun thing about power supplies is the name "micro atx", or "matx". There are two very different physical configurations with this same name...you have to check the physical dimension spec of the psu before ordering one, to make sure it'll fit the style of "micro atx" case you have.

Posted: Mon Jan 09, 2006 1:07 pm

I looked at the ATX 2.1 and 2.2 specs. If I had an ATX 2.1 power supply, it would plug in to the board properly with no problem. Because of PCI-e, the ATX 2.2 spec is not compatible with my board. Sure would have been nice to know what spec each item used ahead of time.

There's about a half-dozen ATX variations currently in use now. I haven't looked through them all, but downloaded quite a few spec sheets. (Acrobat Reader works much better with a local copy.)

Guest

There really are only (2) important versions of ATX PSUs in use today the old 1st gen 1.x and 2.x The revisions are almost meaningless most of the time.

Joined: 01 Oct 2004 Posts: 169 Location: behind you!

I made a converter for my p4. At the time all I had was an old 300w psu from a pII and a dead 400w supply. You can see the results Laughing

Joined: 22 Oct 2005 Posts: 61 Location: sunny AZ

heh...I like the "report this image as offensive" or whatever button on the image host. here you have male and female connetors NAKED in your pic!