400cx psu

[maverick77_uk]

Hi,

I am thinking of getting a 400cx PSU for use in my current comp, and a new build I'm planning.

Firstly, my current comp has a 20pin MoBo socket (rather than the more modern 24 pin). Does this PSU have to 20+4 pin plug (ie can be used on either a 20 or 24 pin MoBo) or is it 24pin only?

Also, I was wondering how many amps it has on the 12V rail - ie up to what graphics card it can handle?

Cheers!

[LuckyNV]

20+4 works fine in 20pin motherboards

and it think it has 30A on the +12V, it can handle quite a number of cards, which card are you looking at in particular?

what motherboard is it exactly? modern PSUs can have issues with older motherboards.

[maverick77_uk]

Hi,

Thanks for the reply. I'm currently using an Asrock K7VT4A pro (soc A). Later MoBo and CPU upgrade would be to something relatively mild - Pentium Dual Core 5200 or the like. Current graphics is a lowly Radeon 9550. Future upgrade would be to something like a Radeon 4670 or equivalent.

Cheers!

[Cyber-Mav]

the resources tab on this link: http://corsair.com/products/cx/default.aspx will show you all the connectors that are present on the power supply. i have bought 3 of these units now and they work flawlessly. this unit has 30amp available on the 12v rail.

something you have to be carefull off, your board could be like my old asus a7n board which is also a socket A board, this old board pulls its cpu power from the 5v rail of the psu. so newer psus may not be ideal for powering these old systems. the cx400w has 20a on the 5v rail whereas my old enermax 550w has 46amp on the 5v rail and only 24a on the 12v rail.

[sammorris]

A 400CX is ample for a 4670 - it can run up to a 4850 hassle free.

[Cyber-Mav]

you just have to be careful of really old systems such as my abit kt7a-raid board and athlon thunderbird cpu, most boards from that era pulled the cpu power from the 5v rail not the 12v rail. thats why if you look at old psus from that era they will have massive current ratings on the 5v rail.

[sammorris]

The 5V rails on decent PSUs are still ample for that anyway. That's seriously old hardware though, not many people are rebuilding 10 year old PCs these days.

[Cyber-Mav]

still you got to be carefull. old psus didnt have 40+ amps on the 5v rail for no reason.

[sammorris]

The 400W CX has 130W D.C. output between those rails. That's more than almost any old PC used in total, inclusive of the 12V.