Building new PC - some questions..

[Cuffz]

Hi,

I'm building an AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+ (brisbane) based system,
Is the extra 4 pin ATX 12v connector supposed to be plugged in aswell as the 24pin ATX connector?
The motherboard has the extra socket.

I don't have the DDR2 ram for this system yet..
With the extra the connector plugged in I get an error... beeping + slow cpu fan speed
Without no error + normal fan speed.

Is it normal not to be able use the BIOS menus without RAM installed in modern systems?

Thanks.

[TAKTAK]

yes the 4 pin power connector needs plugging in aswell.

and yes you can't do anything without RAM, Mobo, CPU and PSU.

wait for the RAM and you'll find that with the RAM installed you won't get the errors when you have the 4 pin connected.

[Cuffz]

yes the 4 pin power connector needs plugging in aswell.

and yes you can't do anything without RAM, Mobo, CPU and PSU.

wait for the RAM and you'll find that with the RAM installed you won't get the errors when you have the 4 pin connected.

Cheers.. just to double check that is a total of 28 pins for power, right?

[TAKTAK]

Yes a main 24pin/20pin connector and a separate 4pin/8pin connector.

[ikix]

if you have all the components but don't plug in the extra 4 pin connector (near the CPU usually is it????? ) will the pc b able to run fine????

[TAKTAK]

i don't think so, but i can't for the life of me remember what it is there to power , i think it is the mobos or cpus own power source but i could be completly wrong.

[Cuffz]

So as a rule its safe and necessary to hookup all the atx power sockets a mobo has.

[Saracen]

i don't think so, but i can't for the life of me remember what it is there to power , i think it is the mobos or cpus own power source but i could be completly wrong.

It's for PCI-Express. A couple of heavy PCI-E cards could put a high strain on the PCI_E supply through the main connector - hence the auxiliary power.

So as a rule its safe and necessary to hookup all the atx power sockets a mobo has.

That's a very vague and VERY wide-open statement. There have been a whole series of PSU standards over the years, and a few proprietary variations too. And you really need to be sure what PSU spec you have before making a sweeping statement like that. But, assuming you have mainstream and recent components, then it's generally a safe bet and good idea.

As for whether that 4-pin needs to be connected, the answer is "maybe - but it's a good idea."

The difference between the 20-pin and 24-pin variants (ATX12V 2.1 and 2.2) is the power requirements for PCI-E. The additional 4 pin (or 8 pin via 4-pin adaptor) is to support high power requirements from PCI-E.

So whether it'll work without it connected or not depends on motherboard design and the power draw you need for what you have plugged in. Some motherboards connect the whole lot to a common plane. Some PSU's have separate circuits and others draw power from the same point. Which works better rather depends on the quality of the PSU and it's ability to provide stable power on those lines under heavy load.

So, the answer is that not plugging it in MIGHT work, but isn't a good idea, because you risk drawing too much power down the single line if you have demanding PCI-E cards installed.

[TAKTAK]

It's for PCI-Express. A couple of heavy PCI-E cards could put a high strain on the PCI_E supply through the main connector - hence the auxiliary power.

but i thought that was what the 6/8pin connection on the main card was for?
or am i looking too far into it and looking at too high power draw pci-e cards that need an additional additional power source?

i could have sworn that it was for CPU power the more i think about it... and that you used 8 pin if you had quadcore, but for additional PCI-E power some mobos have a molex connection available on the mobo. im confuzzled

[Cuffz]

I see so on recent mainstream gear it is at least safe to have everything connected, dont want to fry any chips :].

[FifthFreedom]

Well, actually I think your more likely to

"fry chips" if you plug a power cable in a port where it isn't supposed to go.

If you don't plug one in, it just won't work as something isn't getting any juice.