Old(ish) PSU in a new(ish) system?

[Theo]

Hey chaps, as you may have seen in the Opterons@Scan thread, today I have purchased the following:

AMD Opteron 144
Asus A8N-SLi (standard)
Pixelview 7800GT SLi

Add to that the other peripherals that I'm running:

3x Maxtor DM9+ 120GB IDE
2x512MB Corsair Value PC3200
Sony CDRW

I've been running your regular Abit NF7-S/Athlon XP combo for the last couple of years and added a Thermaltake 480W psu around 15 months ago.

For now I don't plan on running an SLi system, but I do sometime in the future. What I'm wondering is - would this power supply suffice for the above system until I splash out and make the SLi conversion (summer time, most likely)? Or do I need to buy a new psu for the new system?

I've done a search, and I think I understand that the motherboard has a 24-pin connector, but the power supply only has a 20-pin plug. However, it does have the 4-pin connector that the NF7-S required. I'm really sorry if this is a noob question, but this fool completely lost touch with all the latest innovations when the 64-Bit jobs started coming out.

Any info or advice is appreciated

[bright_]

If it has a PCI-E connector, then that will be fine for one GFX card and the spec you have as far as I can see.

[teachmech]

Some people have been lucky running a 20 pin to 24 pin connector, your 20 pin and 4 pin aux connector do not make a 24 pin connector. With the money you are spending why not buy a new psu as well that way you will have fewer problems.

[jimborae]

Well I had one of those psu's & it didn't have a pci-e conector for the graphics card but you'll get an adapator with the graphics card.

More importantly though with my psu it couldn't supply enough power to the graphics card and so when ever I tried to play a game I'd get massive tearing across the screen. It could have been just my psu that had a problem but they're not great psu's.

[Theo]

Alright chaps, thanks for the information I think I'll splash out for a new psu to save time and disappointment. The thermaltake has been a cracking power supply for the system it's been running. I'll certainly be keeping it spare for just in case.

Thanks again

[Agent]

Im not sure on the ASUS, but on the Abit, a 24 pin PSU isnt needed. A normal 20 pin, along with the 4 pin "p4" connector will suffice.
Just get a PCI-E cable to take power from a normal molex and your laughing.
Ive got a 420 watt thermaltake in my system thats running :
Abit AN8
850XT
Audigy 4
2 * DVDRW
And an oppty @ 2.7

Honestly, a 480Watt TT will handle that with ease (provided the board does not require a 24 pin PSU)

[Theo]

Thanks Agent. I've done a little more reading (a huuuge thread on anandtech, and a few others found via google), and I've opted to upgrade my psu now rather than later. I do eventually plan on going SLi, so I've just added a 580W Hiperpower Type-R job to my order from Scan. The info I found does indicate that the 20-pin connector can be used, but I'd still need the PCI-E connector and I may as well just kill two birds with £60 worth of stones

Thanks again for all your input chaps.