Could running a 20-pin PSU on a 24-pin motherboard cause any instability or damage?

[Josh7289]

I'm just curious if this could be the root of the problem I am experiencing, which is here:

http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.aspx?catid=27&threadid=1892906

 

[Josh7289]

Bump. C'mon, I really need some help here.

 

[Tsuwamono]

it shouldnt, my friend runs his Biostar mobo like that. He didnt know it worked initially so he went out and bought a 20 to 24 pin adapter and it worked, then we were swaping powersupplys because he wanted my old one and he forgot to take the adapter off and put it on the new one and it still worked even only running with 20 pins

 

[jimmybgood]

Let me make a stab at this. The reason for the 24 pin connector is that the current draw on sone new motherboards with PCIe and those current hungry video cards exceeds the capacity of the connectors themselves. So they duplicated some of the wires and connectors and remerged them in the motherboard. If your current draw doesn't exceed the official capacity by much, then it probably won't make much difference. This is also why those silly adaptors are a complete waste. They just move the problem from one end of the adaptor to the other.

Besides, if your PSU only has a 20-pin connector, it probably can't output enough current to overload the connector. Aahh, but that's likely your problem - an inadequate PSU. Your PSU is saying, "Hey, for my meager output a 20-pin connector is fine" and your motherboard is saying, "you'll probably need so much current with that video card you're going to get, I'll need 24-pins to handle the power."

Or maybe they sent you another bad video card or maybe it's cosmic rays or something we haven't thought of yet.

Good luck!

 

[Josh7289]

It could just be another bad video card...I'll call them up tomorrow and see. But the problem probably has something to do with theoretical heat death of the universe and Hawking radiation. :roll: