noob question on main power connectors

[HedBang]

[Edited - now properly described]

Easy one for you guys...

Ok For what its worth I'm planning on this m-board http://www.legitreviews.com/article/985/1/

It has a 24 pin ATX main power connector and another 4 pin ATX. I assume thats pretty much standard. I have an older (but good) Antec 480 PSU which has 20 pin + 8 pin connectors. I should be able to use my 20 pin connector in the 24 pin socket, right? Do you need any other specifics? I my current PSU has enough horse power for my new rig, just wondering about the connections.

Thanks in advance

 

[SparkyJJO]

I've never heard of a PSU that had an 8 pin CPU power connector but only a 20 pin ATX connector. 24 pin came before the 8 pin CPU plugs..

 

[HedBang]

Doh! Sorry, The PSU has a 20 pin + a 4 pin. I just edited the original post.

 

[jonnyGURU]

Ok... Most newer (last four years or so) power supplies have a 20 + 4 AND a 4-pin. So you'll see a 4-pin with a black, yellow, red and orange wire, this is the + 4 of the 24-pin, and another with two yellow and two black. Is this what you have?

 

[HedBang]

Originally posted by: jonnyGURU
Ok... Most newer (last four years or so) power supplies have a 20 + 4 AND a 4-pin. So you'll see a 4-pin with a black, yellow, red and orange wire, this is the + 4 of the 24-pin, and another with two yellow and two black. Is this what you have?

I have a 20 pin plus a 4 pin which has a pair of black and a pair of yellow wires. I'm not positive, but I think I have an Antec 480 TrueBlue

 

[SparkyJJO]

OK older ATX1.x spec PSU. What that means is there is more emphasis on the 5V/3.3V rails and not quite as much on the 12V rail (an issue for newer systems, ATX 2.x and up use more 12V). That also means that PSU is from the era of Antec's bad caps in their PSUs. They can be recapped pretty easily and still have a decent unit (though I say that as a guy with an electronics engineering degree ). However, depending on the rest of the hardware you are planning to put in there, that PSU may not have the guts to handle it. Sure, the overall wattage may be fine, but the power won't be where it needs to be on the 12V rail.

 

[HedBang]

New setup will (most likely)be ...

GIGABYTE GA-MA770T-UD3P AM3 AMD 770 ATX AMD Motherboard
AMD Phenom II X3 720 2.8GHz 3 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 95W Triple-Core Black Processor
XFX HD-575X-ZNFC Radeon HD 5750 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP - single card
4 Gigs Ram Probably more in the future.


I'm guessing I should play it safe and dish out a few more bucks for new PSU. Obviously a lot to choose from. What specifics should I be looking for? I assume a 550 or 600W will be plenty. Will I ever need more than 1 12v rail?

 

[SparkyJJO]

Don't worry too much about rail count. Most newer PSUs have multiple rails, though some still have single rail. Some will say that one big single is better that two smaller, but it really isn't an issue. It is near impossible to get the loads all uneven unless you're actually trying to.

I'd probably go for one of these myself.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16817151080
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16817139003
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16817371007
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16817139004

Most of Silverstone's offerings are pretty decent too but they tend to be expensive. However, sometimes you can score a good deal on one from ebay, my buddy just got a 650W Silverstone for $40 not too long ago from ebay.