antec truepower 480 true blue

[gibz117]

my psu ^ has a molex on the back of the psu, by the power plug, what is it for. there is also a fan sensor wire, where would that go on a gigabyt ga7vrx rev 2.0

[Old Thrashbarg]

One thread about your PSU is sufficient, you don't need a new thread for every question about it.

In any case... a molex connector on the back? Unless I'm thinking of a different model, all that should be on the back of that PSU is the power cord connector, power switch, voltage switch, and fan. Can you post a picture of it?

[gibz117]

this is just like mine.

http://www.cdhmicro.com/images/antec_truePower480blue_big.jpg

in between the power switch and the fan is what im talking about. its a 4 pin molex.

[Old Thrashbarg]

Ah, OK, that is a little different from the one I was thinking of. That external molex seems to be for... whatever you might need an external molex for. Externally mounted radiator/fan setups on watercooled systems come to mind. I can't really forsee using it much on a normal system, though.

As far as the fan sensor, is it one that uses the standard 3-pin fan connector? You can plug those into one of your motherboard's fan headers, so that you can read the PSU fan speed from within the BIOS or a monitoring program. That's assuming you have a spare fan header on your motherboard... it's not that big of a deal if you don't, it won't hurt anything to leave the lead unplugged.

[gibz117]

ok, i was just curious about them, ive never seen the external molex.

[Old Thrashbarg]

ive never seen the external molex.

Nor have I, to be honest. Kinda shows how useful it is, since nobody else includes such a thing, nor do the newer models of Antec PSUs. It was just one of those gimmicks, I guess.

[gibz117]

ok here is another question i have. my psu has a 20pin, and a 4pin with black and yellow wires. ive been told by some that i can use them together as a 24pin and some say i cant. i just looked at the wires on a spare 400w psu with a 20+4 pin connector. it also has the 4pin with yellow and black wires. the 4pin for the 20+4 has an orange (3.3v), yellow (12v), red (5v), and black wire. hereis my question. can i take a 4pin from a dead psu i have and splice the connector to a yellow, red, and black wire from a molex and an orange wire from the main 20pin to make a 4pin. i dont see y not, but i want to make sure.

[Old Thrashbarg]

my psu has a 20pin, and a 4pin with black and yellow wires. ive been told by some that i can use them together as a 24pin and some say i cant.

NO! You try to do that, you'll kill your motherboard, and possibly the power supply as well. That 4-pin is the CPU power connector, it is only to be used as the CPU power connector. (You'll need it as such anyway, most modern boards won't boot without it properly connected to the 4-pin socket.)

I think it's already been said before in your other thread, but I'll restate: Don't worry about trying to hook up the extra pins on the ATX connector. All 24-pin motherboards that I know of will work with a 20-pin ATX connector, you just leave the extra four pins disconnected.

[gibz117]

ok thanks for the info. do i just need to get a 20 pin to 24pin adapter and plug it in and go.

[JamesXP]

If you are planning on using the true blue/power on a new system, I wouldn't especially if it's over a year old, they are notorious for using lower quality capacitors that blow out after a year I so, i bet that the powersupply will fail to power the system reliably.

something like the corsair cx400, vx450 etc would much more suited to a modern system.

[Old Thrashbarg]

do i just need to get a 20 pin to 24pin adapter and plug it in and go.

I'll say it a third time: you don't need an adapter, just plug the 20-pin connector into the 24-pin socket, and leave the extra 4 pins disconnected. It'll still work fine.

But again, as JamesXP (and others) said, you really should get a new PSU, those old Antecs are a time bomb.