4 pin in an 8 pin ATX board

Warble · 5 Feb 2011 at 21:27

My PSU blew last night but I've misplaced the 8pin 12v ATX cable for the backup PSU I have kicking around. I have the 4 pin cable and I've tested it with this just to diagnose that it was the old PSU that had broken. I've read that you shouldn't use a 4 pin cable over the 8 pin as you will not be providing enough power to the CPU. Is this correct? My MB manual says that it is recommended to use a 2x4 12v power connector.

Are there any suggestions for a quick fix so that I can get my computer up and running stably until I RMA and get a new PSU? I've looked around for a new 2x4 pin cable but I just can't find one. Worst case scenario, I'll have to buy a new PSU for the mean time.

Cheers.

RJC · 5 Feb 2011 at 21:29

What are the specs of the pc, in the past when I have looked at the manual they have recommended the 8 pin for the extreme versions of the CPU.

95thrifles · 5 Feb 2011 at 21:31

Google "4 pin to 8 pin ATX" should be OK as a stop gap, just make sure CPU is at stock

Cookeh · 5 Feb 2011 at 21:33

Odd. My PSU doesn't have an 8 pin. But mobo manual says its okay to use the one 4-pin to power it. Doesn't recommend it mind, but it's ok.

That mean I should use a 2x molex to 8-pin adapter for my board? Will that give enough juice?

Frozennova · 5 Feb 2011 at 22:17

I've been running a 4 pin in an 8 pin mobo for months, even with a hefty overclock on my Phenom II X4 so I can't see it being a problem. If your still worried drop your chip back to stock for a few weeks.

Warble · 5 Feb 2011 at 23:05

The MB is a Gigabyte X58A-UD3R running an i7 950 and a Radeon 5850. I'm hoping I can pick up a 4 to 8 pin converter in town tomorrow, but I have the limited choices of computing stores.

Liquid · 6 Feb 2011 at 01:41

Warble said:
The MB is a Gigabyte X58A-UD3R running an i7 950 and a Radeon 5850. I'm hoping I can pick up a 4 to 8 pin converter in town tomorrow, but I have the limited choices of computing stores.

4 pin will be fine, besides making a 4-pin cable an 8-pin cable wont make any difference other than it looking more right and it wont be getting any more juice either. Besides, heat will be limiting overclock factor above voltage supply to cpu.

It's kinda like the 20pin/24pin motherboard scenario where 20pin is still perfectly useable today.

Of course that's not to say that 8pin does not have benefits in certain configurations over the 4pin.