8 pin CPU power connector question

[Krislord]

Hi,

I haven't built a PC for a good 5 years but will be building a sandy bridge based system soon. (P67 board with i5 2500k)

My current PSU is rated at 650w but its just a cheapy and maybe 3 years old as the original one died. I note that the old 4 pin P4 connector has been replaced with an 8 pin version (EPS) which my PSU doesn't have.

Can i get away with some sort of adapter? I was looking at new PSU's but even now many don't have the 8 pin EPS connector.

This won't be a gaming machine (using a Radeon 5550) and will have 2-3 hard drives and 1 DVD drive. So overall power usage will be reasonably low. I don't plan on overclocking initially as at stock speeds it would be much faster than my current PC I'd rather wait until i feel the need.

Thanks for any help.

 

[PhillyDee]

You say the PSU is a cheapy? What make?
You can get away with just using the 4 pins (Sometimes the sockets have a cover over half to demonstrate this), but I would recommend a decent PSU!

 

[chaparral]

I was looking at new PSU's but even now many don't have the 8 pin EPS connector.

My PSU is over 3 years old and it has an 8 pin EPS connector....and so does my 2 to 3year old 780i motherboard

I remember this very well because i had to order an Extension Cable

 

[LiamJ]

Don't worry. I used a PSU with only a 4-pin CPU power connector on my motherboard which had an 8-pin. Never had any problems, but some may have surfaced if I had overclocked or added a more powerful GPU.

 

[Krislord]

I had a look and its a compucase z-power 650w. This is the manufacturer link:

http://www.compucase-hec.co.uk/psu_zpower.htm

It seems its still available for around £30 and apparently has 3 12v rails.

I'd get a better PSU if I was upgrading the GPU or overclocking. But i'd rather spend the money on a new hard drive if i can get away with the current power supply.

 

[scrlk]

I'd get a new PSU over any HDD as a high quality one is well worth the investment.