"Paul" wrote in message
...
In article , "Dragoncarer"
wrote:

wrote in message
ups.com...
Might look at this;
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16812145002

24pin Motherboard Cable to 20pin Power Supply

Don't confuse with cheaper parts that are "20 pin Motherboard cable to
24pin power supply." They aren't the same thing. My 24pin
powersupply lets me detach the extra 4 pins for 20 pin motherboards.


Hey, thanks! So it looks like there are def. adapters out the I
thought
there might be, but hadn't got around to looking for any (I live in
Australia btw).

My only reservation is (noob question coming up): is the adapter able to
draw the requisite power for the 4 individual cables/pins? Surely it
would
have to spread the supply coming from the 20 existing pins over the
additional 4...how can the adapter draw the extra 4 pins' power
requirements?

Many, many thanks.

As you have surmised, using an adapter cable, to go from a 20 pin
PSU to a 24 pin connector that fits the motherboard, solves nothing.

The feature edavid3001 describes is a good one - there are supplies
with 24 pin connectors, where four pins on the connector detach, and
the remaining 20 pin section can plug into a 20 pin motherboard.
No rules are violated by doing that. (Just make sure all pins of
the detachable connector are properly seated, when plugging into
the motherboard. A loose connection can also cause the plastic to
melt.)

Similarly, if you uses a 24 pin (PSU end) to 20 pin (mobo end)
adapter, the wire and pin ratios are preserved in the assembly,
so no rules are being broken.

But a simple 20 pin (PSU end) to 24 pin (mobo end) is cheating,
and the same current flow limits could cause the adapter's
pins to get hot, melting the plastic at the PSU end of the
adapter. If the current in the 12V mobo distribution stays
below 6 amps, there would be no problem with the adapter, but
no significant advantage either. This is one adapter I wouldn't
bother with.

If you can afford two PCI Express video cards to run SLI, chances
are you can afford to buy a decent PSU to feed them. An existing
PSU is not likely to have enough max output amps on the label
to meet a load like that, so when you switch to an SLI configuration
is a good time to upgrade the PSU.

Paul

*sigh*....yeah. It's a 500W PSU, but it's a bit old now and came with my
original case. Thes solution you describe is the one I was starting to think
I would have to do anyway.
Once again Paul, you've been of tremendous help. Thanks heaps.