upgrading power supply

I have an old hp pavilion from 2002 that I wish to upgrade. The power supply finally went out and I bought a new one. Since hp uses proprietary psu's that are smaller in size, and they make their cases to fit those, I of course had to get a new case as well. The old psu was a puny 150watt and the new one is a modest 350 watt. After I moved all the components into the new case I went to plug the new power supply into the old mother board and to my surprise that (P1) connection on the psu is too big for the slot on the mother board. So on to my question. Is there an adapter to make this work? I really don't want to get another hp psu. I would rather have a standard size especially since I now have a new case and would like to add more devices. Thanks.

 

It's because you have a mobo known as a 20pin or 20 + 4 pin mobo. Your connector from your power supply should be a 20pin and then there should be a separate cable that is a 4pin connector. If the power cable is a 24pin cable, you need to get another one that's 20+4pin. I would recommend buying a new case. A lot of times you can get a new psu with your case. They aren't the greatest in the world, but they work alright.

 

Before you go buying a new PSU, you should check if the connector has 4 pins on the end that break off. Most new 24-pin power supplies have a 24-pin connector that you can break off the 4 pins on the end to make it compatible with a 20-pin motherboard.

 

Before you go buying a new PSU, you should check if the connector has 4 pins on the end that break off. Most new 24-pin power supplies have a 24-pin connector that you can break off the 4 pins on the end to make it compatible with a 20-pin motherboard.


Yes that was exactly right! All I had to do was break off the 4 pins. Thank you both for the help!

 

Sweet, I didn't know you could even do that. I'd seen the 24 pin and the 20 + 4 pin cables but I never knew that some of the 24 pin cables could be broken to compensate for a 20 + 4 pin mobo. I guess you learn something everyday.

 

It gets even better than that because the the original 20 pins are still connnected exactly as before, the 4 are extra on the end, so if there is room on the motherboard you don't even have to break off the section, although sometimes it is removable.

Just sometimes the committees who set the specifications actually do think ahead.

Studio T