Original ATX power supplies connect to the motherboard with a 20-pin connector. (In the figure this is shown only on the 20-pin connector.) Both have locking tabs to keep the P1 connector fastened to the motherboard. Toward the left of the black connector you notice it has an additional four pins that can be separated from the main group of 20 pins. P1 24-pin connector (backward compatible)įigure 5.4 gives examples of a P1 20-pin (the white connector) and P1 24-pin connector (the black connector). Supplemental 6-pin AUX connector provides additional 3.3V and 5V supplies to the motherboard. P1 20-pin connector & P4 4 pin 12V connector Common Power Supply Form FactorsĪn older standard but you will still support it! Table 5.1 displays the form factors you need to know for the exam. Then we need to find a compatible power supply according to those specifications from a third-party power supply manufacturer. However, if this computer was custom built, we would need to find out the form factor used by the motherboard and/or case, and should open the computer and take a look at all the necessary power connections. Some third-party power supply manufacturers also offer replacement power supplies for proprietary systems. If this computer was proprietary, we could go to the computer manufacturer's website to find out the exact form factor, and possibly a replacement power supply for that model computer. In our scenario we have a previously built computer, which means that the case and motherboard are already compatible. Table 5.1 shows a few different form factors and their characteristics. Depending on the type of ATX, the main power connector to the motherboard will have 20 pins or 24 pins. The most common form factor today is Advanced Technology Extended (ATX). Types of Power Supplies and Compatibility So we need to look for a high–capacity, compatible ATX power supply with a decent amount of connectors for our devices.

And let's just say that we use an ATX 12V 2.0 motherboard. In this scenario the computer has two IDE hard drives, a CD-Burner, a DVD-ROM, one SATA drive, and a PCIe video card. Now, in our scenario we said that we need a power supply that can support many devices in our workstation one that will output a lot of power. There are a few other things to take into account when planning which power supply to use in your computer: It is important to use a reliable brand of power supply that is UL listed (certified). Talk about a single point of failure! That is why many higher-end workstations and servers have redundant power supplies.

It feeds the motherboard, hard drives, optical drives, and any other devices inside of the computer. The power supply is in charge of converting the alternating current (AC) drawn from the wall outlet into direct current (DC) to be used internally by the computer. Okay, now that we've tested our AC outlet and put some protective power devices into play, let's go ahead and talk power supplies.

6 pin molex connector pinout