Power Connectors for Peripherals
In addition to connectors for motherboard, all Power supplies are also equipped with various additional connectors, most of which are designed to power disk drives and other peripherals, for example, a powerful video card. Most peripheral connectors, in turn, comply with industry standards for one form factor or another. In this part of our material, we will look at what additional connectors you can find in your PC.
Peripheral Power Connector
Perhaps the most common type of connector found on all PSUs is the peripheral power connector, also often referred to as the disk drive power connector. What we mean by this type of connector first appeared in AMP power supplies in the PSU series and was called the MATE-N-LOK connector, but since it began to be manufactured and sold by Molex, it has also been called the "Molex connector", which is not entirely correct.
To determine the location of the contacts, carefully look at the connector. As a rule, on the right side of the plug there is a plastic ledge and a key, which is necessary for the correct fixation of the connector in the socket. The following diagram shows a standard keyed plug. It is this connector that is used to power disk drives (and not only):
Peripheral Power Connector
This connector has been used on all PCs, from the original IBM PC to modern systems. It is most commonly known as a disk drive connector, but is also used on some systems for additional food motherboard, video card, cooling fans and any other PC components that can use +5 V or +12 V.
This is a 4-pin connector that has four round-shaped contacts spaced 5mm apart and rated for up to 11A each. Since the connector includes one +12 V and one +5 V pin (the other two are ground), the maximum current through the connector reaches 187 watts. The male connector is about 2 cm wide and can be connected to most disk drives and some other PC components. The following table shows the pin assignment on this connector:
Contacts on the power connector for peripheral devices | |||||
Contact | Signal | Color | Contact | Signal | Color |
1 | +12V | Yellow | 3 | Gnd | The black |
2 | Gnd | The black | 4 | +5V | Red |
Floppy drive power connector
In the mid-1980s, 3.5-inch magnetic disk drives first appeared, and then it became clear that they needed a more compact power connector. The answer was what is today known as the floppy drive power connector, which was developed by AMP as part of the EI (Economy Interconnection) series. These connectors are used to power small disk drives and devices, and have the same +12V, +5V and ground pins as the large peripheral connector. The distance between the contacts in this type of plug is 2.5 mm, and the plug itself is about half the size of the large connector. All pins are rated at 2A each, so the maximum current through this connector is only 34W.
The following table shows the pin configuration on the floppy drive power connector:
Contacts on the floppy drive power connector | |||||
Contact | Signal | Color | Contact | Signal | Color |
1 | +5V | Red | 3 | Gnd | The black |
2 | Gnd | The black | 4 | +12V | Yellow |
The peripheral power connector and its younger brother have a universal pin layout, as can be seen in the following diagram:
Peripheral power connector and floppy drive connector
The pin layout on the floppy connector is a mirror image of the larger peripheral connector. When using an adapter from one type of connector to another, be careful not to forget that in this case the red and yellow wires are reversed.
First Power supplies were equipped with only two connectors for peripherals, while modern PSUs have four or more large connectors and one or two connectors for floppy drives. Depending on the power and purpose, some PSUs have eight or even more connectors for peripheral devices.
If you use a lot of hard drives or other devices that need additional power, you can use a Y-splitter, as well as a large-to-small connector adapter. The splitter allows you to turn one peripheral power connector to connect two drives to it at once, and with an adapter you can use a large connector to power a floppy drive. If you are using multiple adapters, make sure the total power power supply is sufficient. Connectors connected to the splitter should not exceed the capacity of one connector in terms of total load.
Serial ATA power connector
The vast majority of modern hard drives and all SSDs are equipped with a SATA power connector. So, if a few years ago SATA connectors on PSUs were some kind of nice option, then they are mandatory on new power supplies. The SATA (Serial ATA) power connector is a special 15-pin connector that uses only five wires, which means that three pins per connector are connected to one wire. The total power supply through such a connector is exactly the same as that of a conventional peripheral connector, but the SATA cable is noticeably thinner.
SATA power connector
In the SATA power connector, each wire is connected to three pins, and the wire numbering does not match the pin numbering. If your power supply does not have SATA power connectors, you can use an adapter from a regular peripheral connector. However, these adapters do not supply the +3.3V line. Fortunately, this is not a problem for most SATA devices as they do not use the +3.3V line and only use the +12V and +5V voltages.
Peripheral to SATA adapter
Additional power connector for PCI-E video cards
The ATX12V 2.x specification uses a new 24-pin motherboard power connector that provides more power to power various on-board controllers and PCI-E cards. The specification is designed for an additional power of 75 W directly for the PCI-E x16 slot, and this power, in principle, is enough for many video cards with average performance. But high performance graphics cards tend to need higher levels of power. For this reason, the PCI-SIG (Special Interest Group) developer group has introduced two standards for providing additional power to PCI-E video cards, which involve the use of the following connectors:
- PCI Express x16 Graphics 150 W-ATX - specification published in October 2004. An additional 6-pin (2x3) connector is used, which provides an additional 75W of power. The total power of the PCI-E x16 slot reaches 150W.
- PCI Express 225 W/300 W High Power Card Electromechanical - Specification published March 2008. Assumes the use of an 8-pin (2x4) auxiliary power connector, providing an additional 150W of power. The total power is 225 W (75+150) or 300 W (75+150+75).
For video cards that require even more power, you can connect several connectors at once:
PCI-E Auxiliary Power Connector Configurations | |
Max Power | Add-on configuration nutrition |
75 W | Not used |
150 W | 1 x 6-pin |
225 W | 2 x 6-pin or 1 x 8-pin |
300 W | 1 x 8-pin + 1 x 6-pin |
375 W | 2 x 8-pin |
450 W | 2 x 8-pin + 1 x 6-pin |
Additional power for PCI Express cards is provided using 6-pin (2x3) or 8-pin (2x4) Molex Mini-Fit connectors, equipped with a female plug that connects directly to the video card. For reference, these connectors are similar to Molex 39-01-2060 (6-pin) and 39-01-2080 (8-pin), but both use different keys to prevent them from being mistakenly plugged into the +12V connector on the motherboard. board. The following diagram shows the layout of the connectors, including the plug side. Notice the "sense" signal on pin 5 - it lets the graphics card know if the connector is connected. Without proper power levels, the card may shut down or operate in reduced functionality mode. Also note that pin 2 is labeled N/C (No Connection) in the table according to the standard specification, but most power supplies seem to accept +12V as well.
6-pin PCI-E 6 pin (2x3) auxiliary power connector, rated for 75 W
Connector 6 pin (2x3) additional 75-W connector for powering PCI-E video card | |||||
Color | Signal | Contact | Contact | Signal | Color |
The black | GND | 4 | 1 | +12V | Yellow |
The black | sense | 5 | 2 | N/C | - |
The black | GND | 6 | 3 | +12V | Yellow |
The pin configuration on the 8-pin PCI-E auxiliary power connector is shown in the diagram below. Notice the additional +12V voltage on pin 2 and two "sense" signals on pin 4 and pin 6, which allows the card to determine which connector is connected - 6-pin or 8-pin - or there is no connection.
8-pin PCI-E 8 pin (2x4) auxiliary power connector, rated for 150 W
Connector 8 pin (2x4) additional 150-W connector for powering PCI-E video card | |||||
Color | Signal | Contact | Contact | Signal | Color |
The black | GND | 5 | 1 | +12V | Yellow |
The black | Sense0 | 6 | 2 | 12V | Yellow |
The black | GND | 7 | 3 | +12V | Yellow |
The black | GND | 8 | 4 | Sense1 | Yellow |
The design of both connectors ensures backward compatibility: a 6 pin connector can be connected to an 8 pin socket. Thus, if your graphics card has a socket for an 8-pin connector, but the power supply has only a 6-pin connector, then it can be connected to the card by simply sliding it relative to the socket, as shown in the figure. The plug has a key design to prevent installation in the wrong position, but when connecting the connector, be careful not to use excessive force, which may damage the card.
Connecting the 6-pin connector to the 8-pin socket on the graphics card
The signal pins are arranged in such a way that the video card itself recognizes what type of connector is connected to the socket and, thus, what power is available to it. For example, if a video card requires a full 300W and is equipped with two 8 pin (or 8 pin + 6 pin) sockets, but you use two six-wire connectors, the card will detect that it can only use 225W and, depending on the design and firmware, may either turn off or run in reduced functionality mode.
Thanks to a special key on the plug, the 8-pin connector cannot be installed in the 6-pin socket. For this reason, many power supply manufacturers equip their products with "6 + 2" plugs, which allow you to disconnect an additional two if necessary, resulting in a regular 6-pin connector instead of an 8-pin one. Such a connector, of course, will fit into the 6 pin socket on the board without any problems.
Attention! The PCI-E 8-pin auxiliary power connector and the EPS12V standard 8-pin CPU power connector use similarly designed Molex Mini-Fit Jr. These plugs have different keys, but with some effort, you can connect the EPS12V connector to the socket on the video card, or vice versa, connect the PCI-E power connector to the EPS12V motherboard socket. In any of these scenarios, the +12V pin will be connected directly to ground, which can lead to failure of the motherboard, video card, or power supply.
The 6-pin connector uses two +12V pins to deliver up to 75W, while the 8-pin connector uses three +12V pins to deliver up to 150W. But according to the specification for Molex connectors, such a set of contacts allows you to provide more power. Each pin on the PCI Express power connector can handle up to 8A when using standard pins - or more when using HCS or Plus HCS pins. If you multiply the power limits of the contacts according to the specifications by their number, you can determine the connector's ability to hold a current of a certain power:
Maximum current through the auxiliary power connector of a PCI-E card | ||||
connector type | Number of contacts +12V | When using contact contacts | When using HCS contacts | When using Plus HCS contacts |
6-pin | 2 | 192 W | 264 W | 288 W |
8-pin | 3 | 288 W | 396 W | 432 W |
In a 6-wire connector, the current is rated for two +12 V pins, although most PSUs have three of these pins.
Standard Molex contacts are rated for 8A.
Molex HCS contacts are rated for 11A.
Molex Plus HCS contacts are rated for 12A.
All ratings are based on a 4-6 pin bundle of Mini-Fit Jr. using 18 gauge wire and standard temperature.
Thus, although according to the specification, the connectors are designed for power of 75 (6 pin) and 150 W (8 pin), when using standard contacts, the power can reach 192 and 288 W, respectively. By using HCS and Plus HCS contacts you can get even more power.
The two auxiliary power connectors in question may appear in the documentation under the names PCI Express Graphics (PEG), Scalable Link Interface (SLI), or CrossFire Power Connectors, as they are used by high-performance graphics cards with a PCI-E x16 interface that can work in conjunction with SLI or CrossFire. SLI and CrossFire are modes of using nVidia and AMD cards that allow you to combine cards into a bundle, using the computing resources of each of them to increase the performance of the graphics subsystem. Each card can draw hundreds of watts, which is why many high-end video cards have two or three additional power connectors. This means that most powerful
Video adapters are one of the main components of a computer. Every year they become more productive and require an additional source of energy, since the tasks assigned to them are no longer a miscalculation of rendering one 8-bit image, but complex 3D rendering. So what types of video card power supply exist and in what cases is it necessary?
Varieties of video cards
Depending on the adapters, they consume different amounts of electricity. Older models did not require additional power for the video card, since 75 W from the PCI slot itself was enough, and where passive cooling was used, half of this power was enough.
The energy consumed depends almost entirely on the type of GPU and cooling system. She may be:
- Active - on simple coolers (1, 2 or 3 fans) and water, where liquid is used for cooling.
- Passive - one large volume radiator is used without any electronics. There are separate versions of quite productive video cards with this type of cooling. But, as practice shows, such a solution can not always cope with the assigned tasks.
How is the video card powered?
Modern video cards are powered in three ways:
- Through the PCI slot. Maximum power consumption 75 watts.
- Connector 6 pin. Additional 75 watts.
- Connector 8 pin. Optional up to
In this case, all three types of video card power supply can be combined or have two 6/8 pin connectors. This is necessary to power boards with a power of more than 250-300 W for their stable operation, or for video cards with multiple GPUs that must receive energy through separate channels.
In addition to powerful flagship video cards, powered like a nuclear reactor, there are adapters that can use only the PCI slot to get all the necessary energy. Typically, this type of connection is used by low-power and old video cards.
If someone wondered what kind of video card power to choose, then the answer is simple: the presence of an additional connector is present only where it is needed. A more powerful card will always consume more power from additional sources.
Perhaps when video adapters become multi-core or the number of processors increases, they will receive even more powerful additional power, or acquire their own power supplies, but for now a 6/8-pin connector is enough.
SLI, Crossfire and electricity bills
Installing several video cards in one system is a fairly common solution to improve performance, especially in cases where the second video card is given shareware. NVidia and Radeon have many graphics cards that support parallel technology called SLI and Crossfire. So you can link several video cards into one powerful computing system.
The problem is that the power of video cards turns into a continuous consumption of a huge amount of energy. Well, if your unit is able to cope with this and it even has enough connectors, you won't have to buy a new one.
Some craftsmen have gone even further - they install several low-power PSUs in one system. This solution helps distribute the load between the two blocks, make the assembly less busy and even reduce noise. True, such a solution has some problems associated with launch synchronism.
Connecting additional power
Most modern power supplies have built-in outputs for the GPU and CPU 8 pin. They are very similar to each other, but have a distinctive pinout from each other.
Usually, an adapter is supplied for the auxiliary power socket of the video card. It is a branching of 6/8 pin contacts into two Molexes. Which, in principle, will be enough when using two 12 V channels. If there was no adapter in the kit, then it can be purchased separately literally for a penny.
Of course, powering through connectors that are not designed to deliver such power often leads to their burning and even failure, like the entire power supply. Therefore, it would be desirable to acquire a new PSU with enough power for the normal functioning of all components.
Emergency power connection
Sometimes, when buying a used video card, you may not find an 8-pin adapter in the kit. How to connect the power of the video card in this case? You can try to make a plug for the two remaining pins. To do this, you need an old ATX power plug, CPU or GPU 6 pin connector. The pinout of the contacts is as follows.
In 8 pin connectors, the difference is only in the presence of two GND pins. If you try to start the equipment with 8 pin from the 6 pin connector, then you will get an error about insufficient power supply of the video card, and, accordingly, a refusal to start.
Contacts No. 4 and 6 are not only GND, but also signal, which means that you can safely power it either from another source (as an option, a Molex connector) or simply duplicate the GND channel from an already connected 6-pin connector, as in factory adapters. In theory, you can just stick a jumper between the contacts from a reliable wire, but it doesn’t look very good, it’s difficult to achieve a stable contact.
It is important to remember that each plug has its own keys to prevent connection to other sockets. Therefore, you need to cut off only those parts that fit exactly into the socket.
Connecting power to the video card this way can help if you really understand what is happening and all the possible risks. And long work on such "crutches" is hardly guaranteed.
Selection of a block by power
Power supplies are classified mainly by power. In the old days, a fairly productive computer was enough for 300 watts of energy consumed. Now, one top-end card can consume such an amount of energy, and if there are two of them, or even worse, three, even if they are not the most demanding ones?
PSUs with connectors for a video card began to be produced immediately with the release of the first video adapters that require additional power. In some power supplies, you can find connectors immediately with adapters from 6 to 8 pin, in which 2 pins are simply unfastened.
For a successful selection of a power supply for a video card, it would be advisable to use special calculators, of which there are quite a few on the network. You just need to enter the names of the components and the recommended power will be automatically selected. If you plan to upgrade in the future or want quieter operation, you should choose a PSU with a slightly increased power - 100-150 watts.
Good afternoon! In this publication, we will look at the various types of connectors that serve to power. This issue should be taken as carefully as possible, since errors can end at best with a short circuit, and at worst - with fire and loss of equipment.
In the process of writing the article, I turned to various sources, ranging from Wikipedia to English-language specifications for each type of power connector. This allowed me to compile a table with power limits that will allow you to avoid the use of dangerous adapters and splitters. There will be no extra “water” in the article, only what every miner needs to know.
Maximum allowable power
To begin with, let's recall the lessons of physics from the school curriculum. There was this formula:
P=I*U
Power is denoted by the letter P and is measured in Watts (W). The current strength is denoted by the letter I, measured in Amperes (A). Voltage is denoted by the letter U and is measured in Volts (V). I will use this formula for all calculations in this material.
When in the article I will talk about the maximum allowable power, this should be understood as a limitation laid down by the developers of the power connector. On thematic forums, you can often find messages from the series "I connected a bunch of video cards through one PCI-E and everything is fine with me." With quality materials, indeed, such a configuration can work for some time if the author of the message is a thrill-seeker. With poor-quality materials, problems can occur even before the maximum current allowed by the standards flows through the adapter.
It is also worth immediately defining the terms. The power connection is a connection of a pair device, that is, consisting of two parts. These parts in the documentation and in colloquial speech can have a different name. The socket part, as a rule, is located on the device (if we are not talking about adapters, extension cords, etc.). It can be called: socket, female, "mother", connector, socket. The plug part, as a rule, is located at the end of the cable and is called: plug, male, "daddy", plug, connector. All these names are widespread and have the right to life. In this article, I will use the names "connector" and "connector".
Connectors and power connectors
Now let's talk about the connectors that can be found on a modern power supply.
Motherboard power connector (ATX connector)
There are 20-pin and 24-pin motherboard power connectors. Farms use 24-pin, but for compatibility with older motherboards, the four extreme contacts are often made detachable. The type of power connector on the motherboard must match the type of power supply connector.
Motherboard power connector
With regard to mining about this connector, it can be noted that four additional pins just serve to power PCI-Express devices, they provide power up to 75 watts.
CPU power connector
There are 4-pin and 8-pin connectors. From the diagram below, it is easy to see that the 8-pin is two 4-pins located side by side. Often the 8-pin is made composite, by analogy with the motherboard power connector.
CPU power connector
On power supplies, the processor power connector is located on a separate line. Sometimes there is both an 8-pin (inseparable) and a 4-pin on this line at the same time. One of them is connected to the motherboard.
PCI-E connector
It is this connector that is designed to power video cards, often manufacturers of power supplies make them red (and some blue) in color, there are 6-pin and 8-pin. In modern power supplies, the 8-pin can be compound, just like the connectors described earlier.
Video card power connector
The PCI-E connector is the most popular in mining. Its purpose is to provide additional power to devices (video cards, in our case) connected to the motherboard's PCI-Express bus. According to the specifications, the 6-pin provides 75 watts of additional power, and the 8-pin provides 150 watts. At the same time, the video card receives another 75 watts from the motherboard (or from the riser).
Course on video cards for mining:
The video card may have several connectors for additional power. For example, we can take the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti video card, its maximum power consumption, according to manufacturers, is 250 watts. Of these, 75 watts the device receives from the motherboard, and more connectors are required for at least 175 watts. One 6-pin is not enough (up to 75 watts), one 8-pin or two 6-pin (up to 150 watts) - too. Requires one 6-pin and one 8-pin (up to 225 watts total). We look at the picture below - it is, everything is correct.
Power connectors on the video card
Molex connector
Initially, this connector was designed to power hard drives and disk drives, but at present, for modern devices, this function is performed by SATA connectors (more on them below), and Molex is used to power various additional equipment.
Molex connector
The advantage of Molex is the presence of both 5 and 12 Volt lines at the same time, and current up to 11 Amps can flow through each line, that is, the power of the 12-volt line is 132 watts, and the 5-volt line is 55 watts. Often on the Internet you can find information that Molex provides 187 watts of power. This is true, but the auxiliary power connector for video cards has only 12 volt lines, and the 5 volt line is not used. In mining farms, Molex connectors are used to connect risers, cooling fans, additional power to the motherboard, and as a replacement for missing PCI-E connectors.
Many adapters have been invented using Molex. And some of them carry a real fire hazard!
The top of the most fire hazardous adapters is headed by the MOLEX->8-pin PCI-E adapter. The power consumption of the video card on the 8-pin connector, as I noted above, is up to 150 watts. Molex is rated at 132 watts.
Do not power graphics cards through MOLEX->8-pin PCI-E
Use caution with Molex->6-pin PCI-E and 2xMolex->8-pin PCI-E adapters. There is no excess in power, but you should not relax. Adapter manufacturers often use low-quality materials - thin wires, cheap plastic, unreliable metal parts. It may also cause a fire. After installing such connectors, regularly monitor their condition.
Burn equipment because of adapters - do you need it ?!
The safest option is 2xMOLEX->6-pin PCI-E adapters. Good headroom avoids fires due to overheating, but there is still a risk of problems due to poor contact, as a result of which this adapter will actually turn into a 1xMolex->6-pin PCI-E, and this is already the first step to big problems.
Relatively safe adapter
It is advisable to avoid using Molex adapters to connect video cards. Nevertheless, it is relatively safe to use Molex connectors to power risers (I remind you that their consumption is not more than 75 watts), including the use of adapters.
SATA connector
Like MOLEX, this connector is designed to connect hard drives and floppy drives.
SATA connector
It can be seen from the diagram that the connector has three contacts for 3.3 V, 5 V, 12 V. According to the specification, each connector is designed for a maximum current of 1.5 A. Thus, the total power of the 3.3 V lines is almost 15 watts, 5 V lines - 22.5 watts, and 12 V lines - 54 watts. Thus, the maximum line power of 12 V for this connector is three times less than that of Molex. And the 5 V lines are half as much.
That is, DO NOT use SATA->Molex connectors to power devices that consume more than 50 watts.
Dangerous! SATA->Molex
floppy drive connector
A real "dinosaur" - a power connector for a floppy drive. It is also called mini-molex.
floppy power connector
It has lines of 5 V and 12 V, for each of which the maximum current is 2 A, that is, the maximum allowable power is 10 watts and 24 watts, respectively. This is only enough for some kind of cooling fan.
Final figures
To make it clearer, we present the values of the maximum allowable power consumption for lines with different voltages in the form of a table.
Table 1
The following table is the maximum power consumption of the connectors per various devices, which can be part of a mining farm.
table 2
The resulting tables will allow you to determine which adapters and for what purposes are safe, and which are not. For example:
- One 8-pin PCI-E to power the video card (requires 150 watts over a 12-volt line, Table 2) can be connected from two 6-pin PCI-Es (they provide a total of 150 watts over a 12-volt line, Table 1);
- Two 6-pin PCI-E to power the video card (requires a total of 150 watts on a 12 volt line, table 2) can be connected from one 8-pin PCI-E (gives 150 watts on a 12 volt line, table 1).
- One 6-pin PCI-E to power the video card (requires 75 watts on line 12 volts, table 2) can be connected from one Molex (provides 132 watts on line 12, table 1), but two are better, given the poor quality of such adapters.
- One 6-pin PCI-E to power the riser (requires 75 watts on line 12 volts, table 2) can be connected from one Molex (provides 132 watts on line 12, table 1).
- Two risers with any connectors (require a total of 150 watts) can be connected from one 8-pin PCI-E.
I gave these examples. But do not forget that in this case a lot depends on the quality of the materials from which they are made. Try to avoid using them whenever possible.
When mining is not Fire!
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It costs more than 100 rubles, while the Molex 4 pin Male splitter ( a photo) by 2x 4 pin Female (at the power supply cable) (a photo) - 50 rubles, decided to go against market conditions and make it from improvised means. Especially since 20 pin plugs, from which you can make 6-pin, exist in old ATX power supplies that are no longer suitable for working with modern computers.
The difference in the design of 6 pin and 20 pin connectors, if you look closely, is that the pins with and without chamfers are arranged differently (photo and drawing). There is a combination of 2 chamfers in one middle vertical row.
However, the necessary beveled bevel is easy to make with a blade or a utility knife, since the material of the connectors is polyethylene. For the source material of a 6-pin connector, for example, that edge of a 20-pin connector that contains multi-colored wires: white, gray, lilac and others is well suited. We select it in such a way that it is easy to make 2 chamfers on the middle pin with the tip of the knife. It's tempting to cut out the middle of the latch connector as well, although it will be a bit different from where the mating wedge is located (see the figure for how to make another 6-pin connector out of the remaining piece of the 20-pin connector).
The mating part of the adapter (4 pin Molex Male) can be found in the power supply for some fans or in the same 1x2 splitter. The wires are soldered and insulated to the desired wires of the contacts or crimped with the metal of the contact removed from the connector. You can directly connect the 6 pin connector to the power supply if you do not intend to make an adapter.
It is convenient to saw off 6 pins from a 20-pin connector with a hacksaw or using the same construction knife. So that the plastic wall is preserved on the segment we need. At the same time, we do not spare the 4th hole from the edge of a pair of pins, although it can be sawn off so as not to damage the wires located there.
After sawing and chamfering, the connector is ready to go, all that remains is to solder the necessary wires to the 4-pin Molex Male connector to ground and to 12 volts (yellow wire). But you can make it prettier rearranging the wires of the same color to the same ratings of the contacts (photo)(3 farthest from the board - to GND, 3 close to + 12V). A thin flexible needle will help to remove the contact with the wire from the socket. Let's bend the end of the needle with a small "stick" so that, turning it around its axis, press the protruding contact wedge and bend it inward. There are two such wedges on the contact from opposite sides, so the operation to press the wedges must be carried out twice. After that, the contact can be pulled out of the connector by the wire. The figure shows the direction of pressure on the wedges in the contact of the connector.
After pulling out the wires of the desired color, we straighten the wedges in the contacts again (Fig.)
... and carefully check the correct installation in the places we need. If we make a mistake with the connection, at best, the protection of the power supply due to a short circuit awaits us, and at worst, if the polarity is reversed, the video card will fail. So, we place black wires on the ground contacts (GND), and a different color (better than yellow (12 V), but more red wires, from 5 volts) - on 12 volt contacts.
We connect the black wires to the middle pins of the 4 pin Molex connector, and the 3 others to the yellow wires of the 12 volt source. Do I need to install 2 Molex connectors? Useful if the video card will consume a lot. In general, 12 volt outputs are often combined in the power supply, so the power supply of the video card from one source will not differ from the power supply from 2 current sources. Before soldering or assembling, it is useful to make sure that we install the contacts in the correct sockets.
The adapter is assembled, the wires and power connectors from the old power supply helped the new system unit perform its functions. The cost of raw materials will not exceed 100 rubles, even if a working low-power unit from computers with Pentium II is taken "for scrap". It will take from half an hour to an hour, depending on the skill and preparedness of the workplace.
By the way, this is not an invention of today. Already online you can find instructions with the idea of using this part of the 20-pin connector (in English).
Discussion and comments are made
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