4pin molex connector on atx power supply and mobos ?

[batman1978]

Hello


Most ATX power supply for p4, athlons and such have a 4pin square connector called 4pin molex for p4, or so ive read. to give an idea of what connector im talking about i put this pic here

http://www.helpwithpcs.com/courses/power-supply/12v-power-connector.gif

or at this motherboard pic (its to the right of the 24pin molex mobo connector)
http://www.abit.com.tw/upload/products/NF7-S_pic6.jpg





Question is, , i have it currently unpluged.. what exactly does this molex connector do? just wanna know if ill have any problems if i dont plug it... and ive found very little information on the internet about it




(Abit NF7 v 2.0 mobo with an Athlon XP 2400 cpu)


Thanks

 

[Crashman]

It's called an ATX12V connector and it's supposed to power the CPU voltage regulator. Your system isn't supposed to run without it.

 

[batman1978]

I see, since i dont know what a cpu voltage regulator's is
I'll rephrase my question.


Will my system fail or will i have fried cpu (or mobo) if i don't plug this? or is there any other thing that is likely to fail? maybe the power supply itself?

This PC has been running 24/7 for months (like 3 months give or take) without plugging this connector..
Running demanding games and such.

(I'm using this power supply that doesn't have that connector) And I was thinking on moving this power supply to another similar system (an amd sempron64, i repeat, currently its running on an Amd AthlonXp w/o problems so far)



Thanks for your help

 

[Crashman]

I see, since i dont know what a cpu voltage regulator's is
I'll rephrase my question.


Will my system fail or will i have fried cpu (or mobo) if i don't plug this? or is there any other thing that is likely to fail? maybe the power supply itself?

This PC has been running 24/7 for months (like 3 months give or take) without plugging this connector..
Running demanding games and such.

(I'm using this power supply that doesn't have that connector) And I was thinking on moving this power supply to another similar system (an amd sempron64, i repeat, currently its running on an Amd AthlonXp w/o problems so far)



Thanks for your help

It shouldn't hurt anything, I'm just suprised it runs. The CPU voltage regulator is what POWERS the CPU.

 

[nmliz]

I had the same question and found the answer here.

I believe the 4-pin molex connector is the auxiliary power connector, and if the original poster replaced the power supply with a new 24-pin connector (instead of the old 20-pin one), then you shouldn't need the square, 4-pin molex.

 

[Crashman]

I had the same question and found the answer here.

I believe the 4-pin molex connector is the auxiliary power connector, and if the original poster replaced the power supply with a new 24-pin connector (instead of the old 20-pin one), then you shouldn't need the square, 4-pin molex.

No, the 24-pin connector was adopted to add more power pins for PCI-Express, as was the flat 4-pin auxiliary power connector. The square 4-pin CPU power connector is supposed to be on a completely different circuit (and the 8-pin version is just a higher-amperage version of the 4-pin square power connection).

 

[shoopz]

my mother board does not need the atx 4pin but my psu has a 20+4. Can I take the atx 4 pin and use it for something else? I have been looking for a converter or adaptor to make it in to a molex so I can use it. Any thoughts? I would like to use it to power my fan controller witch will have 4 fans plugged in to it.

 

[Wyoham]

In my case, the fans run but the CPU doesn't which makes me think that power is required at the four pin socket. I am considering identifying the + and - of the socket and feeding in from the black and yellow 12v circuit.
Wyoham