[SOLVED] Normal PSU on proprietary HP motherboard

[francois.j.douglas]

I bought 3 HP desktops from my work a while back as I wanted to build a gaming PC for my wife with a GTX970 that was unused.

The Graphics card did not fit the original OEM case, so I drilled holes into my old case to make the motherboard fit in it.

The proprietary PSU did not have connectors for the graphics card, so I installed a 2nd 750watt psu with a jump starter as the motherboard does not have a standard 24pin power layout.

So the PC works better than expected by switching on the PSU for the graphics card 1st and then the entire pc after that, however the HP 180watt seems to think it is powering everything and sometimes sets its fan to max rpm. This is extremely annoying.

I want to set the 750watt PSU up so I can remove the HP PSU completely. The mothetboard has 3 connector ports: (PWRCMD)6-pin straight connector with 4 wires (white/red), white, green, gray; a 6-pin and a 4-pin.

The 6-pin 4 wire connector is the issue here. Which wires from a normal ATX PSU need to be connected here?

 

[drea.drechsler]

I bought 3 HP desktops from my work a while back as I wanted to build a gaming PC for my wife with a GTX970 that was unused.

The Graphics card did not fit the original OEM case, so I drilled holes into my old case to make the motherboard fit in it.

The proprietary PSU did not have connectors for the graphics card, so I installed a 2nd 750watt psu with a jump starter as the motherboard does not have a standard 24pin power layout.

So the PC works better than expected by switching on the PSU for the graphics card 1st and then the entire pc after that, however the HP 180watt seems to think it is powering everything and sometimes sets its fan to max rpm. This is extremely annoying.

I want to set the 750watt PSU up so I can remove the HP PSU completely. The mothetboard has 3 connector ports: (PWRCMD)6-pin straight connector with 4 wires (white/red), white, green, gray; a 6-pin and a 4-pin.

The 6-pin 4 wire connector is the issue here. Which wires from a normal ATX PSU need to be connected here?

A little information would be helpful: what is the HP model number of the system and, if possible, of the motherboard?

But in general: does the motherboard not have a 20 or 20+4 pin connection to the powersupply? It sounds like it doesn't so it could easily be a proprietary design that doesn't comply with ATX standards. In which case you'll need to use a multimeter to measure voltages from the existing PSU connector and determine what voltages goes where in the HP connectors.

Then carefully cut the old connectors off the old PSU and splice the appropriate wires from the new PSU. If they are the same MOLEX connector style you can extract the wired sockets but you have to be careful.

A little bit of background reading should be helpful:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ATX

Down in the article a bit it shows ATX standard pin-outs and color codes. Don't expect your proprietary HP PSU to comply with the color codes: measure with a multimeter instead to confirm.

 

[salerhino]

Maybe just buy an adapter instead of experimenting on your own?
I think that there are adapters from 24pin to 6/8 pin.

 

[Darkbreeze]

There are a lot of adapters out there to go from standard ATX to just about any kind of proprietary configuration that exists, mostly. The Dell or HP properietary connectors, except I think the ones that require a 10+4 pin or whatever that oddball one is, I can't remember exactly as I don't encounter it very often. But the 24 to 12 pin and most of the others are out there if you look for them. Knowing the specific motherboard or prebuilt system, or both, model numbers, would be extremely helpful in finding one.

Cutting and rewiring things is a recipe for disaster, if you don't have an exact schematic of both the motherboard pinout AND the power supply standard ATX pinout. We've seen a few people here end up with plastic puddles where the socket used to be from trying to do this.

 

[drea.drechsler]

There are a lot of adapters out there to go from standard ATX to just about any kind of proprietary configuration that exists, mostly. ...

Of course you could do this...but then that's also a recipe for disaster. I'm reminded of a friend who got a 20 pin to 20+4 pin adapter to use his older PSU on a new motherboard. Hooked it up, turned it on and nothing, then smoke started pouring out the PSU. Motherboard and PSU fried because the adapter was built incorrectly.

These things are built for ultra-cheap in China, thrown together by children with little to no quality control then out onto Amazon for unsuspecting buyers. You can buy one but you still better know where where each and every voltage line is supposed to connect on the motherboard so you can check it out with a mulitimeter first.

So...pick your poison.

 

[Darkbreeze]

If you're not smart enough to not buy a cheap component that uses AT LEAST nominal gauge wiring and has decent build quality, and yes, that generally means sticking to at least moderately known brands or preferably very good ones, then of course that could happen. It doesn't make it the same sort of thing as trying to Frankenmod your system.

Chances are good in cases like the one you mentioned that they were either using a cheap ass power supply in the first place, which could cause things to go up in smoke no matter if no adapters were used or not, or there was already some kind of issue with something before he ever adapted anything. That, or he plugged the 4 pin in at the wrong end of the socket. Problems due to unacceptable gauge wiring would not be instantaneous, they'd happen slowly and only under high draw situations. There was either something wrong, or he did something wrong.

These types of adapters have been used for YEARS, without anybody letting any factory smoke out for the most part and in cases where they did, there is either an extremely cheaply made, or incorrectly made, part to blame, or the person to blame.

90% of everything you buy, no matter what it is, is made somewhere else. India, Mexico, China, Hong Kong, South Korea, somewhere. Very little is made in the US, UK, Canada or anyplace where there are strict regulations which actually get somewhat enforced. That doesn't mean you can't still get quality merchandise. You just need to be aware of who you are buying from. Chinese manufacturers can make both high and low quality stuff, depending on what the client is willing to pay to have it made and how strictly they enforce their designs and quality assurance.