Question What would be the best way to replace my 4 pin CPU connector?

[Teakkit]

My 4pin CPU power connector burned up. The ground wires melted right at the connector. I have another 4 pin but that's if I had an 8pin so it won't fit in the existing spot. What would be the best way to get power back to CPU?

https://imgur.com/a/IfKmIbc

 

[DSzymborski]

First replace the PSU and see what, if anything, still works.

 

[USAFRet]

what could I salvage from this for a new one? I dont have any spare cash atm but I need something for work. RAM graphics card and processor would all be non compatible with any new motherboard right? The hard drives and fans could still be used?

Drives, almost certainly yes.
Fans, probably.
CPU cooler would almost certainly need a new mount. Easier just to replace.

 

[Teakkit]

First replace the PSU and see what, if anything, still works.

Would I be able to find a PSU that could supply this 4pin and 20pin motherboard and if I need to replace the motherboard, supply 24 pin and 8pin? I dont want to buy something (and possibly burn that wire) and then buy another one for a new motherboard.

 

[Teakkit]

Drives, almost certainly yes.
Fans, probably.
CPU cooler would almost certainly need a new mount. Easier just to replace.

So pretty much everything would need to be replaced?

 

[USAFRet]

So pretty much everything would need to be replaced?

Coming from a 12 year old platform, probably.

But, as above, try just a new PSU.

This depends, of course, on the specific damage on the motherboard pins.

 

[bill001g]

What you are looking for is something like this. I would not actually buy it from aliexpress unless you are willing to wait 2 weeks. Someone on amazon or ebay might have similar but I didn't find it with a simple search.

https://www.aliexpress.com/i/2251832335334068.html?gatewayAdapt=4itemAdapt

Might just be easier to buy this and splice the wires.

https://www.amazon.com/ZLKSKER-Extension-Desktop-Computer-Connector/dp/B08R36YKPB

Now this assumes your power supply did not get fried.

 

[BFG-9000]

Just the wires burned I think not the entire connector

Yes, hence my suggestion to remove the burnt wires out of the connector and replace them with the spare good ones from the other 4-pin connector that's improperly keyed, though your picture shows a burnt yellow wire. After all there are only two wire colors to worry about.

It's easier if you have a tool like this if you wanted to order something, but most people would probably just cut the whole P4 plug off a dead PSU and splice all 4 wires to avoid having to order anything and wait.

 

[Teakkit]

Coming from a 12 year old platform, probably.

But, as above, try just a new PSU.

This depends, of course, on the specific damage on the motherboard pins.

If some of the pins arnt as shiny and a little build up on them what would be a good way to try to clean them? Anything besides having to pull it out of the motherboard?

 

[Teakkit]

What you are looking for is something like this. I would not actually buy it from aliexpress unless you are willing to wait 2 weeks. Someone on amazon or ebay might have similar but I didn't find it with a simple search.

https://www.aliexpress.com/i/2251832335334068.html?gatewayAdapt=4itemAdapt

Might just be easier to buy this and splice the wires.

https://www.amazon.com/ZLKSKER-Extension-Desktop-Computer-Connector/dp/B08R36YKPB

Now this assumes your power supply did not get fried.

I found this and haven't tried it yet but it should work and I won't have to mess with rewiring. Thoughts?

 

[Teakkit]

Yes, hence my suggestion to remove the burnt wires out of the connector and replace them with the spare good ones from the other 4-pin connector that's improperly keyed, though your picture shows a burnt yellow wire. After all there are only two wire colors to worry about.

It's easier if you have a tool like this if you wanted to order something, but most people would probably just cut the whole P4 plug off a dead PSU and splice all 4 wires to avoid having to order anything and wait.

I'm thinking of using this. Seems easier than redoing a connector. Is there an easy way to try to clean up the pins on the motherboard connector?

 

[BFG-9000]

Your link doesn't work, but on the motherboard side, the plastic part of the connector is almost always just press-fit over the pins tightly so can be pried off, leaving just the bare pins. Then you'd have plenty of room to sand and solder directly to the pins (nobody wastes time to desolder pins like that if you aren't replacing them--just solder the wires directly to them. You can even bend them over a bit away from each other to make more room).

The trick is it's a 2x2 pin arrangement so make extra double-sure you don't accidentally rotate that plastic bit if/when you put it back, messing up the polarity! It's keyed that way for a reason, and removing it means there are three wrong ways to put it back.

 

[beyondlogic]

My 4pin CPU power connector burned up. The ground wires melted right at the connector. I have another 4 pin but that's if I had an 8pin so it won't fit in the existing spot. What would be the best way to get power back to CPU?

https://imgur.com/a/IfKmIbc

step 1 throw out psu
step 2 buy new psu

if your connector burned up then there is something seriously wrong with that psu do not plug it into anything.

if your lucky the rest of your components are ok.

i would unplug the gpu test with another power supply while the cpu connector on board looks a bit damaged it may not be dead. however its likely that it is.

cpu may have survived and gpu.

 

[artk2219]

Honestly given that its an 11 year old FM2 system, and you dont know if anything else is broken, i would replace it entirely. It doesn't have to be anything fancy or expensive, you could probably get a Coffee lake or early Ryzen based ex-office pc pretty cheap, maybe 100 or less. I guess the questions are, how quick do you need this, where are you located, and how much can you spend on this?

Ryzen 5 2400G PC, definitely add ram in the near future

Ryzen 5 3400G, 16GB RAM, but it needs a disk

 

[beyondlogic]

Honestly given that its an 11 year old FM2 system, and you dont know if anything else is broken, i would replace it entirely. It doesn't have to be anything fancy or expensive, you could probably get a Coffee lake based or early Ryzen ex-office pc pretty cheap, maybe 100 or less. I guess the questions are, how quick do you need this, and how much can you spend on this?

small replacement build with your case as a basis. use storage from old pc if its still kicking

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/xwVCxH

 

[BFG-9000]

I should also point out that once you have pried off the plastic connector part from the motherboard header and cleaned the pins a bit, the other unburnt part of the 4+4-pin power plug that's improperly keyed could plug right in as then the keying would be irrelevant. Nothing to buy, crimp, solder and nothing to lose--if you carefully keep track of what color wires go where, since then there is also nothing preventing you from plugging it in the wrong way.

Doesn't make sense to spend any money on such an old system

 

[Teakkit]

Your link doesn't work, but on the motherboard side, the plastic part of the connector is almost always just press-fit over the pins tightly so can be pried off, leaving just the bare pins. Then you'd have plenty of room to sand and solder directly to the pins (nobody wastes time to desolder pins like that if you aren't replacing them--just solder the wires directly to them. You can even bend them over a bit away from each other to make more room).

The trick is it's a 2x2 pin arrangement so make extra double-sure you don't accidentally rotate that plastic bit if/when you put it back, messing up the polarity! It's keyed that way for a reason, and removing it means there are three wrong ways to put it back.

I have a molex to 4 pin adapter

 

[BFG-9000]

That's great, just cut off the 4-pin part and splice it to your PSU. Solderless crimp connectors would be fine.

It is not recommended to just use it because theoretically the single yellow +12v line on a molex can only deliver 10A. And your 100w CPU by itself plus 20% extra (from assuming the VRM is 80% efficient)... requires 10A. So while it might work if nothing else is attached to that string... well you've already burned up one connection and now want to push the wiring to its absolute maximum theoretical limits?

The ATX-12V connector was originally for powering the then 49w Pentium 4 Willamette, and yet has two yellow lines to supply up to 20A or 240w, because a little extra headroom is a good thing when it comes to power. Similarly the 8-pin EPS-12V connector which can deliver 40A, was adopted long before CPUs even approached 200w