Powers supply question

Do you absolutely need a 24pin PSU for a motherboard that has a 24 pin or can you get away with just a 20 pin PSU?

I have seen prebuilts with a 20 pin in a 24pin Mobo but can any generic lower end motherboard just take a 20 pin instead of a 24 pin

yes you absolutely need a 24 pin but i believe you can use a 20 pin + a 4 pin.

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Thanks I was wondering if I should take the risk for a temporary solution but I never actually tried it so I was curious lol thanks bud

Yes, you can use a 20-pin power supply with a 24-pin motherboard, however it's probably not a good idea since any 20-pin power supply is either older than dirt or one of the Chinese roadside specials, either of which really shouldn't be trusted. The 20-pin connector also can't handle as much current as the 24-pin, so it could fry stuff.

http://www.smps.us/20-to-24pin-atx.html

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Can confirm. I've used 20-pins PSU's on 24-pin mobo's to test out to see if the PSU is working under load.

That too. If you plan to run the PC for extended periods of time (example: gaming, and not just simply testing), get a 24-pin PSU, with at least an 80+ rating.

I think the motherboard is one of those things that it's not worth messing around with imho just one mistake and you can fry it or something plugged into it. You could risk running it incorrectly but it may fall over for some other reason power related, so I'm not sure what there is to gain. When my last seasonic passed away I made do with a dirt cheap Corsair mx until replacing it with a decent one. But if you do try it let us know good or bad.

Yeah a 20 pin will work for a little while... just don't do anything intensive... the extra 4 pins are there to help spread the electrical load so that you don't burn out any componentry (or god forbid the traces...). Definately throw a quality PSU on there asap... 80+ will be fine, I like 80+bronze but many people won't go lower than gold for whatever reason (it's like the thermal paste application debate everyone has the best way when in reality it doesn't matter much at all).