ATX Power Supply AUX Cable

[germanaman]

along with the 6 pin AUX connect, or which I also just found out is called a P6 connector according to an article that tomshardware did on PSUs.

Now my question is does the P6 connector HAVE to be connected? I feel stupid for asking this but of all the power supplies that I've seen on Newegg this is the only power supply that I found that lists the AUX connector as included with the supply: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817159047

I'm looking to get a power supply that will work with my system that is not necessarily quiet but not as loud as my old one. I was also looking into Active PFC, having taken some power classes in school this stuff kinda interested me and I figure I might as well have a pretty efficient supply.

Anyone have any recommendations?

Also here are the specs on my computer, I had a 400W supply that came with the motherboard when I bought some of these components used from a guy at school a couple of years ago and I'm not sure if maybe I should go for a higher wattage PSU.

ASUS CUV4X-D w/ PIII 1GHz
1152 MB SDRAM
3 Optical Drives (DVD-ROM, DVD-RW DL, CD-RW)
2 IDE Hard Drives (80 GB, 60 GB)
1 AGP GeForce2 32MB
1 PCI ATI TNT2 16 MB (I run a dual monitor setup)
1 Sound Blaster Live Value
1 USB2.0 PCI card (iPod is usually the only thing connected to this)
1 NIC
1 Promise Ultra133 Controller card
1 Floppy/Media Card Reader

Is 400W enough? There were 2 other IDE hard drives in the system until I took them out because they weren't getting used anymore. The system ran fine from what I could tell with all of that stuff.

[Thrax]

The +6 connector is really only used for the new EPS12v motherboards and power supplies. These power supplies deliver a cleaner, higher amount of power than older ATX12v or ATX+4 PSUs (Standard 10 pin, or 10 pin with a +4 connector for Pentium 4s). They're for new systems, primarily, with SLI setups and other high-draw devices.

Even then, the +6 is moderately irregular. Your 400w is just fine, and if you go to build a new system, we'll let you know what PSU you need for the given board. :)

[germanaman]

I think you have the connectors confused. It is a flat single row connector. Here is a picture from tomshardware: http://images.tomshardware.com/2002/09/04/building_your_own_pc/stromversorgung4.jpg (I need the connector on the RIGHT).

So this is what the connectors on my motherboard look as an example: http://images.tomshardware.com/2002/09/04/building_your_own_pc/stromversorgung1.jpg (The standard 20 pin ATX and the 6 pin AUX).

[Donut]

Is this a dual proc. board? I can't see your images. Does your current setup use the 6-pin connector?

If your current set-up is running fine, I'd leave it.

[germanaman]

Yes it's a dual proc board, dual PIII 1GHz and yes it was using the AUX power connector. It was running fine before the PSU died, but the power supply did put out alot of heat so I was thinking that maybe the power supply was under a heavy load and uping the wattage a little would not back the power supply have to work as hard and put out as much heat. But it could have just been the fact that it was a no name power supply that came with the bundle I bought from a guy a couple years ago.

[GHoosdum]

But it could have just been the fact that it was a no name power supply that came with the bundle I bought from a guy a couple years ago.

It is probably not up to the task of powering your setup, or it has progressively weakened over time such that failures are beginning to appear now. It's interesting to see how important the power supply has become in a PC build these days - in some cases, it can be one of the most expensive components now, whereas ten years ago no one would have suspected this to become the case.

[WuGgaRoO]

It is probably not up to the task of powering your setup, or it has progressively weakened over time such that failures are beginning to appear now. It's interesting to see how important the power supply has become in a PC build these days - in some cases, it can be one of the most expensive components now, whereas ten years ago no one would have suspected this to become the case.
i agree...when i built my 1.2ghz about 6 years ago...psus were semi important..but an generic PSU would do fine...now with SLI setups, multiple harddrives, and the cpus....a damn good power supply is crucial