Motherboard Connectors - All you Need to Know as Fast As Possible
Techquickie
·Techquickie
·2013-05-07
·
803 words · ~4 min read
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have you ever tried plugging things into your motherboard and it just won't work
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well that's why we're here with this Techquickie fast as possible to show
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you how to connect all of the different connections on your motherboard the 24
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pin connector is usually located along the right hand edge of the motherboard
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and is notched so that it only goes in one way you can tell that it's
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completely inserted once the clip is closed over the latch next up is the P4
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or EPS connector sometimes it's four pins and often your power supply can
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have the connector split apart to accommodate those four pin connectors
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and sometimes it's eight pins and while it's best to plug in all eight pins if
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your power supply doesn't support it you can just plug in the four that fit make
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sure you're not trying to plug a PCI Express 8 Pin into your EPS 8 Pin though
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because those aren't compatible and if you force it it will fry your motherboard three pin fan headers can be
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installed with either three pin fans or
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four pin fans but they are only compatible with analog fan speed control
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four pin fan connectors have a fourth pin for pwm fan speed control which is
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more advanced than the traditional voltage control method three pin fans
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can still be installed in them however they just won't have pwm control one of
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the trickiest and most intricate connectors is the front panel headers
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power reset hard drive LED as well as power LED and this is where I do really
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recommend Consulting the manual sometimes they're colorcoded and other
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times they're labeled directly on the motherboard and on the connectors but
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you'll save yourself some hassle if you just look it up the LED connectors
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require being plugged in a specific way with positive and negative on the
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corresponding terminals however the power and reset switches can be
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installed either way it doesn't matter usb2 front headers also have to be
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hooked up and it should be noted that some motherboards have special
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color-coded front USB 2 headers that actually deliver more power for doing
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things like charging tablets quickly most of them however it's just a matter
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of lining them up with the one miss pin on the header on the motherboard
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corresponding to the missing pin on the plug in order to use front USB 3 super
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speed both your case and your motherboard have to support it it's
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usually pretty easy to find the connector because it's clearly labeled or color coded otherwise it's pretty
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distinctive looking if your case supports usb3 and your motherboard
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doesn't don't worry you can use either the included adapter that comes on the
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connector or many cases also include an adapter that means that those front usb3
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ports on your case will still function even if it's only at USB 2 speeds the
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front panel audio connector to hook up the microphone and headphone jack on the
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front of your case is usually located at the bottom left of the board here often
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cases have a leadoff connector for this one as well with one of them labeled HD
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or aelia and the other one labeled PC 97
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the PC 97 one is a very old standard so unless you're running an old socket a or
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socket 478 motherboard don't worry about that and just plug the HD brick into the
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HD header on your motherboard and you can even cut off that old ac97 one this
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guide isn't intended to cover expansion slots or data connections like serial at
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so the last one we'll be showing you is auxiliary power connectors so from time
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to time in addition to the 24 pin and the 8 Pin there might be a MOX 4 pin or
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even a SATA connector somewhere on the motherboard these are intended to be
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used if you're installing a multi-way graphics card configuration to help the
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board draw power from somewhere other than the 24 pin which can prevent it
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from burning out thanks for watching this episode of fast as possible on Tech
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