Do power connector adapters exist?

[rjisinspired]

I got my Mother an Intel D945gcnl board. She would had gotten the same one I had, an intel D945gccr, but couldn't find them at any of the stores we use.

We both have an ultrabox case that comes with a 400 power supply. The main power supply's connector mated fine on my board but on her board, the connector is 4 pins extra and the holes look bigger. In the instruction booklets of both my board and hers, the power connector on the both boards are graphically identical, to scale. In my opinion the instructions for these boards aren't detailed and accurate enough. I do not recall my board's connector being as lengthwise long as hers. Other than the power connector size differences, these two boards are identical otherwise in spec.

Are there any adapters that would change a 2X10 main power supply connector to a 2X12? I looked around but I'm not sure if these thing exist or not or what they would be called if they did exist. In photography something like this would be called a "step-up" adapter.

The intelD945gcnl board I got her has the name "essentials" on it while mine, an intelD945gccr, is an expressed type. They are pretty much identical except for the power connector. I thought I made sure that the boards matched before I bought it since the gccr version wasn't available/shown anymore. The idea was matching what I had and get her those items.

My mother is like me, she hasn't upgraded her computer since 2000 or 2001. She first started on WebTV. Computers to her wasn't an interest at that time but that changed once she had one.

I sent an email to the Ultra company to see if they could help with this matter so I'm still waiting. I'm guessing that either the board or a new power supply would have to be swapped. I'd rather do the power supply since the board is practically all set up to go.

[clidx]

some decent motherboards will work if you plug the 20 pins into the top 20pins, leaving the bottom 4 pins empty. worked for me, on my old gigabyte motherboard.

EDIT http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16812200064 may work. they are dubbed as 20 to 24 pin adapters but people on other forums etc say these don't work on some motherboards.

EDIT again, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16812183045 is even cheaper and made by a more well known brand.

Edited January 9, 2008 by clidx

[rjisinspired]

Hi Clidx

Thanks for posting those links

The Ultra company did get back to me and they noted that the 4 pin connector that is near the main connector for the power can be used in replace of the four offset holes but according to the motherboard's manual, mine is the same way, that 4 pin connector goes for the CPU and not for the main connector on the board. I think they mean something else?

I'll take my chances with the thermaltake adapters.

[Zxian]

Depending on your power requirements, the extra 4 pins aren't always required. I've seen plenty of systems run with a 20-pin ATX power cable plugged into a 24-pin socket. The holes themselves should be the exact same size, but the 20-pin connector will be off to one side.

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

I'd try running the system without the adaptor. In the worst case, the system won't boot up, but you won't break anything.