A Visual Guide to PC Components Pt. 2: Power Supplies

Well, it's been over a week since I posted something and I feel bad, so here's a quick one to tide people over.  I'm still working on posts regarding CPU cooling, building in the 600T, and I'm pulling together parts for a build I plan to sell, which I'll also be using to provide a detailed photo (maybe video?) guide on PC assembly and cable management.  Stay tuned for that.

I'll forgo the lengthy introduction a second time.  Suffice it to say that the guide below is intended more for neophytes than experienced builders, and I could never be accused of being a photographer.

Power Supply: Antec High Current Gamer 520W

Pay no attention to the accumulated detritus of (what seemed like) a thousand CPU cleanings.  God I hate thermal paste.

Anyway, what you see above is a very solid 80+ Bronze certified PSU from Antec's more budget-friendly High Current Gamer line.  Internally, it's a Seasonic S12II Bronze 520W PSU.  A very solid choice for any number of low to mid-range setups.  We'll be taking a look at the various cables to give you an idea what goes where in your PC build.

24 Pin Motherboard Power

As noted in the first part of this series (duo-logy?) the 24 Pin cable plugs into your motherboard and provides power to motherboard components, CPU, and expansion cards.  It's rather significant (as you might imagine), and easily the largest, thickest, and most unwieldy of PSU cables.  The plugs containing the pins are shaped, and the connector itself has a latch on one side, ensuring proper orientation.  All PSU connectors have such features in some regard.

8 Pin CPU Power

Labelled as an ATX12V or EPS12V connector, these cables are plugged into the motherboard near the CPU socket and provide power directly to the CPU.  These are a relatively new addition to PSUs (compared to Molex or Motherboard connectors, that is) and are necessary to feed higher-end CPUs.  Lower wattage CPUs will usually only have 1 of these 8-Pin connectors, while higher wattage models will include 2 (for motherboard designs with extremely large numbers of power phases, or dual CPU sockets).  The ATX12V connector is usually split into two 4-pin connectors, one of which is used if the motherboard only has 4-Pin CPU power, while the EPS12V connector is usually a solid block.

6+2-Pin PCI-E Power

PCI-E power connectors come in two flavors, 6 Pin and 6+2 Pin.  6+2 Pin connectors deliver more power, and are seen on more demanding video cards.  The Antec HCG 520W features two 6+2 Pin connectors.  Lower wattage units might feature 6 Pin connectors (or only a single PCI-E Power connector, 6 or 6+2 Pin) while higher wattage units will feature more connectors, sometimes mixed between 6 and 6+2 Pin connectors.  These connectors plug directly into the video card.  The 2 additional pins on a 6+2 connector are not fused to the first 6, so as to avoid fitment issues on video cards only requiring 6 Pin power.

SATA Power

 

SATA Power connectors are specifically for SATA drives.  This includes Optical Drives, Hard Drives and Solid State Drives.  They generally come on "chains" from your PSU, with multiple connectors per cable.  This can be irksome, if you only need one connector, or a godsend if you need multiple connectors arrayed closely together, for multiple hard drives in a single cage, for example.  The connector is L-shaped internally, to ensure proper orientation.

Molex (4 Pin) Power

 

Molex connectors are some of the oldest connector designs on your PSU.  These have been around forever, even the motherboard connector has seen pins added (from 20 up to 24).  Molex used to power drives, but SATA power has relegated them to an auxiliary role.  If your motherboard has auxiliary power connectors, or you need to power a water cooling pump, a fan controller, a fan directly from your PSU, a strip of LEDs, etc. then you're probably looking to use Molex connectors.

Floppy Disk Power

 

This is an essentially obsolete connector used specifically to power those old 3.5 inch Floppy Disk Drives.  Some PSUs still have a single one for the sake of users with legacy hardware, or include an adapter for the same purpose.  For any modern computer, they're worthless, and I'm a little irritated with Antec for hardwiring one to this PSU.

And with that we've basically covered every connector that will come out of a modern PSU.  For more advice on choosing a PSU, take a look at other posts related to power supplies on this blog, or ask in the thread.

A Visual Guide to PC Components Pt. 1: CPUs and Motherboards

Though the thread tends to attract those who are already computer-savvy enough to know what the inside of a PC looks like, not everyone who can competently wield a computer knows what individual components go into building one.  The following is a visual guide to some salient PC components, for the edification of potential PC builders.  The important thing isn't the specific model of the parts you'll see below, but the general understanding of what individual components look like and where they go in the system.  Apologies in advance for any cruddy photos, I'm no photographer and I'm working with a relatively ancient point-and-shoot.

CPUs/Processors:

AMD Processor (Athlon II X2 250)

AMD Processors generally have an entirely flat heat-spreader that covers most of the silicon wafer.  You can see the designation of the processor there on top (AMD Athlon II) along with the model number.  You can't see this, but on the opposite side of the CPU are the pins, which slot into the socket on the motherboard, where they touch the contacts inside the socket.

Intel Processor (Intel Core2Duo E4500)

Though this is an older model CPU from Intel, they've been using roughly the same wafer size and heat-spreader design for at least the past 3 processor generations, and it seems unlikely to change any time soon.  Once again, the model number and CPU type are shown on top.  Unlike the AMD CPU, the heat-spreader has a couple "steps".  Modern Intel CPUs reverse the traditional CPU/Motherboard interaction: the contacts are on the CPU, while the pins are built into the motherboard socket.


Motherboards:

AMD Micro-ATX Motherboard (ASRock 880G LE AM3)

The above is an AMD AM3 Socket motherboard (which will eventually hold the AMD Athlon II X2 processor you saw earlier).  The motherboard is based on the Micro-ATX form factor, so it's smaller than a standard motherboard, and comes with a maximum of 4 expansion card slots.  I've indicated some points of interest on the motherboard for you to take a look at.

1. 4-Pin CPU Power:  Power from the PSU cable that plugs in here is directed to the CPU.  Higher end motherboards will have 8-Pin power connectors, in order to provide more power to the CPU, which assists in overclocking, or in running higher powered CPUs.
2. VRM system:  Here you can see the chokes and MOSFETs that make up the VRM system (the system that takes 12V power and converts it to lower voltages) for the CPU.  If you count the chokes, there are 4, pointing to 3+1 power phases, which isn't great, but it's for a media server, so I don't need much.
3. CPU Socket:  This is the socket for an AM3 CPU.  The socket arm swings up, you orient the CPU correctly, and all the pins drop into the little holes in the socket, then you swing the arm back down.  The plastic bracket around it is for CPU coolers.
4. DIMM Slots:  This is where your RAM goes.  You pop open the little arms on the sides, then seat the RAM.  You'll know it's fully in when the arms click in and secure it on the sides.
5. 24-Pin Motherboard Power:  Like the CPU Power plug, you'll run a cable from your PSU to this.  In older PCs (and some modern low power systems) the only thing necessary to run the system was this connector, which also delivers some power to the CPU.  Aside from that it delivers power to the rest of the motherboard components, and any expansion cards that are power strictly by the slot they're placed in.
6. SATA Ports:  Here we have 3 SATA II data ports.  Drives (Optical Drives, Hard drives, Solid State Drives) are attached to these ports via a SATA cable.  Depending on the motherboard, you might see ports oriented as the are here, perpendicular to the PCB (Printed Circuit Board) or oriented parallel to the PCB.
7. PCI-E x1 Slot:  This is a PCI Express x1 slot.  The x1 indicates available bandwidth on the slot.  x1 slots are used for basic expansion cards, like Network Interface Cards (wired or wireless) and sound cards.
8. PCI-E x16 Slot:  PCI Express x16 slots are physically larger than lower bandwidth slots and are mostly used for the addition of discrete graphics cards.  They are compatible with any lower-requirement expansion card (you can use a x16 slot to run an expansion card that needs a x1 slot).
9. PCI Slot:  PCI slots are probably the oldest design still incorporated into modern motherboards.  Regular PCI is slower than the PCI-Express interface and is largely useful for legacy expansion cards that you aren't willing to part with (like if you have a really old modem or NIC that you'd like to keep using).

Intel ATX Motherboard (ASUS P8P67 Pro)

So here we have an Intel motherboard based on the ATX standard.  Full ATX motherboards have a maximum of 7 expansion card slots.  Otherwise the functions on this board are largely identical to the AMD board above.  This board does have double the available DIMM slots for RAM, 2 more SATA ports with all the SATA ports oriented parallel to the PCB, and 8-Pin instead of 4-Pin CPU power.  The VRM system is also located under passive heatsinks around the CPU socket.  You'll also note the cover over the CPU socket.  Because the CPU socket for Intel motherboards contains pins, rather than contacts, a cover is necessary to protect them while not in use.

And with that, we come to the end of our regularly scheduled programming.  We've familiarized ourselves with CPU and Motherboard design, expect to see a visual guide to the PSU soon.