"Martin Weil" said:
Hi.
I want to buy the Asrock P4i45D with a Celeron 1,7 Ghz. The Mainboard
supports Intel P4 up to 2,6 Ghz, but it requires "a special
ATX 2.03 Power supply". Same is said for CPU.
I have that 4-pin-extra Power connector, but the mainboard does not
seem to have it. I looked at the product picture on asrock's
website.
i thought, a p4 needs that extra connector to work stable. will that
work, if the mainboard does not have that connector?
thanks
martin
http://www.asrock.com.tw/product/images/P4i45D_F.jpg
You are right. I don't see the ATX12V connector with the 2x2 pins.
This means the current for the processor will be coming through the
single +12V pin. I believe a single pin is rated for 6 amps. With
80 percent Vcore conversion efficiency, this means you can support
a processor that draws
12*6*0.8 = 57.6 watts
You can go to processorfinder.intel.com and look up processors and
their characteristics. (Note - my 80% number is a guesstimate only,
and only Asus knows what the real number is.)
As I've been researching Celerons lately (because I'm trying to build
a low power system), I've noticed that the "sweet" Celeron right now
is the 2.0Ghz/400/128KB. That is because it is a 0.13micron part and
draws less power than the 1.7 and 1.8Ghz Celerons. I think the 2.0GHz
Celeron is about to be discontinued, leaving the 2.1GHz as the next best
alternative.
1.7GHz/400/128KB (SL69Z) = 63.5 Watts
2.0GHz/400/128KB (SL6VY) = 52.8 Watts <--- Even on a bad day, works OK.
2.1GHz/400/128KB (SL6SY) = 55.5 Watts <--- Still OK.
If we look for the 2.6GHz/400/512KB (SL6SB) Pentium, it is 62.6 watts.
This is in fact slightly less than the Celly 1.7! But it is slightly
above the single pin limit. Not enough to be a problem I would expect,
especially if there is good air flow in the case, around that connector.
If you are expecting to overclock, that would add to your power
problems. That for me would be the major annoyance of this power
limitation, that it leaves the health of the board as an
unknown when you overclock.
Since I am handy with a soldering iron, I would find a way to solder
the wires from a Radio Shack drive cable to the surface of the board.
Then, connect the drive cable to the power supply. This would solve the
problem (and void the warranty). That would only be essential if you
were trying to run a 3.06GHz or something.
I've seen a couple of connectors smoked by excessive current in my day,
but they were not this style of connector. Things that affect the
current carrying capacity are the way the connector wipes, how tightly
it is fitting (the more insertions, the worse it gets), and how much
copper solid plane is soldered to it. Large pieces of copper tend
to function as a heat sink for the current carrying pin.
If you buy the 2.0GHz Celeron, I wouldn't be concerned at all.
HTH,
Paul
