Which one is the correct CPU connector?

[Andrewxe]

I have a Coolermaster rs-500-pcar-a3 and CPU connector consist of 4pin P2 and 4pin P3. Why does it work when I use P2 and does not work when I use P3? Is the P3 part damaged in my PSU?

[Mira Yurizaki]

10 minutes ago, Andrewxe said:

I have a Coolermaster rs-500-pcar-a3 and CPU connector consist of 4pin P2 and 4pin P3. Why does it work when I use P2 and does not work when I use P3? Is the P3 part damaged in my PSU?

What's your motherboard?

 

The two connectors should be keyed differently, so my gut feeling is if the motherboard has an 8-pin CPU connector, it requires P2 to be there because that's the 4-pin variant pinout and that at least has to be connected.

[Andrewxe]

my MB has only 1 4-pin

[mariushm]

The header on the motherboard is KEYED, the holes have a specific shape. You can only insert ONE of the 4 pin power connectors inside.

 

The power supply has two 4 pin connectors, which can put together to form a 8 pin connector. If your motherboard has only a 4 pin connector, then you only have to use one half, one of those 2 4 pin connectors.

 

All connectors have that clip on the side, and the header on the motherboard also has a sort of edge ... the clip is supposed to go over the edge and lock the connector inside the header. So you can't insert it the wrong way.

Basically, if the connector is hard to insert, then most likely is the wrong one... don't force it.

[Andrewxe]

Both went it pretty well tho. Strange... Ill have another look at it.

[mariushm]

Maybe they made both "universal", without any key system. Normally, they're keyed so you can't plug them the wrong way

 

The 8 pin EPS connector is supposed to look like this ... look at the shape of each pin, some have a D shape, other are square:

 

 

The header on the motherboard is also supposed to have D and square shapes, so you would not normally be able to insert a square pin into a D hole in the header of the motherboard. But some motherboards use all squares (so both D and square pins fit, making the keying pointless), or the connectors are made with more D pins than required (D fit in both D and Square holes in the header, again making the keying ineffective)

 

The two 4 pin connectors are supposed to look kinda like this :

 

You can see how on the sides of both connectors there's a kind of channel - you can slide one into the other to have the 8pin EPS connector created.

 

The 4 pin cpu header typically looks like this :

 

 

You see the shape ... two squares and two D's ... see which 4 pin connector has same shape and that's the one that should be used.

 

[Jurrunio]

1 hour ago, Andrewxe said:

Coolermaster rs-500-pcar-a3

Fire cracker powering PCs?