# Powering my motherboard (PW1, PW2 and PW3?)



## DoomyCheese

This will probably seem newbish, well true, I'm a first time builder  The thing is, my old motherboard only has PW1 20 pin connecter and PW2 4 pin connecter and both are connected to the PSU.

On my new motherboard (Foxconn P9657AA-8KS2H) there is 3 power connectors: PW1 24 pin, PW2 6 pin and PW3 Molex. Now my PSU (Antec Basiq 500w) has a 20+4 pin connector, 5 Molex and no 6 pin connectors.

My question is, do I put power to either the 24 pin or Molex connectors on the mobo? Or like my old mobo, do I put power to both? Or do I need to power all 3, meaning I need a new PSU with a 6 pin connector also?

I can't really consult my motherboard manual either as it is in Chinese. Please help :\


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## 1 g0t 0wn3d

You plug the 24pin in and if there is a p4 slot in your computer plug it in there


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## TheMatt

That board appears to have a 24-pin Main connector, an 8-pin CPU power connector, and a 4-pin Peripheral connector.

Plug the 20+4 pin connector into the 24-pin slot. Plug the 4-pin CPU power connector into the first 4-pins of the 8-pin slot. You can't plug a 4-pin CPU power connector into an 8-pin slot incorrectly without excessive force, so don't worry about that. You don't need the 4-pin Peripheral connector unless you will be running 3 or more expansion cards including the video card. It can never hurt to add it, so keep that in mind.


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## 1 g0t 0wn3d

Also click on psu info it will tell you more in there


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## DoomyCheese

Thankyou for the help, I haven't opened up the case since last night so I forgot it was an 8 pin connector and not 6, so I apologize if there was any confusion. I will connect them all up now as I have more than 3 expansion cards. Again thankyou for your help 

Edit: I've one more question. I connected the front audio and usb on my tower (Antec Solo) but I'm not sure I can do so for the IEEE 1394 firewire. From looking at the images in the tower manual, the firewire connects to a yellow part on the motherboard and the usb to green. Now there's 3 green usb parts on the motherboard, but no yellow firewire. Can I plug the firewire into a usb one?


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## TheMatt

No. Below the headers you should see a label like fp_usb or fp_firewire. See if you see one of those.


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## DoomyCheese

Hmmm.. There's an f_1394 with an empty area above it. Damn.


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## TheMatt

Your board probably doesn't have a TI IEEE 1394 controller on it. You can use one of those PCIe slots by getting an IEEE 1394 controller though. A good one will also have headers so you can use FP Firewire ports.


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