Antec Smart Power 500W - Installation
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Installation
To set up a power supply, you need to remove your existing power supply. Then test-fit the new power supply in the chassis, making sure all cables will be long enough to reach each device and mount your new power supply into the chassis using the provided hardware.
Connect the ATX cable to the motherboard, for 24 pin PCI express motherboards you do not detach the extra 4 pins, as you need all 24. These add additional power feed lines to the motherboard. For 20 pin motherboards, you’ll need to remove the 4 pins from the ATX power connector. Squeeze together the little plastic clips on both sides of the ATX connector and release the 4 extra pins from the rest. Connect the 12v line up to the 12v peripheral line. Newer dual-core motherboards will have an 8 pin connection, but the standard 4 pin will also work.
Once you have set up the main motherboard connections, you need to hook up all of your drives and other power-hungry components. One of the great features of the new smart power is the modular design. You no longer have cables running thru your system that are unused. You can simply connect the cables you need to run the components you actually use. The PCIe connector is used for high end graphics cards. Antec actually provides 2 PCIe cables for users with SLI setups. There are also enough SATA connectors to power up to 6 drives in total if you were to use the provided SATA and Molex connectors. All you would need is some additional wire, and I actually plan on creating a external HDD power cord so I can run my SATA HDD from my external SATA port.
In my every day usage though, I actually only run 1 additional cable from the PSU, 3 Molex connectors power my DVD+RW, HDD and side and rear exhaust fans.
Next: Testing and Results >>
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