Gadgetory

have you ever tried plugging things into your motherboard and it just won't work well that's why we're here with this tech quickie fast as possible to show you how to connect all of the different connections on your motherboard the 24 pin connector is usually located along the right-hand edge of the motherboard and is notched so that it only goes in one way you can tell that it's completely inserted once the clip is closed over the latch next up is the p4 or EPS connector sometimes it's four pins and often your power supply can have the connector split apart to accommodate those four pin connectors and sometimes it's eight pins and while it's best to plug in all eight pins if your power supply doesn't support it you can just plug in before that fit make sure you're not trying to plug a PCI Express eight pin into your EPS eight pin though because those aren't compatible and if you force it it will fry your motherboard three pin fan headers can be installed with either three pin fans or four pin fans but they are only compatible with analog fan speed control or pin fan connectors have a fourth pin for PWM fan speed control which is more advanced than the traditional voltage control method 3 pin fans can still be installed in them however they just won't have PWM control one of the trickiest and most intricate connectors is the front panel headers power reset hard drive LED as well as power LED and this is where I do really recommend consulting the manual sometimes they're color coded and other times they're labeled directly on the motherboard and on the connectors but you'll save yourself some hassle if you just look it up the LED connectors require being plugged in a specific way with positive and negative on the corresponding terminals however the power and reset switches can be installed either way it doesn't matter USB to front headers also have to be hooked up and it should be noted that some other boards have special color-coded front USB 2 headers that actually deliver more power for doing things like charging tablets quickly most of them however it's just a matter of lining them up with the one missing pin on the header on the motherboard corresponding to the missing pin on the plug in order to use front USB 3 SuperSpeed both your case and your motherboard have to support it it's usually pretty easy to find the connector because it's clearly labeled they're coded otherwise it's pretty distinctive looking if your case supports USB 3 and your motherboard doesn't don't worry you can use either the included adapter that comes on the connector or many cases also include an adapter that means that those front USB 3 ports on your case will still function even if it's only at USB 2 speeds the front panel audio connector to hook up the microphone and headphone jack on the front of your case is usually located at the bottom left of the board here often cases have a lead off connector for this one as well with one of them labeled HD or Azalia and the other one labeled PC 97 the PC 97 1 is a very old standard so unless you're running an old socket a or socket 4 7 8 motherboard don't worry about that and just plug the HD brick into the HD header on your motherboard and you can even cut off that old AC 97 1 this guide isn't intended to cover expansion slots or data connections like serial ata so the last one we'll be showing you is auxilary power connectors so from time to time in addition to the 24 pin in the 8 pin there might be a molex 4 pin or even a SATA connector somewhere on the motherboard these are intended to be used if you're installing a multi-way graphics card configuration to help the board draw power from somewhere other than the 24 pin which can prevent it from burning out thanks for watching this episode of fast as possible on tech quickie as always don't forget to subscribe to tech quicky don't forget to like the video it helps us a lot and share the video with anyone who you think might benefit from the information if you have a suggestion for a fast as possible episode click the link in the video description and leave that suggestion for us we'll have a look and there's a very good chance we will produce a fast as possible just for you