How to Install Power Supply to the Motherboard

There are so many cables and connections that you need to attach to your new PC motherboard, it may seem like an overwhelming job. It's actually pretty easy to get everything installed as long as you have the right kind of motherboard for your hardware. The steps below will serve as a guide.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

1. Consult the motherboard's manual to determine where all the connections are. Find out what connections are required for the installed hardware. Serial ATA hard drives, for example, require a different type of power connection than IDE drives.
2. Remember that generally, the cables only fit in one direction. If you can't get something to plug in, just reverse it and try again.
3. Connect the power supply to the motherboard. There is a wide, white connector with 24 pins coming from the power supply. If there is an extra ATX12V 4-pin connection on your motherboard, plug the 24-pin cable into that. If not, snap off the 4-pin cable. Connect the remaining 20-pin cable to the motherboard.
4. Plug in the power connectors to the processor and the processor fan. The processor fan will connect to either the motherboard or directly to the power supply.
5. Attach the cables from the front of the computer to the motherboard. There will be one for the reset switch, the power switch, and the LED's for power and hard drive. The motherboard will be labeled with the proper port to plug them into. If polarity is required, plug the white or black cables into the negative slot.
6. Push the 4-pin molex connectors into the CD ROM drive and hard drives. ATA serial hard drives use thin, flat connectors instead of the molex connector. Plug in the connector for the floppy drive. It is similar to the other molex connectors, but smaller.

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