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This instructable will show you how to give you a bit of leeway if your videocard (or if you have only one 12V rail it'll be able to give more power to both the cpu and videocard). Just before we get started this is not the master and slave set up. That set up doesn't work for all pc's but this is guaranteed to work.
This is only recommended if you haven't got enough power to your system and you're running a few fans and hardrives cddvdroms
WARNING: read the comments for safety measures
All you need is
A second powersupply (wattage dependant on what you are running but most likely even a 300 watt one will do.)
A paperclip or a small cable
And somewhere to place the second PSU (inside the case is recommended but not always advisable depending on the amount of room you have inside your case.)
You may also possibly need electrical tape (optional to cover the paperclip and prevent short circuits) and power extensions (IDE /SATA) if the cables are unable to reach to your devices.
A WARNING DO NOT plug in the 24pin or the 12pin creating a mix of power between the first and second PSUs is not a good idea as it may damage your motherboard.
Plugging only one PSU into the motherboard is appropriate.
Its advised that you only do so with the case PSU otherwise you may not have power to your hardrive (unless you plug that into the second one too) when you turn it on (not dangerous just useless).
This is only recommended if you haven't got enough power to your system and you're running a few fans and hardrives cddvdroms
WARNING: read the comments for safety measures
All you need is
A second powersupply (wattage dependant on what you are running but most likely even a 300 watt one will do.)
A paperclip or a small cable
And somewhere to place the second PSU (inside the case is recommended but not always advisable depending on the amount of room you have inside your case.)
You may also possibly need electrical tape (optional to cover the paperclip and prevent short circuits) and power extensions (IDE /SATA) if the cables are unable to reach to your devices.
A WARNING DO NOT plug in the 24pin or the 12pin creating a mix of power between the first and second PSUs is not a good idea as it may damage your motherboard.
Plugging only one PSU into the motherboard is appropriate.
Its advised that you only do so with the case PSU otherwise you may not have power to your hardrive (unless you plug that into the second one too) when you turn it on (not dangerous just useless).
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Signing UpStep 1Jump start.
Step 1 Jump start
The first step is to put in a paperclipwire into the GREEN pin and into a BLACK pin (On the 24pin/20pin connection). This can be different for different units. But the colours are always the same. This is the on signal (green) and ground so when power is going to the power supply and it is switched on at the unit it will jump start.
You may want to tape up the connection after doing this. Just to be safe and not cause any short circuits.
The first step is to put in a paperclipwire into the GREEN pin and into a BLACK pin (On the 24pin/20pin connection). This can be different for different units. But the colours are always the same. This is the on signal (green) and ground so when power is going to the power supply and it is switched on at the unit it will jump start.
You may want to tape up the connection after doing this. Just to be safe and not cause any short circuits.
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That ground/0v you get from a power supply is only at ground/0v relative to that particular PSU. Imagine if there was a 20V difference between ground on each supply!! Boom!
The data cables are subject to the same issues with potential difference. For a given device, the logical 1/0 signals it sends down the line will only be running at their rated voltages with respect to the ground the device is connected to.
That means what should be, for argument's sake 0-1.7V and 3.0-5V for logical 0 and 1 respectively could in fact be 10-11.7V and 13-15V at the other device. Meanwhile at the other end, we could be seeing voltages in the negatives for logical 1 and 0!
That means (assuming the PSUs have mismatched grounds) that at best you wouldn't have a working system, because as far as either device is concerned, their communication lines are locked high or low. At worst, it would damage your components and all sorts of interesting things could happen!
After firing both PSUs up without anything connected, I'd probably test with a multimeter across ground on both of them to see if there's a difference, and then make sure to connect their ground cables together for good measure. Make sure you don't try this on a computer you care about!