Silly Question? AT to ATX Power Supply Conversion

[kopfjaeger]

Looking at a stack of perfectly good AT power supplies in my storage room, then at a few anemic (145W and less) ATX power supplies --- as a non-tekkie --- I ask myself if it is possible to modify AT power supplies to fit an ATX form factor mobo?

I know that at the very least, I would have to pay close attention to how the power connector pinouts on each board correspond, and further that Dell for one, has a proprietary method of seeting up pinouts on its power supplies.

Assuming that I:

(1) carefully watch how the power connector pinouts on the AT (for example 250W power supply) are arranged;

(2) compare these to how the power socket pinouts (pinins? e.g. the female mobo connector) on the standard ATX form factor motherboard are assigned; and

(3) pull off the old linear AT form factor connectors, splicing the corresponding wires into the proper ATX connector jack; then...

is it possible that I can put these AT PSU's to good use in ATX form factor machines?

This may be a silly question, since there may be other technical issues involved, but I HAD to ask.

I am curious as to what the HiveMind has to say.

Thanks,

Kopfjaeger

[thePh@r@oh]

AT supplies dont work the way ATX do so i dont believe modding an AT to work on an ATX will work BUT ive done the dual PSU thing using an AT supply to power fans and stuff.

[kopfjaeger]

Hey,

how about this?

http://www.affordablesurplus.com/ima...t-atx-conv.gif

http://www.affordablesurplus.com/det...PS-MB-EXT-CONV

[Bovon]

Originally posted by kopfjaeger
Hey,

how about this?

I believe this is an ATX to AT conversion...not the other way around. An ATX power supply contains all of the voltages needed in an AT setup..but an AT psu does not contain the voltages an ATX setup requires. Besides that, an ATX powersupply has two separate powersupplies in one case. There is the 'power good', 5 volt circuit that is in a continuously on state, as long as the power cable is on..between the psu and a wall socket. This 5 volts is what is used to turn the main supply on and off..this little feature is absent in an AT supply.