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Building a retro gaming rig for my brother

Posted: Sun Nov 04, 2018 10:13 pm
by Executioner
My brother wants to play some of the old XP games, and wanted me to build him a rig that will run XP only with no internet connection.

I was able to purchase some cheap pc cases for $10 brand new; however, I did not realize it until I got home that the onboard USB connector won't fit on the motherboard 9 pin housing. The one from the case looks like the old USB1.1 and the connector is only a 4 pin. So...I can't use the front USB ports on the case correct? Not a big deal I guess, as I can install a separate card.

The other small issue is the new power supply that came with the case. It's a 450 watt, but the connector is only 20 pin instead of 24. I've read that it can still be used, but your power supply has to have enough wattage to handle the requirement from the motherboard. Do they make any adapters by chance?

According to this site, I can use the power supply: https://www.gigabyte.com/Support/FAQ/1682

The motherboard I'm using is one I got from Bob as a freebee a last year: Asus P5B-E

Re: Building a retro gaming rig for my brother

Posted: Mon Nov 05, 2018 7:40 am
by FlyingPenguin
You can try the PSU. Problem is there's no way to be sure the mobo is getting enough power until you try and see if it's stable. Shouldn't hurt anything.

A single USB connector is 4 pin, but on mobos they put two together back to back on one header for 8 pins (the 9th pin is not connected and only used to key the connector so you can't put it in backwards).

You should be able to plug that 4 pin into one half of the header but you'll need to be sure the pin out is correct and you orient it properly. Wires for USB are usually color coded in a standard way:

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Re: Building a retro gaming rig for my brother

Posted: Mon Nov 05, 2018 12:59 pm
by Executioner
Thanks. Yeah I found the same verbiage in another web site. The markings are correct, so I used 1 of the 9 pin header to attached 2 front panel USB ports. I also ordered a USB3 card since they are pretty cheap, and it works with XP. As for the power supply, I found this adapter: https://www.atxpowersupplies.com/20-pin ... verter.htm so I ordered 1 just to be sure it has enough juice for the motherboard. I also found on ebay the backplate for the motherboard.

Re: Building a retro gaming rig for my brother

Posted: Mon Nov 05, 2018 3:19 pm
by Pugsley
Been a long time since I messed with any LCD screens. Now they have USB! neat. I was driving them from a parallel port back in the late 90s.