CPU power connectors

chrismox · 5 Feb 2024 at 08:55

I’m putting together a system that has the following:

Gigabyte Z690 Aurora Elite DDR4 motherboard.
Intel 12900K CPU

I bought a Seasonic G-12 GC-850 motherboard to power the system.

The motherboard manual shows the following CPU connections:

There seems to be both a 4-pin and an 8-pin connection for CPU power (ATX_12V_2X2 and ATX_12V_2X4), should I use one or the other or do both need to be connected?

The power supply has 2 x CPU (4/8 pins) cables, so I appear to be covered for whatever scenario.

Thanks.

Glanza · 5 Feb 2024 at 10:00

You only need the 8 pin connected, the additional 4 pin is more for overclocking. However if you've got fancy cables it's worth plugging in so you can see it.

chrismox · 5 Feb 2024 at 10:16

Thanks, so only 8 required buy all 12 does no harm.

Glanza · 5 Feb 2024 at 10:36

Correct

Blackwhite · 17 Feb 2024 at 16:57

8 pin can provide 336W so you are good

chrismox · 17 Feb 2024 at 17:05

Thanks, I connected everything on the board.

pastymuncher · 18 Feb 2024 at 10:44

One thing I found on my previous pc was that when I connected both the 8 pin and 4 pin connectors to the motherboard the cpu would draw more power than when it was just a 8 pin connector. I ended up removing the 4 pin and the cpu (overclocked 9600k) still ran with no problems. I didn't even bother with a 4 pin this time around.

chrismox · 18 Feb 2024 at 11:04

That’s odd.

ANDARIAL · 21 Feb 2024 at 09:27

pastymuncher said:
One thing I found on my previous pc was that when I connected both the 8 pin and 4 pin connectors to the motherboard the cpu would draw more power than when it was just a 8 pin connector. I ended up removing the 4 pin and the cpu (overclocked 9600k) still ran with no problems. I didn't even bother with a 4 pin this time around.

I too had issues with a new 1000w psu .tried to attach both the 8 and 4 pin cpu and pc would not turn on.removed the 4 pin and fired up straight away.Was a brown trouser moment there i tell you