• Competitor rules

    Please remember that any mention of competitors, hinting at competitors or offering to provide details of competitors will result in an account suspension. The full rules can be found under the 'Terms and Rules' link in the bottom right corner of your screen. Just don't mention competitors in any way, shape or form and you'll be OK.

Intel Core 2 Duo Power connector?

Jakal91

Jakal91

Jakal91

Associate
Joined
15 Apr 2006
Posts
225
Hi,

Im just building a new system using an Asus P5B Deluxe and an Intel core 2 Duo. I was wondering wether you had to connect the extra 12v connector from the power supply to the plug just above the cpu on the motherboard or wether it is not needed.

Thanks.
 
I would have thought so, every system I have put together that has the 12v connector, I have connected it up.
 
Its kinda dumb, but the majority of 478, and 775 motherboards will boot up and run just fine without the extra +12, but if you run it long term like that your likely to damage the motherboard, as it will draw all its power from the normal 20/24 pin power connector, and likely draw to much current.

I would recommend always connecting up the additional +12V even on a power efficient processor like a Core 2 Duo.
 
I'm not an expert electrician, but looking at the pin-outs and making some estimates, I'd say it won't matter.

The 4-pin 12V connector has 2 12V wires and 2 grounds (one for each 12V wire).

The 8-pin has 4 of each.

Assuming the usual gauge wiring is used, I reckon about 7A per 12V wire is a decent safe limit. More would probably be OK, but better safe than sorry.

So...to be sure, you need to find the total safe limit for current at 12V to your motherboard, on all power connectors, and compare it with the maximum draw.

24-pin ATX/EPS connector has 2 wires for 12V, so that's another 14A or thereabouts.

So...28A@12V with a 4-pin or 42A@12V with an 8-pin. That's just for stuff powered through the motherboard, so you can ignore drives.

28A@12V is 336W. 42A@12V is 504W.

I doubt if the kit powered through the motherboard ever requires more than 336W over the 12V wires, so I doubt if the 8-pin connector is beneficial. It's from the server spec - if you had a couple of power-hungry CPUs, a stack of cooling fans, 16GB of memory, i.e. what you might well have in a server, then it might be necessary.

Usual caveats - I am not claiming to be an expert and I have not tested power requirements on your hardware.
 
TUNSTALL_NICK said:
4 pin power for single core cpu`s 8pinpower for dual cpu`s!
Click to expand...

4 pin will be fine on dual core, 8 pin offers no real advantage. i think that mobo manufacturers are keeping themselves right as not all power supplies come with the 4 pin option and may come with the 8pin
 
8pin's really for dual cpu systems like AMD's 4x4 or server/workstations with dual Xeon, or dual Opteron. The 4 pin connector is more than enough for dual or quad core 'single chips'
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom