I am building a new system and both the mobo and the new PSU have a 12v 4 pin and a 2x12v 8 pin plugs for the cpu. Do i need to use the 2x12v 8pin cpu plug or is the 4pin all i need? What are the applications for the 2x12v plug? This PC is for web surfing, family pic editing, mp3s, gaming(COD4, crysis), some light graphics. No video editing and no rendering. I do not plan on overclocking until i learn this board. Even if i do OC, it will be very minimal.
My build:
Gigabyte GA-EX38-DS4 C2Duo e7200 Visiontek ATI Radeon HD3870 OC 512M DDR4, later a Xfire second 3870. 4G(2x2G) Patriot PC6400 DDR2 800Mhz Seagate 250G SATA150 (from last build) Thermaltake Golden Orb II (for quiet, since i doubt i will OC, much) 2 Utlra 80mm case fans cool master 40mm NB fan Thermaltake 4 head 5.25" bay fan controller (for case fans) generic DVD RW, CD ROM and Floppy( i am old school) 800 watt BFG Tech BFGR800WPSULE ATX 12V 2.2 / EPS 12V 2.91 Samsung Syncmaster 220WM 22" wide LCD USB keyboard and mouse USB Maxtor 250G External HD (self powered)
I know the 800w will cover the fans and other stuff, but do i need the 2x12v 8 pin cpu plug? What are they for?
With the exception of 4-socket server boards there are no MBs that have 2 EPS (read: 8-pin 12V) connectors. No, you will not need to use the single 8-pin that's on the DS4, the 4-pin would suffice, but it won't hurt anything either way you go. The EPS connector is intended for high thermally rated CPUs (high-end and OC quad cores).
My GA-P35-DS3P came with a black cover plug over the lower half of the 8-pin socket and my Q6600 ran almost six months(October 19th to April 12th) with the 4-pin connector. There were no issues.
