Second EATX12V needed or not? Conflicting answers

[idkanymore]

Hey guys, wall of text incoming! Sorry lol. I just wanted to explain my whole situation.

At this point I'm very confused and very frustrated so I hope I can get some solid answers here because I keep getting conflicting views on this situation. This is regarding the ASUS Rampage III Extreme

I asked on the asus forum if I need to connect the second EATX12V connector to the motherboard as well as the EZPLUG connectors and the response was the second EATX12V isnt required and runs in parallel with the first connector and that it is really only used for extreme overclocking. The EZPLUG was a similiar response that if i dont have more than 1 video card, they arent really necessary. This is even confirmed in the FAQ that I found here

Now here is where it gets confusing. I called ASUS regarding something else and decided to go ahead and ask them this question as well just to confirm it. As it turns out, they said that I need to connect both EATX12V connectors to the motherboard. I even mentioned it FAQ and they said it was wrong. So I went ahead and called Corsair about getting a second EATX12V adapter piece and he told me that the standard of this motherboard only requires one connector and the second is for overclocking (which confirms what you guys said) and told me to call asus and ask for a level 2 technician. I did just that and even the level 2 technician said I must have both EATX12V connectors connected!

So now I'm just really confused and don't know what to believe. I'm at the brink of just returning this power supply and paying $100 more for the upgraded model that has 2 fixed eatx12v connectors just to give myself some peace of mind that I wont run into a problem later by running just one eatx12v contrary to what asus support told me or connecting the second one but off a adapter from my current psu which I believe wont supply as good power as the fixed eatx12v connector (not sure about that though)

I'm hoping you guys can help me make sense of all this. If it is best to just go ahead and spend the extra $100 for the upgraded psu, then I'll do it because I just want peace of mind at this point. I feel the molex connector might not supply as good power but I don't know too much on that subject.

Thank you for any help you can offer and sorry for the wall of text

 

[Lmeow]

I doubt you'd need two EATX12V connectors unless you're pulling off a 4.8 GHz overclock or more. The graphics card issue? Some boards only have one connector but can manage to use four graphics cards, like the EVGA X58 SLI LE. What board is this specifically?

 

[idkanymore]

That's exactly what I thought but ASUS customer support insists I need both plugged in (I'm assuming they are reading the manual which may be awkwardly worded) without actually knowing anything about motherboards in general.

How stupid of me to forget to mention the name of the motherboard. Its a ASUS Rampage III Extreme

Picture of the connections in question

 

[Crashman]

I asked on the asus forum if I need to connect the second EATX12V connector to the motherboard as well as the EZPLUG connectors and the response was the second EATX12V isnt required and runs in parallel with the first connector and that it is really only used for extreme overclocking.

That's 100% correct. You don't need it. Most "extreme overclockers" don't need it. Those that do already know they do. You don't need to plug in any of the 4-pin power connectors (above and below the slots) either. Those are for added power when overclocking cards to the extreme.

 

[idkanymore]

Thank you for your response. I'm going to go ahead and just use the one eps 12v cable. I really think that the ASUS customer support have no idea what they are talking about.

One last question. It doesn't hurt to plug in those extra cables though right? It won't pull more power unless it needs it I'm assuming so its safe to just plug them in if I have the extra cables for it? I don't want to overload the motherboard or anything like that.

Thank you again.

 

[Crashman]

Thank you for your response. I'm going to go ahead and just use the one eps 12v cable. I really think that the ASUS customer support have no idea what they are talking about.

One last question. It doesn't hurt to plug in those extra cables though right? It won't pull more power unless it needs it I'm assuming so its safe to just plug them in if I have the extra cables for it? I don't want to overload the motherboard or anything like that.

Thank you again.

You can plug in as many cords as you want, those connectors don't connect to additional components (just the same components as the other cords connect to).

 

[bilbat]

Here's a good one related: the new GB UD9 has four full PCIeX16's (and three eights) off a pair of nVidia NF200's - so say 'ya wanna rival the local nuclear reactor for heat dump, and plug in those four GTX-480's - and you think you're gonna need both those PCIe 'booster' plugs - well, if you mount the neato-keen "silent-pipe" heat-sink thingy to the bridge cooler, it conveniently blocks one of the plugs! So, what I wanna know is: who thought of what, when, at that little 'design pow-wow'? (...and, when is rev 2 due out?)[:bilbat:5]
[:bilbat:9]
[:jaydeejohn:4]

 

[idkanymore]

Best answer selected by idkanymore.

 

[idkanymore]

Thank you crashman! I am now confident that I can use just 1 eps cable with my build and work fine. Time to power it up!

 

[idkanymore]

Just to update this, computer booted up perfectly fine and have been using it for a while now. Thank you for all your help!