What is the EATX12V connector used for on ASUS Maximus VI motherboards?

[Tropheus]

I am moving my ASUS Maximus Formula VI motherboard to another case and there is an EATX12V connector on the side of the motherboard (the old 4 pin MOLEX) fine....

My problem is because the motherboard sits close to the side of the new case I cannot fit this connector

Do I :

1 cut an hole in the side of the case
2 forget it
3 buy another case.... AHHHHH

Any advice would be most welcome....

[MrJim]

Having just Googled it, it seems the 'EZ Plug' (gotta love marketing names!) is optional - it's supposed to help improve system stability by providing extra power to the PCIe cards when using multiple graphics cards. Jim is the Asus guy on here (another Jim - too many on here really!), & he might be able to shed more light on the matter though...

[watercooled]

As a above it's generally to do with PCIe power - unless you're running multi-GPU I wouldn't worry about it.

EATX connector is an 8 pin CPU power connector though, molex is 4 pin 5+12v.

[Tropheus]

Thanks guys

It's referred to in the manual as a 4-pin EZ_PLUG and its a 4 pin molex connector, not the square 4 pin connector.

I am running a single EVGA GTX 760 so I presume its not needed

[Jim - ASUS]

Strangely the manual for this board doesn't really talk about it, but yes that's generally the point of them - to provide extra power for multi-graphics card rigs. Your board can be used for triple graphics setups.

If everything's stable then I wouldn't worry about it, given that you're only running a single card.

[Tropheus]

Thank you Jim

[shaithis]

If you really want to use it, you could buy a molex extension cable

[pastymuncher]

I think his problem is more to do where they have stuck it on the board. They have put it near the bottom left of the board and it's at a right angle like a sata socket. Stupid place to put it if you ask me because a lot of cases will have that right up against the psu so you couldn't use it anyway.

[Tropheus]

Yes that's correct, the only way I could use it would be to cut a hole in the side of the case..... as the connector is just too close.... Its a bad design they should have flipped it so as the connector pushed down into it like the other ATX power connectors.

[peterb]

On the other hand, if you are building a system that required you to use that socket, you would be using a bigger PSU and a correspondingly larger case, so it would be less of an issue.