Tech Support - Gigabyte Power Connector/s

[will101]

Is tech support after sales support? If so:

I'm having a bit of a head scratch and wondered if you could help. I'm assembling my new bits that arrived the other day which included a 785G AM3 mobo. I have a Corsair HX420W PSU which has all the listed types of compatible power connectors. What's not clear is if I need to plug in the 2x4 pin 12V ATX power cable as well as the 12x2 pin ATX mobo connector? The Gigabyte instructions aren't abundantly clear on the benefits or situations where you would want to do one or the other.

I'm installing an Athlon II X3 425 so is the extra power connector for enabling split power planes and such? This is an HTPC build so the focus is on lower power rather than outright performance.

Any help gratefully received.

/Will

Edit: Huh, I thought I'd posted this in the After sales support sub-forum.

[brad_whitwell]

If you are talking about the socket by the CPU then yes you need it.

The MB won't power up without it (useually).

[will101]

The manual says:

"• The power connectors are compatible with power supplies with 2x2 12V and 2x10 power connectors. When using a power supply providing a 2x4 12V and a 2x12 power connector, remove the protective covers from the 12V power connector and the main power connector on the motherboard. Do not insert the power supply cables into pins under the protective covers when using a power supply providing a 2x2 12V and a 2x10 power connector."

My PSU has a 10x2 pin plug with an optional 2x2 pin 12V connector which can be used to make a 12x2 connector if inserted together. This way the motherboard would have a 12V supply. However, my PSU also has two 2x2 pin 12V connectors which can be combined to make a 4x2 pin plug.

Reading the relevant section of the manual above it's unclear which combination of plugs is the correct one. To further confuse matters there are no protective covers on any of the power sockets either!

[Madafwo]

General rule of thumb: If a motherboard has a power connector on board, plug it in unless the manual specifically states otherwise.

With motherboards you need both the 24 Pin (12 x 2 Pin), and the 8 Pin or 4 Pin at the top left of the board for the CPU. Without the 8 or 4 pin connector the CPU will not get power and therefore will not boot correctly.

[Papa Lazarou]

My PSU has a 10x2 pin plug with an optional 2x2 pin 12V connector which can be used to make a 12x2 connector if inserted together. This way the motherboard would have a 12V supply. However, my PSU also has two 2x2 pin 12V connectors which can be combined to make a 4x2 pin plug.

Reading the relevant section of the manual above it's unclear which combination of plugs is the correct one. To further confuse matters there are no protective covers on any of the power sockets either!

What I think the manual is saying is that the motherboard can be used with older (ATX 1.3?) power supplies that came with a 20pin main connector and a 4pin 12v "P4" connector OR the newer type (ATX 2.0) that have a 24 pin main connector (usually 20pin with a detachable 4pin connector to enable backward compatibility with older motherboards) and a seperate 4pin 12v "P4" connector which can be converted to an 8pin "EPS" connector to power the CPU.

As it sounds like you have an ATX 2.0 power supply then you should connect the 24pin (20+4) connector and the seperate 8pin (4+4) connectors in.

This guide shows the different connector types which might help - http://www.motherboards.org/articles/guides/1487_4.html