Curse

Hott Bill · Jul 25, 2008, 09:29 AM // 09:29

Hello,
New motherboard comes in next week (got a 9950 phenom), and I am wondering what is the purpose of a 4 Pin Molex slot on the motherboard:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813130161

I am guessing it has to do with running 2 high end cards in SLI, but I am unsure. Also, this uses a standard 8 pin adapter (next to the cpu), and it has a plug in it (blocking 4 of the 8 slots) does that mean I can use a 4 pin instead of my 8 pin?

~Thanks

Snograt · Jul 25, 2008, 09:58 AM // 09:58

Lost the mobo manual already?

http://global.msi.com.tw/index.php?f...45&type=manual

ATX 24-pin power connector
- ATX 8-pin 12V CPU power connector
- ATX 4-pin VGA power connector
- CPU x 1 / System x 4 FAN connectors
- CD-in connector
- Clear CMOS button
- Power / Reset button
- Chassis intrusion switch connector
- Front panel audio connector
- Front panel connector
- Serial port connector
- 1 x IEEE1394 connector support additional 1 port (optional)
- 3 x USB 2.0 connector support additional 6 ports
- 1 x Floppy disk drive connector
- 6 x Serial ATA II connectors
- 2 x ATA133 IDE connectors
- 1 x SPDIF-out header
- 1 x TPM module header (optional)

Plug it in

As for the 8-pin CPU connector, what is the plug that's in it? Sounds a bit odd...

Hott Bill · Jul 25, 2008, 10:19 AM // 10:19

The crap comes in next week snog ^^, Yea isn't that plug weird, I've seen it in like the Asus M3a32

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131291

Only reason I have to mention this, is because my gtx 280 needs a 8 pin + 6 pin.

Snograt · Jul 25, 2008, 10:30 AM // 10:30

Huh, the manufacturing standards pertaining to computer hardware seem to be optional - a personal bugbear of mine.

Talking about that 8-pin auxilliary GPU connector, I'm running a pair of 8800GTX's and my 680i had one of those. I upgraded to a 780i and it doesn't have one. That has unduly worried me.

Hmm, wonder if there are any nVidia specialists about?

Quaker · Jul 25, 2008, 02:15 PM // 14:15

I have seen several uses for those type of connectors. Sometimes they are for use where the mother board has the new 24-pin power connector, but the power supply only has the 20-pin. Other times, they are used to supplement the power to the graphics card, if the card doesn't have it's own connector and uses more power than the circuit traces on the mobo are designed to handle.
If your power supply has all the latest connectors (the 24-pin main power, etc.) and your graphics card has it's own power connector, you don't need to worry about it.

eggrolls · Jul 27, 2008, 11:37 PM // 23:37

There are two different 8-pin connectors, one kind for the motherboard and one kind for the graphics card.

Motherboard 8-pin:
http://www.playtool.com/pages/psucon...tors.html#eps8

Graphics card 8-pin:
http://www.playtool.com/pages/psucon...ml#pciexpress8

Clearly from the pictures, they are not interchangeable.

I've seen a 4-pin molex on the motherboard used as a substitute for the older 4-pin ATX 12V connector. That was like in 2002 though. Whether or not the 4-pin molex is required for operation, check the manual. You'll probably have spare molex connectors anyways.

Lord Sojar · Jul 28, 2008, 03:25 AM // 03:25

You need to plug in an 8 pin connector for the Phenom processors. The Athlon64s only need a 4pin. AthlonX2s can use either (last I checked); it depends on their rating.

And the 4 pin molex connector is for added stability when using SLi. The board isn't designed with the highest end components, thus they cheat and put a "power stabilizer" on it via that molex connection. MSI is notorious for doing that. They all it a good feature, I call it being lazy.

Flightmare · Jul 28, 2008, 03:09 PM // 15:09

Well, both my not-too-old MOBO's have that 12V ATX connector. They were both needed for my pc to work and I do not have SLI/crossfire. Just connecting it can't harm your pc, it's there for a reason and modern PSU's come with the connector. On my old PSU however, I had to rip the 12V and ground from 2 regular molex connectors becouse it lacked the 12V ATX connector.