Using 1 4pin 12v connection GA-Z87MX-D3H + i7-4770

[KiwiHaggis]

Hi All,

Using GA-Z87MX-D3H with a i7-4770.

The 8pin connection on Mobo for CPU only appears to have pin hole shapes that match up with one of the PSU 12v CPU cable, despite the cable having 8pin one end that fits to PSU and 8pins other end - split to 2 4pin plugs.

I've read on forums mixed advice. I can't seem to find a solid answer from the Gigabyte owners manual.

Who has this board GA-Z87MX-D3H with a Silverstone PSU??? how have you connected the power to board??

Reason I ask; I'm only using one set of 4 to power the CPU as that was all I could connect up. I didn't want to force the cables into the connectors.

The build was running fine for about a year. Then PSU failed. I've got the box back up and running - swapping out the 750w for the 850w Silverstone PSU(SST-ST85F-PT even smaller than the 750w - fits the phenom case heaps better) - Can't help but this this was part of the problem due to the symptoms when it failed.

If anyone has a link to a KB article that clearly states the Technical details about connecting/using only 4pins to power the CPU in a 8pin connector on the board that would be great.

Happy holidays.

 

[KiwiHaggis]

http://www.overclock.net/a/gpu-and-cpu-power-connections

Think that answers that then...
TDP of the CPU shows that using just the 4 pins in the 8pin slot is ok.
""
If your processor is an i7 4770 at the stock clock, according to the specifications, it uses a maximum of 84 watts. All CPUs use quite a bit less than their max during their normal operation. Even if it is heavily overclocked (4.8 GHz), it will use less than a maximum of 130 watts; for this i7, an 8 pin connector would be overkill. If half of the EPS12V 8 pin connector on the main board is covered, this is a sure sign that a minimum of the 4 pin is required, but the 8 pin connector is optional. A power supply with a 4 pin ATX12V connector will provide more than enough power for this CPU's needs.
""

 

[KiwiHaggis]

and this:
http://www.playtool.com/pages/psuconnectors/connectors.html#4into8
Just in case anyone else was in my shoes and new to this.

"
Motherboards can come with either a 4 pin 12 volt connector or an 8 pin 12 volt connector. Many power supplies come with a 4+4 pin 12 volt cable which is compatible with both 4 and 8 pin motherboards. A 4+4 power cable has two separate 4 pin pieces. If you plug the two pieces of a 4+4 power cable together then you have a 8 pin power cable which can be plugged into an 8 pin 12 volt connector. If you leave the two pieces separate then you can plug one of the 4 pin pieces into a 4 pin 12 volt connector and leave the other 4 pin piece unplugged.

If you look carefully at the image above then you can see the polarization of the pins which prevents you from plugging the cable in improperly. Some of the pins are square and some of them have rounded off corners. The motherboard connectors have matching square and rounded off corners to prevent the cable from being plugged in the wrong way. But if you look really carefully at the right half of this particular cable and then look at the 8 pin 12 volt cable pictured above you'll notice that they don't match. A regular 8 pin cable has four square pins and four rounded ones but the 4+4 cable shown above has two square pins and 6 rounded ones. The left half of the 4+4 matches the left half of an 8 pin cable but the right half is different. Hmmmm... And this isn't some bizarre cable either. I've seen plenty of 4+4s which look like this one. And then there are other 4+4 cables which look just like an 8 pin cable split in two (which makes sense). Since rounded pins fit into square holes in motherboard connectors, this particular cable will fit just fine into an 8 pin 12 volt motherboard connector. But both halves of this 4+4 will fit into a 4 pin 12 volt motherboard connector. You're supposed to use the left half of the cable shown above when plugging it into a 4 pin motherboard connector but the right half will also fit. As it happens, either half will work fine in a 4 pin motherboard because both halves of the 4+4 just provide 12 volts. The pinouts are the same for both halves so either one will work. I'm not sure why they make cables like this one because you'd figure a 4+4 cable would just be an 8 pin cable which splits in two. And you only need one half of a 4+4 cable to plug into a 4 pin motherboard. The other half is unused. But the kind of 4+4 cable shown above is pretty common so don't let it throw you."