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PSU for 16pin (2 x 8 pin) CPU power

Go to solution Solved by Grabhanem,

The dual 8-pin is somewhat common on modern high-end boards, where it actually matters sometimes. A single 8-pin can supply 384W, so you don't need to use the second unless you're doing extreme overclocking or something.

Power supply went on my friends rig. It's a 1st gen core i7 CPU (130w!) 16GB RAM and HD Radeon 6950 (yes, I know it's old - and please don't tell him to upgrade it because he doesn't have the funds).

I got a replacement PSU for him, but realised the board uses 2 x 8 pin power connectors for the CPU. My problem is that the new PSU only has one 8 pin connect for CPU power.  

Do they even make PUS with 2 CPU power plugs anymore?  Can I use some kind of molex connector/adapator for the the 2nd 8 pin socket? Although I've heard bad reports with drawing too much power with a molex connector.

 

I realise I'm dealing with really old tech here, but when it was working - it was still a great system and a waste to just ditch it because I can't get the CPU power needed.

 

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The dual 8-pin is somewhat common on modern high-end boards, where it actually matters sometimes. A single 8-pin can supply 384W, so you don't need to use the second unless you're doing extreme overclocking or something.

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Yes, they make psus with 2 EPS (8 pin cpu) connectors, the majority of 650w and higher models do have them.  Also, a lot of modular psus have 4-6 headers which accept either cpu or pci-e cables .. so you could have 6 cables with 2 pci-e connectors each and no cpu cables, or combinations of cpu and pci-e cables.

 

As for your actual situation, I'd say around 90% chance the system will function fine with just one cable plugged in.  The cpu is power hungry, but a single 8 pin connector is good for over 350 watts... that 130w tdp will not go above half of that.

 

I say 90% chance because there's always the odd motherboard which will complain and refuse to start until you plug a second cable, even though it's not needed... so I can't say trust me and go buy a psu with just 8 pin connector.

 

Oh and quite a few psus will have a 8 pin cpu connector and a 4 pin cpu connector - you can plug that 4 pin in the 2nd 8 pin connector  - the connectors are keyed so that 4 pin plug will fit only one way inside that 8 pin connector, they're designed like that.

 

 

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All good - working fine with 1 CPU socket.  Although motherboard boots 4 times trying to detect RAM.  Not sure what's going on there.  I'll try putting only 1 stick in (from 4) and see what happens.

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