If you’re someone who has recently built a PC, or you’re planning to build one, you might have come across the term “CPU power connector”. In a previous video, the host talked about motherboard connections, and many viewers were confused about the number of CPU power connectors needed for their build. In this blog post, we will discuss everything you need to know about the CPU power connector.
First, let’s understand what a power cable delivers and how much power your CPU needs. An 8-pin connector consists of four pairs of pins, where the bottom half includes all the ground pins, and the top half includes all the 12-volt pins. Each pair can provide up to 7 amps of power. Multiplying 7 amps per pair by four pairs gives us a total of 28 amps. When we multiply 28 amps by 12 volts, we get a total of 336 Watts, which is the maximum power an 8-pin connector can provide.
If you have two 8-pin connectors, then the power doubles, and if you have one 8-pin connector and one 4-pin connector, the power is half at 168 Watts. Therefore, you can add up the power in your system to find out the total power that you can provide with any amount of those plugs.
The second part is to determine how much wattage your CPU uses. You can find this information on the CPU box or specification sheet. Most CPUs range from 65 Watts to 125 Watts, which is suitable for an 8-pin connector. However, if you are using an extreme overclocking CPU that uses more than 350 Watts, you will need to plug in both 8-pin connectors to provide the required power.
Before plugging in the CPU power connector, it’s essential to check your motherboard manual to see which of the 8-pin connectors you need to use. Depending on the motherboard, you might need to plug in both connectors to distribute power evenly or use one over the other. If you use only a single connector and your motherboard requires both, your system might not power on or experience stability issues.
In conclusion, most of you will be fine with a single 8-pin connector, but it’s crucial to refer to your motherboard manual and CPU specifications to determine the required power. If you have any questions, you can leave them in the comments section, and the host will be there to help.