Confused about the ATX power supply connectors

[UNIXn3rd]

Hey all

I have ASUS Rog Strix 550-a and it comes with 3 connectors for the power supply plug. Sorry if this is a repeat post

I am very confused with these  1 x 24 which is near the memory. I do think this is the main used plug

1 x 8 pin with a 4 pin at top. Is this used for the CPU or something else?

Do I have to plug them in as well as the main power supply connectors.

I am more referring to the EATX12V_1 and 2. I am not talking about plug D as I don't recall seeing them in the manual.

 Ignore Plug D

[Silent_Scone]

Hi,

The EATX12V_1 and 2 are both for the CPU. However, you can simply run EATX12V_1 as the current draw is insufficient to warrant the additional connector.

EATXPWR is essential to supply power to the board.

[UNIXn3rd]

Cheers for that, I thought it was for a different power setting on a motherboard or for the graphics card. As I don't remember seeing them beforee on previous motherboards that I built with.

[PrymeJinx]

Hello

An 8-pin connector can deliver up to 384 watts of power, which is twice as much as a 4-pin connector. This means that an 8-pin connector can support more powerful CPUs and provide more stability and performance. For modern mainstream Intel and mainstream AMD, you should only ever need to plug in 1 of the 8-pins for any sort of normal use. There is some speculation that some boards benefit from having both 8-pins plugged in for "cleaner power", but there's basically no real empirical evidence to back this up

[UNIXn3rd]

Thanks for the answers, I am now running the computer after a very slow build due to very little experience with hardware of last year compared to 10 years ago.

I chose to build this PC as my old one is dying as it was used since Dec 2014.