Power conntector on motherboard with adaptable power supply

[Nach]

I have a motherboard with a 12x2 pin power connector and a 4x2 pin power connector.
This is what the manual has to say about it:

Notice that it labels ATX_12V pins 1, 2, 5, 6 as "only for 2x4 pin", it makes me think connecting some of those are optional. Same for pins 11, 12, 23, 24 on ATX.

Now the PSU I have comes with two power adapters, a 2x2 and a 12x2.



But looking closely, I see I can snap the last 2x2 off of the larger connector.




Is this power supply enough for my motherboard? Or do I need one which can connect every single pin? Meaning one which comes with another 2x2 connector, or a 4x2 instead of the 2x2 it has?

Should I move the 2x2 from the 12x2 turning it into a 10x2 and plug the 2x2 next to the other one?

However that would be difficult because its taped and bound in place:

[odditude]

Short answer: It's fine.

Long answer: When PCI Express was introduced, the new slots were spec'd to provide more power than their predecessor AGP slots - and there could be multiple PCIe slots, to boot. The concurrent revision of the ATX spec extended the power connector from 20-pin to a backwards-compatible 24-pin, with the extra 4 pins carrying one each of +12V, +5V, +3.3V, and GND. Since then, most power supplies have had the 24-pin connector, with the "extra" 4-pin segment detachable in case there's a clearance issue when using on a motherboard with the legacy 20-pin connector.

As for the ATX_12V connector, the 8-pin variant is standard on dual-socket motherboards to provide extra power to the CPUs. some enthusiast boards also have the 8-pin connector to provide extra power for overclocking purposes. Note that in both the 4-pin and 8-pin variants, half of the pins carry +12V and the other have are GND. You don't need the extra power lines unless you're overclocking the holy hell out of your processor (which, given the board you have and the general overclockability of AM2+/AM3 chips, is a reasonable possibility).

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Now, if you were to do what you suggested (which, as you noted, would take an absurd amount of effort), you'd be undervolting some CPU supply lines, putting a hot line where a ground is supposed to be, and generally ruining a perfectly good motherboard, CPU, and power supply.

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Out of curiosity, what board/chip do you have? For that matter, what power supply?

[Nach]

Hi, thanks for the response.

So after trying the 6 possible ways the 2x2 connector could be spun and placed into the 4x2 connector, I managed to find a way it would snap in.

Everything seems to be working fine. It's not dual socket or anything, but it does support 3 video cards and a 140 Watt CPU. None of which I have or plan on getting.