4 or 8 pin cpu power connections on mobos

[perdomot]

Upgrading my mobo this month in prep for Win7 and noticed that the cpu power connection on my Gigabyte mobo has 8 pins. All other brands have a 4 pin cpu for their 785 series mobos so I'm wondering why Giga uses 8 pins and whether or not I should plug in all eight. Can anyone advise?

 

[Gillbot]

if your power supply has the 8 pin header, use it. If not should work just fine with only the 4 pin one plugged in.

 

[robertk2012]

4 pin works just fine in most cases.

 

[perdomot]

My PSU does have the 8 pin so I'll use it. Wonder what good the other 4 pins do if the system works fine with just the first four. Anyone know?

 

[PCTC2]

Originally posted by: perdomot
My PSU does have the 8 pin so I'll use it. Wonder what good the other 4 pins do if the system works fine with just the first four. Anyone know?

Allows greater power to be supplied to the CPU, in most cases that would be in overclocking/overvolting conditions.