Motherboard Power Confusion

So I recently bought a GTX 770 and now I want to upgrade to Haswell as I am currently running an AMD APU. My PSU is a Corsair HX650, the problem I have is that on many of the mid-high end Z87 motherboards there is, instead of a single 8-pin, an 8 and a 4 or 2 8-pin power connectors, but my PSU only has 1 8-pin CPU power connector.

So my question is; Can I run a mid-high end Z87 motherboard, an 'MSI MPOWER MAX' for example, with only one of the conectors (and the 24-pin obviously) being used?


Many thanks.

Not having all the power sockets connected will result in stability issues and the motherboard may not even post at startup without doing so. I'm pretty sure you can buy a Molex to 8 pin power adapter, or you may even be able to daisy-chain off the main ATX connector.

However I wouldn't advise running the system without all the connectors being used.

I may be wrong but i'm pretty sure the extra cpu 8 pin is for extreme overclocking and not a necessity for the average user. I'd wait for someone else to clarify this though.

I wouldn't consider MPower Max a "Mid high end board" though, i'd say it's well up there with the higher end boards as only the Xpower is more expensive

WillSK said:

I may be wrong but i'm pretty sure the extra cpu 8 pin is for extreme overclocking and not a necessity for the average user. I'd wait for someone else to clarify this though.

I wouldn't consider MPower Max a "Mid high end board" though, i'd say it's well up there with the higher end boards as only the Xpower is more expensive

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Okay, thanks for the help. when i said mid-high end i meant in price, as there are others mobos over double the price of the MPOWER MAX.

I think I will go with the ASRock Z87 PROFESSIONAL because its around the same price and it has 1 8-pin and essentially all the same features.

I'm pretty sure you can leave the 2nd 8-pin/4-pin alone on most boards, in the same way you can leave the 6-pin for the PCI-e slots. It's just meant to provide extra power but isn't necessary.

JackMcLaughlan said:

Okay, thanks for the help. when i said mid-high end i meant in price, as there are others mobos over double the price of the MPOWER MAX.

I think I will go with the ASRock Z87 PROFESSIONAL because its around the same price and it has 1 8-pin and essentially all the same features.

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Have you looked at gigabyte's Z87 offering. Some great boards in there at all price ranges. Also consider the MSi Z87 GD65 gaming