Z390-UD

[netlemj]

Why does my new motherboard have a 4 pin and 8 pin cpu power socket but my PSU only has an 8 pin? Can I use just the one, do I need both and can you use a spare molex with an adaptor to feed the 4 pin socket?

[shadowsports]

Greetings,
You only need one.  Just use the one your PSU has a connector for.  12v 2x2 or 12v 2x4

[dmdilks]

They did that so if you were OC you could plug in another power plug. Some PSU come with a 8 pin and 4 pin CPU plugs.

But why it is really a over kill. The 4 pin power plug carries 150w and the 8 pin plug carries 300w. The only reason motherboards all started to go to 8 pin plugs was to make it standard across the board.

Server boards had a 8 pin plug a lot longer then non server boards. A lot server boards had the 2 CPU's so that is why they had one 8 pin socket.

Plus here is one that at one time boards only had a 20 pin plug and not CPU plug.

Most CPU's today like the 10th gen are at 65w or 125w.