I just purchased a Gigabyte GA-X99-Gaming 5P motherboard, and I'll be recycling my old PSU (Kingwin Lazer LZ-1000 1000W 80 PLUS Bronze). I was reading through the manual, and I came across this little blurb...
When you overclock the CPU, make sure to connect one end of the included 1 to 3 power cable to the ATX_12V_2X4 power connector and the other three to the power supply to ensure the system is provided with enough power.
To my knowledge, my PSU only has 2 8pin power connectors. So I guess I have two questions. Is connecting 2 power connections to the 3 to 1 adapter better than just the single 8pin connection? Should I try to do some crazy configuration with adapters to ensure all it's using all 3? Would overclocking be out of the question if I did, in fact, only use 1 8pin connection?
If you overclock, your CPU may use up to 300+ watts (12volts x 25 amps). I have a 1200 watt PSU and it has 2 power plugs for Motherboards that have "2 chips or 1 that requires lots of power". The Gaming 5/5P has one power slot and you need to check the info about your PSU. Mine states:
Rail 1 (plug 24pin)
Rail 2 (Plug 4x4 CPU) 20 amps x 12v = 240 watts
Rail 3 (plug 8 CPU) 36 amps x 12v = 432 watts
Rail 4,5,6,7,8 (video cards need lots of POWER
I use the 8 pin plug as it can deliver up to 435 watts to the INTEL 2011-3.
If your PSU has only one plug for CPU power, and it is less than required you can pick another power cable to add to the 3 into 1 to add more amps. As molex/sata is not in demand for drives, perhaps that may be available. Double check where the additional amps are coming from as this fix may clash with the PSU's ability to deliver.