No, not required. A 7950X3D supports multiple connector types depending on your needs.
No, not required. A 7950X3D supports multiple connector types depending on your needs.
I bought a BeQuiet! Dark Power 12 1000W and an Aourus x670e Master motherboard for a 7950X3D processor. The motherboard has two 8-pin connectors for the CPU, but the power supply came with only one 8-pin and another 10-pin, though the middle pins are empty. Should I buy another 8-pin connector to fill the second slot? Are there any problems with this setup? Or should I use just one cable?
The single 8-pin connector provides ample voltage for the 7950X3D, which consumes roughly 150 watts, and the CPU model supports up to 226 watts continuously.
I'm wondering if even using the extra CPU power cable even actually does anything. It's supose be for overclocking stability but has anyone ever actually tested across different motherboards with Intel and AMD CPUs? Could it be useful if you bought a bad power supply with the CPU power being weak so you had to use the second cable? Or is this just a gimmick for the extra cost? I don't even bother to overclock and just leave PBO, but really want to know since I can't find anything useful videos for this. There are some videos saying we only need 1 cable.
Thank you for your kind words. It's normal to feel anxious about new things. Don't worry about damaging them.
For the majority of CPUs, it doesn't really matter. One 8-pin EPS is built to handle just over 300W, making a single cable sufficient unless you're using an overclocked i9 from the latest generation. Modern AMD boards rarely need two 8-pins unless future AM5 CPUs are expected to use much more power. At the moment, it's mostly about convenience, and people enjoy the perception of extra performance they get.
7950x3D consumes around 45W while gaming and up to 150W when all cores are active, similar to a full load during Cinebench R23. I tested Cinebench R23 with different CCD setups to establish a baseline performance. Keep in mind I use CPPC preferred cores in 'cache,' which results in a more efficient single-core run since Cinebench is directed to use the 3D v-cache cores. In my view, this approach works much better than depending on AMD's POS driver, which can be inconsistent. Another note is that Processor Affinity in the Task Manager lets you assign cores to applications while they run, which is useful during operation. These tests used UEFI-enabled CCDs to prevent underutilized cores, and I've tried various apps with Processor Affinity as well.