Hi there, I've been looking at building a new system with an AMD Phenom II in it, and an AM3 MOBO to put it in, from the pictures I've been looking at it seems that the 4pin connector near the CPU has been replaced with an 8pin connector. (it's been a few years since I built a PC now) however I have also seen an AM3 board that is suitable with the 4pin connector that I am familiar with.I have been further confused by people telling me that the 8pin connector is an intel thing.Can anyone please shed some light on this for me?
If the power supply has two 4-pin connectors, you should be able to connect them to each other to make a 8-pin connector.
The 4-pin 12V ATX power connector is usually capable of supplying power to processors that draw up to ~100W. The 8-pin EPS 12V power connector is the one that is more capable of handling processors that draw 100 watts. Usually, if the installed processor has a 100W TDP, even if only 4 of the 8 pins are connected, the processor will still run properly.
