Many P4 motherboards (and even AMD motherboards) have an extra 4 pin ATX12V (square) connector to which you are asked to connect an ATX12V power connector from P4 compliant ATX 2.03 power supplies. This connector is designed to provide extra current on the 12V rail - most manuals will say that this connector provides extra power for the CPU and it is recommended that you connect the ATX12V plug if your power supply provides one.
If your power supply does NOT provide an ATX12V connector you might be wondering if you can still safely run your motherboard. Well there IS a chance that the motherboard can get damaged, but we've seen situations where, even by accident, users have forgotten to plug in the ATX12V connector and yet they are running their systems just fine. The real risk is in having inconsistent voltage supplied to your components, which can result in intermittent problems (such as spontaneous reboots).
The best solution, if you don't have a P4 power supply with this extra plug, is to buy a 4pin molex connector that converts your regular 4pin molex power to a 4pin square connector for your motherboard. Also, some motherboards today have inline 4 pin connectors that replace the need for the 4 pin square connector. With these you can connect using the regular device power connectors from your power supply. As with any other issue, read your manual carefully to make sure you are connecting everything correctly.
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