clear as mud...
The intended application of that extra connector on these motherboards is for people that have older non P4 compliant atx power supplies.
and yes, it is a 4 pin power connector just like on your hard drive - it's designed so you can plug one of those "hard drive power connectors" into your motherboard.
if you don't have a newer p4 compliant atx power supply with the other special p4 plug on it, asus wants you to consider their boards with the ez-plug since you won't necessarily have to buy a special new p4 compliant powersupply. i.e. you can still use your old powersupply and save yo
ur money.
i'd say your powersupply is decent, and should be able to supply enough current to keep your 12vdc line plenty stiff using the "appropriate" special built in p4 12v connector, even when it's overclocked.
i'd leave that connector alone for starters. if it turns out to be stable - no worries - if not, take the chance.
i had a cheapo powersupply - and i used both the appropriate p4 and that ezplug connector and nothing bad happened to my board. i ended up buying an enermax in the end and now only have the appropriate p4 plug connected - by appropriate i mean the 2x2 plug - and i don't intend to say there's anything wrong with the ezplug.
i'm not sure how that ezplug would burn out a board though. there's a 12vdc line that connects to the cpu, the "appropriate" 2x2 p4 plug has a 12vdc line the connects to the cpu as well.
the 12vdc lines from both plugs may actually be wired in parallel and having 12vdc applied to both may be of no consequence other than to provide less resitance between the powersupply's 12vdc source and the cpu's 12vdc inputs.
somebody who has their case open should take a meter and read the ez plug connector on their motherboard with with the p4 2x2 plug connected and see if 12vdc is present at the ezplug, as well as read the p4 2x2 connector with the ezplug connected to see if 12vdc is present at the p4 plug.
if, as i suspect, 12vdc is already there at each connectors' pins when one is connected and the other is not, then connecting an additional plug with the same 12vdc signal on the other connector will do nothing to damage the board.
PEACE!
BdK