Motherboard Question

[Wal-Mart Security]

I have a few questions about this board that I may be interested in for my new build.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130136
Still juggling around Intel or AMD so this would be the AMD board if I planned on going that route. I've already made a thread about this a while back so I thought I would make this one and add a few more questions.
I'm still wondering about the 4-pin CPU connector. I know some quad cores need an 8-pin connector and yet this one supports the AMD quad cores and only has a 4-pin. I think I'm just over thinking this and just worrying to much about it. There are some reviews on the board saying they have the 9850's and 9950's in there and even overclocked a lot. So I'm pretty sure everything will work just fine if I get the board. Adding to that I'd like to get to know a little more about quad core power. Do only certain quad cores need an 8-pin connector and others don't?
My other question is about the PCI-E slots. There are 4 of them, the blue ones running at x16 and the light blue ones running at x8. So if I get 2 graphics cards would I be able to put each of them into the dark blue PCI-E slots if there is a crossfire bridge that can reach? Or does the 2nd card have to be in the light blue slot?
This last question is merely curiosity. Would I be able to (If I wanted to for some reason) be able to have my main card on the bottom blue PCI-E slot and have the 2nd card in the bottom light blue PCI-E slot?

But then again I don't know if my list will stay the same for to long with Intel's new Nehalem system just around the corner

 

[Thatguy]

This is the mobo that I am also planning on getting in about another month or so. That board is perfect, as it can run crossfire in 16x+16x (full bandwidth from both cards while in crossfire), as opposed to some boards that run 16x and 8x or just dual 8x, which lowers the performance. The 4-pin CPU connector is just for the fan on the heatsink. 8-pin is for something different.

As for the slot placement, I think that crossfire can run externally, so you should be able to split them (however, I believe the bandwidth with automatically adjust to 16x+16x regardless of the slot.

 

[frap]

Well you can plug 4 pins and 8 pings in quad cores...doesnt really matter which. The 8 pin just gives more power needed for additional cores. The 8 pin makes it run at its best, while the 4 pin will tone down the quad core a little bit, because it is not getting all of the power that it needs. But if your mobo only has a 4-pin connector, you will be fine (as long as the board supports Quads).

For the graphics cards, crossfire is only for ATI cards if you have one of those, and SLI is for Nvidia Cards. I would recommend putting both of the cards in the Dark blue because of the x16, there is a SLI adapter that will reach. If you use crossfire doesn't really matter how you do them, but I would still recommend putting the cards in the x16 slots. You will see some performance loss with the 8x by 8x. The newer top end cards slightly push the 8x bus, but not drastically. So you can put them wherever you wish.

 

[Wal-Mart Security]

Yeah, I already have a Radeon 4850 and plan on buying another after I get this board.