Содержание
- What are PCIe Cables Used For?
- What Are PCIe Cables Used For?
- How to Connect PCIe Cables to an Expansion Card
- GPU Power Cable Guide [Basic Explanation of PCIe Connectors]
- Kак подключить видеокарту
- What are the PCIe Power Cables & How Many Do You Need?
- What Types of Power Connectors are Used for GPU?
- How Much Power Each PCIe Connector Provides
- Should I Use Converters or Adapters for Powering GPU?
- FAQs
- Please power down and connect the pcie power cable for this graphics card при включении
- Final Thought
- What Is A PCIe Cable And What It Is Used For
- What are PCIe cables?
- What kind of PCIe cables are available?
- Combabilty of GPU Connectors
- How many PCIe cables do I need in a PC?
- How to connect a PCIe cable to my GPU?
- Conclusion
If your power supply unit is old and doesn’t have a PCIe cable that can handle the power your graphics card needs and you don’t want to buy a new power supply unit, you can always use an adapter.
What are PCIe Cables Used For?
PCIe cables power the installed graphics cards and other large, power-hungry expansion cards. PCIe cables connect directly from the Power Supply Unit to the installed PCIe Expansion Card; Graphics Card.
A typical PCIe x16 slot on which you install the graphics card supplies 75 watts of power. This is not nearly sufficient for many mid to high-end graphics cards.
PCIe cables cater to the power requirement of such large and demanding cards. In the text below, we explore what PCIe cables are used for in detail, how they connect, and their uses.
While most expansion cards like network adapters, sound cards, video capture cards, etc., do not require PCIe cables – as they get sufficient power from the slot itself – graphics cards, on the other хэнд, require extra power directly supplied from the PSU.
Depending upon your installed card, you may require a single, all the way to three or more PCIe power cables.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
What Are PCIe Cables Used For?
So as mentioned earlier, PCIe cables connect power-hungry devices like graphics cards to a Power Supply Unit.
For most PCIe expansion cards, the power provided by the PCIe slot itself suffices. However, the 75 watts provided by the PCIe x16 slot is insufficient for demanding cards like graphics cards.
It is worth noting that only medium to high-end graphics cards needs PCIe cables to provide extra power.
Some Graphics Cards Do Not Require Power Cables
Many low-end dedicated cards are not connected to a PCIe cable.
Image: Gigabyte NVIDIA GT 710. Source: Gigabyte
Take, for instance, the NVIDIA GT 710. This virtual card is primarily procured to enable system video output and add multiple monitor capabilities. This is far from a gaming-based graphics card and thus has a low power demand.
This graphics card does NOT require an external PCIe power cable. It can receive sufficient power from the X16 slot it goes into.
Some Require As Many 3 x 8 Pin Power Cables.
Contrast this with a top-of-the-line ASUS ROG Strix NVIDIA Geforce RTX 3090 below.
This graphics card requires a whopping 3 x 8-pin power cables.
Image: ASUS ROG Strix Spec Sheet showing requirements of 3×8 pin PCIe cables.
The bottom line is that whenever you’re buying a new PCIe device, particularly a graphics card, it is essential to check its power requirements and confirm if your PSU can supply it.
How to Connect PCIe Cables to an Expansion Card
We have already established that some PCIe devices may need more power, which needs to come straight from the power supply.
You use a PCIe power cable by routing it from your PSU and plugging it into your PCIe card to work. Components that require this include high-performance Graphics cards.
Routing Power Through Power Supply Unit
Power Supply Units come with PCIe power cables. However, the amount of PCIe cables you get depends upon the model of the PSU.
The most recommended type of power supply unit for gamers and workstation systems is a modular power supply unit. These have extra connectors for installing more PCIe power cables if needed.
Let us look at an example. The following Power Supply Unit has two built-in 6+2 pin power cables and is ready to use. So essentially, I can connect up to a graphics card with a 2 x 8-pin power requirement.
In the following photo, I connected the 6+2 pin power cables to a graphics card with a 2 x 6 pin connector requirement.
Note that the +2 extra pin on both cables is now in the spare. It is worth pointing out that ALL POWER CONNECTORS ON YOUR GRAPHICS CARD NEED TO BE CONNECTED.
So given the spare +2 pins, I could have also connected a larger graphics card with a 2×8 pin requirement.
Now if I wanted to connect an even larger card with a connector requirement of MORE than 2 x 8 pins, I could use the modular capability of the power supply unit.
You can see above that this power supply has extra power sockets due to its modular nature. Hence, I could connect more PCIe cables to this if needed.
I would have to procure the extra power cables myself, though. So, in essence, your graphics card will determine whether or not you will need a PCIe power supply cable and how many of it.
The manufacturer will make this information available in the shape of how many POWER CONNECTORS the graphics card has.
Also, ensure your PSU has a good power rating and suitable PCIe connectors. This is because some high-performance cards have high power demands, and overloading your PSU can result in performance drops.
So even if you can meet the power connector number requirement, you need to have the right size of the power supply unit.
- Do Motherboards Come with Cables?
- How to Unlock PCIe Slot Clip?
PCIe Power Supply Cables and Basic Types
Numerous PCIe Power Cables are out there, distinguished by their PIN configuration and power supply capacity.
6-Pin Power Cable
These are the smallest available and can deliver a power of up to 75 watts.
8-Pin Power Cable
8 Pin PCIe cable has a power delivery capacity of up to 150 watts. You may wonder how a 6-pin delivers 75 watts and an 8-pin doubles that capacity without doubling the pin count.
That has to do with not all pins in the cable delivering power. Some plugs have different roles, such as grounding, sensing/signals, etc.
The 6+2 Pin Cable
We saw this in our example above. A 6+2 pin connector is essentially an 8-pin cable that can deliver lower and higher power depending upon the connector requirement of the graphics card. Hence, you get more flexibility here.
12 Pin Cables
These are the latest connectors developed by NVIDIA to cater to their RTX 3000 series graphics cards.
Depending upon the cable gauge, a 12-pin cable can supply 500-600 watts of power.
These are pretty rare at the moment and only found in very high-end systems.
PCIe Pigtail Cables
There are also PCIe cables with pigtail connectors. These have one end connected to the power supply unit, then split into two connectors on the other side.
So the cable above is an 8-pin pigtail cable. One end will go into the power supply unit. The other end has two separate 8-pin connectors that can be used on the graphics card.
There is generally a debate on whether you should go for a pigtail or separate cables. Many hardcore enthusiasts believe that different cables should be the way to go. However, others have proven that pigtail cables do not result in substantial performance drops.
GPU Power Cable Guide [Basic Explanation of PCIe Connectors]
Most modern discrete graphics cards require additional power connectors for their high power consumption.
As the GFX cards are getting power-hungry day by day, you can see that most recent RTX 40 series cards require 16-pin connectors!
You may wonder what cables to use for the proper power supply to the GPU.
In this article, I will walk you through how PCIe power connectors work & what cables you need. Let’s dive in.
Kак подключить видеокарту
Quick Navigation show
- What are the PCIe Power Cables & How Many Do You Need?
- What Types of Power Connectors are Used for GPU?
- 1. 6-Pin PCIe Power Connector
- 2. 8-Pin/ (6+2)-Pin Power Connector
- 3. 12-Pin Power Connector
What are the PCIe Power Cables & How Many Do You Need?
Present-day Power Supply Unit (PSU) consists of many power connectors such as SATA data cables & power connectors, ATX-24 pin power connector, CPU power connector, PCIe cables, etc. Among these cables, PCIe power connectors are used to supply power to the GPU.
These PCIe power cables help the GPU to draw its required power to operate & provide the best performance. But how many PCIe cables do you require?
When picking a GPU for a PC, you should ensure that the PSU has enough PCIe power connectors to meet the demands of the card. Some older cards like GT 710 or GTX 1050 Ti don’t require an extra power connector, instead, the cards use PCIe x16 slot’s power.
But the PCIe x16 slot provides only 75W, which is nothing compared to the modern power-hungry cards, which can consume more than 600W. An RTX 3090 requires 3 x 8-Pin power connectors & if you install two RTX 3090, then you will need 6 x 8-Pin connectors.
So, the required PCIe cables depend entirely on your GPU specs & their power consumption. Now let me explain how many types of PCIe cables are used for the graphics cards.
What Types of Power Connectors are Used for GPU?
As aforementioned, a motherboard’s PCIe x16 slot can provide up to 75W to the graphics card. Entry-level GPUs, that don’t require much power, typically get power through this slot & don’t need an additional power cable from the PSU.
Some of these GPUs are GT 710, GT 1030, GTX 1050, GTX 1050 Ti, GTX 1650, RX 460, RX 550, etc. These GPUs don’t need more than 75W for their processing & hence no power slot on the card.
Now, when you require additional PCIe power connectors, you may observe there are 6-pin cables, 8-pin or (6+2)-pin cables, & 12-pin cables.
Here are the power connector types GPUs are using:
1. 6-Pin PCIe Power Connector
Your mobo’s PCIe slot delivers up to 75W, but when a bit more power is needed, a 6-pin PCIe power connector is used in that case. This basic power cable allows the GPU to draw an additional 75W.
As low-tier to mid-tier GPUs don’t need more than 150W, with the help of a PCIe x16 slot & an additional 6-pin cable, the card satisfies its need.
You may also like to read about are PSU extension cables safe?
2. 8-Pin/ (6+2)-Pin Power Connector
While there is a fixed 8-pin connector, there is a variation of it that is the 6+2-pin connector. With the fixed 8-pin connector, it is limited to the 8-pin port of the GPU. So, you can’t utilize the connector for a 6-pin connector or with an 8+6-pin port GPU.
This 6+2-pin power connector comes in handy when the graphics card has one 8-pin & one 6-pin power connector slot. Additionally, this can also be used for the GPU with 8-pin.
However, as the 6-pin cable provides 75W, the 6+2-pin can cause confusion. Will this also provide 75W for having a 6-pin?
Well, no. The regular 8-pin cable supplies up to 150 watts. The 6+2-pin cable works like an 8-pin cable & similarly provides 150W.
So, with the combination of the PCIe x16 slot, the card can have up to 225 watts to power itself with an additional 8-pin cable. Moreover, if the card is more power-hungry and has an additional 6-pin slot along with an 8-pin, then it can draw up to 300W altogether. Not to mention, consuming this amount of power increases your GPU’s hotspot temp.
In addition, If the card has two 8-pin slots, in sum, the card can pull an extreme amount of power which is 375W. With the requirement of this hefty amount of power, ensure that you have enough wattage PSU to power the full computer.
3. 12-Pin Power Connector
The 12-pin power connector is a new addition to the PCIe power connector. Nvidia, for its RTX 3000 series graphics card, brought up this new power connector. With the same width as an 8-pin connector, this new 12-pin connector can supply up to 600W power!
As most power supplies don’t come with a 12-pin cable, Nvidia packaged their founder edition cards with an adapter. This adapter ensures compatibility with the extant PSU.
With this huge amount of power, if your PSU is not capable of meeting the requirement to supply enough power, your PC may not turn on for the power supply. Additionally, your PSU may get aged or may not have all the PCIe power connectors. So it is crucial to know when you need a new PSU.
These connectors are usually used for RTX 3090 Ti, RTX 4070 Ti, RTX 4080 & RTX 4090. Ensure to properly tighten & lock the cable with GPU & PSU side to avoid melting down the connector for a loose connection.
How Much Power Each PCIe Connector Provides
As a dedicated GPU needs to install on a PCIe x16 slot to work, it always gets 75W base power. Any additional power connector’s supplied amount is added with this 75W & thus we can calculate the total possible max power consumption.
For example, an additional 6-pin sums up the total power consumption (75W+75W)=150W. Similarly, for an additional 8-pin, it will be (75W+150W)=225W.
Here is a table of the GPU power cable guide containing PCIe cables with max possible consumption of power:
PCIe x16 Slot 6-Pin Power Connector 8-Pin Power Connector 12-Pin Power Connector Total Power Consumed 75W — — — 75W 75W 1 x 75W — — 150W 75W — 1 x 150W — 225W 75W 2 x 75W — — 225W 75W 1 x 75W 1 x 150W — 300W 75W — 2 x 150W — 375W 75W 1 x 75W 2 x 150W — 450W 75W — 3 x 150W — 525W 75W — — 1 x 600W 675W This table will clear many things for you at a glance. Now, if you lack any PCIe cables, what would you do? Is it safe to use converters in replace of a PCIe power cable? Continue reading to know about this.
You need to read our separate post on are PSU cables universal?
Should I Use Converters or Adapters for Powering GPU?
GPU power cable adapter is used when the PSU lacks enough or proper PCIe connector cables. When I had a Radeon 6870, it had two 6-pin PCIe slots. At that time, I had a Corsair CX 430 power supply, which had only one 6-pin power cable. A very bizarre situation.
I was unable to buy a new PSU, so as an option, I used a Molex to 6-pin converter to power up my GPU. But to be frank, this is not good & should not be used.
Similarly, you shouldn’t use a 6-pin to 8-pin connector. As a 6-pin is supposed to provide up to 75W, but as the GPU has an 8-pin & wants to draw 150W through the 6-pin converter, this results in overloaded & heats up the wire. In the end, this can create a fire hazard scenario.
However, you can use an 8-pin connector cable (divided into 6+2) to a 6-pin port GPU. Also, 8-pin daisy-chained connectors are also safe.
FAQs
How many power cables do you need for your GPU?
The requirement of total power cables depends on the graphics card. For the GTX 750 Ti, one single 6-pin cable is enough, whereas the RX 5700XT requires one 8-pin & one 6-pin power cable.
Why is the 16-Pin 12VHPWR getting melted?
If the 16-Pin 12VHPWR power connector gets loosened from any side (either GPU or PSU) of the connector port, it can get melted.
Should I use an adapter for powering the GPU?
I wouldn’t recommend using an adapter to power up a graphics card. Most of the adapters are мейд in China & are not quality. Besides that, the wire can heat up for overloaded power & can cause a fire hazard situation.
How to find out the PCIe cable?
Please power down and connect the pcie power cable for this graphics card при включении
Usually, the connectors are different & the cables are labeled with their respective slots. Though the CPU & GPU cable looks kind of similar, they won’t be interchanged.
Final Thought
In conclusion, all computer parts require cables connected to the PSU.
But, the cables are typically labeled for their specific parts. You will require a 6-pin or up to 12-pin PCIe cable for your beast graphics card.
In this article, I guided you on the GPU power cable. If you have any further queries, please leave a comment.
About The Author
Farhan Max
Farhan Max is a tech geek with a particular interest in computer hardware. He’s been fascinated by gaming since childhood and is now completing his undergraduate studies while researching and testing the latest tech innovations. Alongside his love for all things geeky, Farhan is also a skilled photographer.
What Is A PCIe Cable And What It Is Used For
In this article, we will talk about everything PCIe cables. The power supply unit is probably the most important part of any computer or server. It must be able to provide stable voltage and current according to the power needs of different components that are part of the computer. The PCIe cables are part of the power supply system and are used to deliver voltage and power to PCIe devices like the graphics card.
So in this article, we are going to cover a lot of information about PCIe cables. We will talk about what a PCIe cable is, what kind of PCIe cables are available in the market, where and how to plug them, and so on. So, let’s start with it…
What are PCIe cables?
Table of Contents
PCIe cables are a part of the PSU (Power Supply Unit) and are used to power PCI cards that need more power, like a graphics card.
The PCIex16 slots provide 75 watts to the PCI Express expansion cards that you plug in, and more often than not, it’s sufficient to power up low-demanding graphics cards or other expansion cards like sound cards or network cards. But if you are planning to use more power-hungry graphics cards like the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti, you will need a PCI cable to supply additional power.
So before you buy your power supply unit, you should know exactly how many and what kind of PCIe cables you need and plan your system accordingly.
And this brings us to the next question.
What kind of PCIe cables are available?
As you can understand, there is not only one but many different kinds of PCIe cables available in the market.
The main difference between PCIe cables is their number of pins and the maximum amount of power they can provide.
The most commonly available PCIe cable comes in 6, 8, and 12-pin variants, with 8 pins being more common these days.
6-Pin Power Cables
The 6-pin power cables provide a maximum power of 75 watts and are used to power up graphics cards that don’t need a lot of power.
8-Pin Power Cables
The 8-pin PCIe cables can power up devices with a maximum power consumption of 150 watts and are best suited for high-performance gaming or mining machines. These cables are able to handle PCI express graphics cards that require a lot of power to work properly. They can be purchased as a straight 8-pin cable or 6+2 cable.
12-Pin Power Cables
The 12-pin PCIe cables provide a maximum power of 600 watts depending on the cable and are mainly used for overclocking or mining machines.
Pigtail Power Cables
The pigtail PCIe cables are cables that one end connects to the power supply, and the other end is split into two cables. It can be split into two 6 or 8-pin cables, depending model you buy. These cables are best suited for powering up low-power graphics cards and are not recommended if you have a high-end graphics card because they deliver less power compared to straight cables.
Combabilty of GPU Connectors
If your power supply unit is old and doesn’t have a PCIe cable that can handle the power your graphics card needs and you don’t want to buy a new power supply unit, you can always use an adapter.
These adapters are called Molex-PCIe adapters and can be used to connect a 6-pin cable to an 8-pin graphics card or an 8-pin cable to a 12-pin graphics card. While these adaptors will make the cable able to connect to the graphics card, they won’t provide enough power and can be dangerous, and we strongly advise against using them!
How many PCIe cables do I need in a PC?
This is a question you need to ask yourself early in designing your PC.
The main thing to consider is how many and what kind of GPUs you are going to use in the future and if you are planning on overclocking.
Let’s say that the PC you are building will only have one graphics card at the beginning, but in the future, you might want to add another graphics card.
The graphics card you are going to buy will need one 8-pin power connector, so you will buy a PSU with one 8-pin PCIe power cable, sounds good, right? But if you plan to buy the same graphics card in the future, why not plan ahead and buy a power supply unit that has at least two 8-pin PCIe cables, so you won’t have to change your power supply unit in the future?
If you are building a mining rig that will use a lot of high-end GPUs that might need up to three 8-pin PCIe cables each, it is better to buy a high-power modular power supply unit that has an ample amount of sockets. This way, you can plug in the exact number of PCI express cables you need, and later if you want to add another graphics card, you can just plug in an extra cable or two instead of buying a whole new power supply unit.
On the other хэнд, if you are not a gamer and don’t plan on using a demanding power-hungry graphics card, then you won’t need a PCIe power cable, as the PCIe x16 slot will provide all the power your graphics card needs.
The PSU is one of the most important components of your PC, if not the most important, and we strongly suggest going the extra mile to get a really high-quality one.
Remember that the PSU provides your computer components with electricity, so if your PSU is not good enough, it can lead to damaged hardware and accidents.
How to connect a PCIe cable to my GPU?
Connecting a PCIe cable is a really straightforward process; all you need to do is find the PCIe cable in your PSU and plug it in on your graphics card power connector.
To find the PCIe cables, you can either look for them on the PSU manual or directly on the PSU itself.
Most PSUs will have plenty of PCIe cables, so choose one of them and plug it in on your graphics card power connector.
Conclusion
PCIe cables are mainly used to provide additional power to GPUs beyond the maximum power that the PCIe x16 slot can provide, and they come in different types with different numbers of pins and voltage.
The number of PCIe cables that your computer needs depends on the type and number of GPUs you will use in the future and how much power they will need.
If you have a high-end graphics card, it might be a good idea to buy a high-wattage PSU with an ample number of PCIe cables, so in the future, if you add another GPU, you can just plug another cable in instead of having to buy a new PSU.
Overall you should invest in a good PSU that will provide the power your GPUs need and have room for adding more PCIe cables in case you want to add another GPU.
Let us know if this article was helpful or if you think anything needs to be added. We are always open to suggestions!
Nick Ryley is a computer architect and the owner of The Pc Geekz.
His love for playing games got him interested in computers in the first place. He wanted to be able to build a gaming PC that could run all the latest games at max settings, and this has him pursuing a major in computer architecture!
He started this blog to help people out and answer some of the most common questions about computer buildingПохожие статьи
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