• Competitor rules

    Please remember that any mention of competitors, hinting at competitors or offering to provide details of competitors will result in an account suspension. The full rules can be found under the 'Terms and Rules' link in the bottom right corner of your screen. Just don't mention competitors in any way, shape or form and you'll be OK.

12VHPWR or 4 x PCIe ?

Jonnyfriendly

Jonnyfriendly

Jonnyfriendly

Associate
Joined
1 Apr 2013
Posts
103
At the risk of flogging a dead horse, what is the current consensus on the best way to connect, say, a 5090 - 12VHWPR included with PSU or 4 x PCIe cable adaptor included with GPU?
 
Jonnyfriendly said:
At the risk of flogging a dead horse, what is the current consensus on the best way to connect, say, a 5090 - 12VHWPR included with PSU or 4 x PCIe cable adaptor included with GPU?
Click to expand...
I'd choose the native cable because there's less mess, but ultimately the weakest point is in exactly the same place (the graphics card's power connector), for whichever option you choose. It is rare that they melt on the other end.
 
Seen melting adapters with both so pick your poison.

Just make sure they're all inserted fully and if youre really worried do a feel test after it's been running something intensive for a while. If it's too hot to touch anywhere then there's potentially an issue.
 
Can't say I have ever had any problems with the connecter ppl that is having this problem maybe haven't checked there cable for lose pins etc..
 
Nobody really knows.

For what it's worth, the speculation is that the safest way to do this is to use a H++ compatible ATX3.1 PSU, with the native cable. Except maybe some of the Corsair cables are bad anyway? And some of the Asus ones?

Honestly, my suggestion would just be to use any sane cabling setup, be it native or 4x 8-pin, make sure the connectors are plugged in properly at both ends and make sure that there are no excessive bends in the cable. Use either the enclosed adapter, or the native cable that came with your PSU. Don't use third party cables and absolutely don't mix-and-match between manufacturers. Then just test the temperature of the cable (touch-test is fine if you don't have anything more scientific) for the first few weeks. Ideally, undervolt (or just set a power limit) so that power draw stays under 500W.
 
Last edited:
Several people in this field who I trust have said that multiple connectors on the PSU end is preferable due to the larger surface area and thus better heat dissipation. However the difference is probably pretty small. Corsair didn't even want to put a single native socket on their PSUs but only did so due to demand. No one really knows if 12V-2x6 connectors themselves achieved anything at all. Again, most people knowledgeable on these things think the new connector and sense pins were a complete waste of time.

The real answer is to not buy a 5090 but you probably don't want to hear that. IMO ~350w is a more sane limit for 12VHPWR.
 
Last edited:
SeeNoWeevil said:
Several people in this field who I trust have said that multiple connectors on the PSU end is preferable due to the larger surface area and thus better heat dissipation. However the difference is probably pretty small. Corsair didn't even want to put a single native socket on their PSUs but only did so due to demand. No one really knows if 12V-2x6 connectors themselves achieved anything at all. Again, most people knowledgeable on these things think the new connector and sense pins were a complete waste of time.

The real answer is to not buy a 5090 but you probably don't want to hear that. IMO ~350w is a more sane limit for 12VHPWR.
Click to expand...
Yeah I do wonder if it might have been better to rate the 12-pin cables as 300W and then used 2 if you were going too much over that. A bit the same as 8-pin is double a 6-pin. It could still be smaller so it takes up less room if it's not caring so much wattage.
It even if they made it 400W there may have been far less issues.
 
GoogalyMoogaly said:
Yeah I do wonder if it might have been better to rate the 12-pin cables as 300W and then used 2 if you were going too much over that. A bit the same as 8-pin is double a 6-pin. It could still be smaller so it takes up less room if it's not caring so much wattage.
It even if they made it 400W there may have been far less issues.
Click to expand...
I think Nvidia are hell-bent on having a single connector and the only reason the 12VHPWR exists in the first place. You kinda need to ask if 600w GPUs over 12v is a good idea in the first place.
 
SeeNoWeevil said:
I think Nvidia are hell-bent on having a single connector and the only reason the 12VHPWR exists in the first place. You kinda need to ask if 600w GPUs over 12v is a good idea in the first place.
Click to expand...
But it's not (just) Nvidia that gets to decide that is it? If the standard was agreed with a lower output Nvidia would have to work with that.
 
Octopus (4x8) is probably the safest options in most cases but it can be a problem if you don't have much clearance with case side, you don't want it being bent to much. I ended up using the PSU cable to avoid this.

I think only way to be safe is to get the ThermalGrizzly VHPWR cable monitor which alerts for high temps/current, not cheap though. I heard Asus cards have this built in.
 
Last edited:
And another case of melting cable on both sides (undervolted 4090), fully plugged in on both ends (as it melt-glued itself in place so easy to prove), H++ marked, where of course GPU vendor also refused warranty:

In short words, in many cases it's just about pure chance - you could do everything right, use all the right components and it will melt anyway. Just no good way to know for sure with this PoS connector, sadly.
 
Last edited:
Tinek said:
In short words, in many cases it's just about pure chance - you could do everything right, use all the right components and it will melt anyway. Just no good way to know for sure with this PoS connector, sadly.
Click to expand...
That does seem to be the long and the short of it, yes.

Very poor response from Inno3D there.
 
Could using the 8 pin PCIe adaptor that comes with the cards be the safer option for now?
It probably won't fail on the PCIe side and if it fails on the GPU side they can't reject your warranty as you used the adaptor they included.
 
Skyboy said:
Could using the 8 pin PCIe adaptor that comes with the cards be the safer option for now?
It probably won't fail on the PCIe side and if it fails on the GPU side they can't reject your warranty as you used the adaptor they included.
Click to expand...
They'll struggle to reject it, I think, if you use your PSU's native cable as well. But as per the end of the video... if you have to go the RMA route, just don't say anything about the PSU.

There's absolutely no science to this, to be honest, not least because there aren't really enough data points. But it feels like there's a trade off if you use the 8 pin adapter, whereby you gain a little safety through spreading things across multiple ports at the PSU end, but potentially lose a little if the bulk requires a tighter bend in the cabling in your case.

tl;dr version: Just don't do anything obviously stupid and hope for the best.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom