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PCI-E Power Connectors?

Gashman

Gashman

Gashman

Soldato
Joined
28 Mar 2006
Posts
4,379
Location
Jarrow, Tyne And Wear
right i have a minor issue, just got new card that requires 6-pin and 8-pin power connectors, the issue is my 8-pin connector is a dodgy wire and doesn't work, i do however have a spare 6-pin connector, will a graphics card with 6 and 8 pin connector run with just two 6-pin? :confused:
 
I think I have a spare 6-8 pin pcie at home. Let me check after work today and if I have you can have it as my new psu has 8 pin connectors.
 
the weird thing i wanna know is what is the real difference between 8-pin and 6-pin power connectors, the extra wires are ground wires right? how do they possibly add any potential power, since the 8-pin uses the same pin configuration as the 6-pin barring the two extra ground wires, how on earth can the 8-pin provide anymore power, surely it cannot...on another note this 4870X2 actually works with my old-ish 450W OCZ modstream PSU (28A on 12v rail), personally i think the wattage/amperage are both hugely over-estimated since the modstream is according to AMDs actual specifications inadequete in both wattage and amperage. (also worth noting that the modstream only has a single 6-pin power connector, the other is molex adaptor and it works fine, no freezes, no 2D clocks.)

some online reviews i have read put the maximum power draw of the 4870X2 at 270W, which is 22.5A, 12V. bearing in mind that thats an absolute maximum power draw, in the real world it'll likely never use that much power. so personally i think normal gaming usage is around 240/250W, 20.9A, 12V. all in all im very much confused by all of this. :D
 
that doesn't really do anything to explain the weird, almost 'gimmick' like rating of the 6-pin and 8-pin respectively. still doesn't explain why even though both have the exact same three 12V pins that the 8-pin (because of two extra grounding wires) can supply 'officially' double the wattage, did A level electronics and that shouldn't make any difference to speak of, the only difference it should make is 'potentially' safer. so the question...is 8-pin PCI-E power connectors merely a gimmick, does it actually have any real benefits over 6-pin? from my understanding and reading on the matter, gotta say no. :confused:

only assumption i can make about this is that the 8-pin uses different wires that can maybe handle more current, but the fact that my 4870X2 runs on a 450W power supply with two 6-pin connectors suggests that one (or both) of the PCI-E connectors are drawing more power than their ratings suggest is possible, PCI-E is 75W, 6-pin is supposidly 75W, so 75 x 3 = 225W, so somehow another 45W is reaching the card, weird. :D

Edit: the 6+2 pin connectors just confuse the matter even more, since its essencially a 6-pin power connector with two extra ground wires stuck on it, that should do absolutely nothing to increase the maximum current through the wire.
 
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