# How to power 2x8-pin GPU on 6pin slots PSU?



## synectic (Mar 26, 2016)

Hey I recently bought Asus GTX 980 TI Strix OC which has 2x 8pin connections. Then I noticed my PSU looks like this: http://content.hwigroup.net/images/products_xl/088870/3/be-quiet-dark-power-pro-p8-1000w.jpg

So now I'm stuck. Do I need to buy new PSU? Or is there a way to connect this card somehow?

I have one 2x 6 to 8 Y cable that came with the card and another one in the cpu used with the current card, which is 2x 6 to 6 and 6+2. Can I make use of that?


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## Jetster (Mar 26, 2016)

List your specs. (All of them) If you don't have the two 8 pin connectors then you need to get the proper cables. Some will tell you to use an adapter but I wouldn't, not with a 980 ti
So your PSU is a DARK POWER PROp8 1000W?
And you need two pci-e 8 pin cables for it?


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## Caring1 (Mar 26, 2016)

What does the other end of the cables look like, how many 6 or 8 pin connectors are there?
edit:According to their site it has three 6 pin and three 6+2 pin.


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## jboydgolfer (Mar 26, 2016)

your PSU comes with....
PCI-Express Connector 8 x 6+2 Pin   , either go into your box or wherever you keep the cables it came with, and get the proper cords. the PSU side looks to be a single peice 8 pin, and the other "GPU"end will be a solid single 6 pin, with a satellite 2 pin add on. if thats not exactly the PSU, it will still be close.

_Source .._


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## synectic (Mar 26, 2016)

Jetster said:


> List your specs. (All of them) If you don't have the two 8 pin connectors then you need to get the proper cables. Some will tell you to use an adapter but I wouldn't, not with a 980 ti
> So your PSU is a DARK POWER PROp8 1000W?
> And you need two pci-e 8 pin cables for it?




I'm super weak at any computer stuff. I just want to connect this Asus GTX980 TI Strix OC which has 2x8pin connections to my Dark Power Pro P8 1000w PSU.

CPU Specs: 
Intel Core i7-3930K Extreme, 3.2 GHz, 12MB, LGA2011, BOX

ASUS P9X79 DELUXE /X79/USB3/PCIe3.0/WiFi/BT/s.2011/ATX

VGA ASUS GTX670 DC OC 2048MB GDDR5 256b 2DVI+HDMI+DP PCIe3.0 (current graphic card will be replaced with the gtx980)

DVD RW ASUS DRW-24B3LT black bulk SATA

32GB CORSAIR DDR3 RAM

Corsair SSD Force Series 240GB 2,5'' SATA III NAND ( Read/Write 550MB/520MB/s )
Seagate Barracuda, 3.5'', 3TB, SATA/600, 7200RPM, 64MB cache

Be Quiet! Dark Power Pro P8 1000w

Corsair Graphite 600T

Noctua NH-D14 SE2011


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## Jetster (Mar 26, 2016)

And none of your 6 pins ends have a little set of 2 pin hanging off them?
Check them all

And do you have all the cables that came with the PSU?


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## synectic (Mar 26, 2016)

Caring1 said:


> What does the other end of the cables look like, how many 6 or 8 pin connectors are there?
> edit:According to their site it has three 6 pin and three 6+2 pin.



I've got only one 6+2 cable here.


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## Jetster (Mar 26, 2016)

Then here................ Double check to see if its right

http://www.ebay.com/itm/12-be-quiet...062731?hash=item4d309cc70b:g:q3wAAOSwrx5UXkda


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## synectic (Mar 26, 2016)

Jetster said:


> And none of your 6 pins ends have a little set of 2 pin hanging off them?
> Check them all
> 
> And do you have all the cables that came with the PSU?



Yeah the problem is I bought this cpu around 3-4 years ago, don't have the rest of the cables. There is just one with 6+2 that is currently plugged to the gtx670 graphics card


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## synectic (Mar 26, 2016)

Jetster said:


> Then here................ Double check to see if its right
> 
> http://www.ebay.com/itm/12-be-quiet...062731?hash=item4d309cc70b:g:q3wAAOSwrx5UXkda



Yes it's "be quiet" psu. Two of those would set me up?

What do you mean by double check, what exactly?


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## jboydgolfer (Mar 26, 2016)

Where do you live?

If you dont have the other psu cables, you need to buy the vga ones, from the looks of it, you need a couple 8 to 8 cables, they are  around 10 bucks each


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## synectic (Mar 26, 2016)

Ok I found the box with cables, it turns out they are 12pin -> 6 and 6+2...


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## jboydgolfer (Mar 26, 2016)

I was thinkinb thats wat they usually are,but i amittedly have zero experience with german power supplier bequiet


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## synectic (Mar 26, 2016)

jboydgolfer said:


> Where do you live?
> 
> If you dont have the other psu cables, you need to buy the vga ones, from the looks of it, you need a couple 8 to 8 cables, they are  around 10 bucks each



Poland, is it relevant?


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## synectic (Mar 26, 2016)

jboydgolfer said:


> Where do you live?
> 
> If you dont have the other psu cables, you need to buy the vga ones, from the looks of it, you need a couple 8 to 8 cables, they are  around 10 bucks each



Why 8 to 8? Power supply seems to have 12 pin connections only, how do I connect 8?


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## jboydgolfer (Mar 26, 2016)

synectic said:


> Poland, is it relevant?


because of where you could buy needed cables, and what stores are available to You. thats why the details panel in your personal settings so important to have filled out, in case of times like this.also, for when a kind member is willing to send the items to You, etc.. the instances are limitless. @ that time You had posted that you only had the cables in your PC, so it looked like You might need to order some.



synectic said:


> Why 8 to 8? Power supply seems to have 12 pin connections only, how do I connect 8?


i was mistaken, i thought it was an 8pin plug on the power supply, that went to a 6+3 pin on the VGA end.


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## synectic (Mar 26, 2016)

jboydgolfer said:


> because of where you could buy needed cables, and what stores are available to You. thats why the details panel in your personal settings so important to have filled out, in case of times like this.also, for when a kind member is willing to send the items to You, etc.. the instances are limitless. @ that time You had posted that you only had the cables in your PC, so it looked like You might need to order some.
> 
> 
> i was mistaken, i thought it was an 8pin plug on the power supply, that went to a 6+3 pin on the VGA end.



I think most of the sellers (at least on ebay) send to Poland. So yeah it's ok I can order, but which ones? Would two of those http://www.ebay.com/itm/12-be-quiet...062731?hash=item4d309cc70b:g:q3wAAOSwrx5UXkda work with the 12pin connection on psu? Sorry for the lack of knowledge, but all this is pretty new to me.


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## jboydgolfer (Mar 26, 2016)

Oh, i thought you found the box with the cable?? if you did You dont need to order anything. you included cables with your power supply will have 4 or more, 6+2 pin VGA plugs.
they look like this....this is the end that goes into the 980


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## synectic (Mar 26, 2016)

jboydgolfer said:


> Oh, i thought you found the box with the cable?? if you did You dont need to order anything. you included cables with your power supply will have 4 or more, 6+2 pin VGA plugs.
> they look like this /.///



Yes I found it, but they all look like in the image attached.

Basically there are 3 cables like this. It's 12pin to 6 and 6+2 in one cable.


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## FordGT90Concept (Mar 26, 2016)

The +2 pins are literally just grounds.  If you have a 6+2-pin and a 6-pin and the power supply can handle it, you should be able to plug those in and the card should work.  It's a good idea to have the +2 pin but it isn't absolutely necessary.  It was designed with backwards compatibility in mind.

Do not use a Y cable unless the Y split occurs at the connector inserted into the PSU.  Running 200+ watts through one set of cables is liable to cause problems if the guage isn't thick enough.  If it looks something like this, it will work and, assuming both are connected to the card, should be sufficient to run it:


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## synectic (Mar 26, 2016)

FordGT90Concept said:


> The +2 pins are literally just grounds.  If you have a 6+2-pin and a 6-pin and the power supply can handle it, you should be able to plug those in and the card should work.  It's a good idea to have the +2 pin but it isn't absolutely necessary.  It was designed with backwards compatibility in mind.



Wouldn't it provide less power? I mean they must put those 2x8pin for a reason on the Asus GTX980 TI OC


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## FordGT90Concept (Mar 26, 2016)

It is meant to indicate the maximum power draw:
PCI Express slot: 75w
6-pin: 75w (3+ and 3-)
8-pin: 150w (3+ and 5-)

Your card, according to the standards, could draw up to 375w.  Realistically, it will never get close to that but it is important to have a power supply that can handle that kind of load.  Your 1000w should be able to but it may have been manufactured before they started pushing out 8-pin cards, hence only having 6-pin connectors.  They designed 6-pin to insert into 8-pin for this reason.  If the 6-pin truly couldn't handle 150w, they wouldn't have made it backwards compatible.

It should be okay.  If there isn't adequate enough power, the card should display a message on boot.  If the PSU fails to provide enough power under load, you'll start seeing stability issues.  If either occur (and I highly doubt they will), you'll likely need to be looking at a new power supply.


Edit: Just saw your picture, yeah, use that, should work fine.


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## AsRock (Mar 26, 2016)

synectic said:


> Ok I found the box with cables, it turns out they are 12pin -> 6 and 6+2...



Umm, lets get this right, you have 1x8pin connector on your video card ?

This picture of a cable you posted is a different cable ?

If both i would of thought the 12pin plugs in t o the PSU and you just plug in the other 6+2 in to the video card.


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## synectic (Mar 26, 2016)

AsRock said:


> Umm, lets get this right, you have 1x8pin connector on your video card ?
> 
> This picture of a cable you posted is a different cable ?
> 
> If both i would of thought the 12pin plugs in t o the PSU and you just plug in the other 6+2 in to the video card.



There are 2x8pin connections on card. The cable is 12pin to 6 and 6+2.


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## synectic (Mar 26, 2016)

FordGT90Concept said:


> It is meant to indicate the maximum power draw:
> PCI Express slot: 75w
> 6-pin: 75w (3+ and 3-)
> 8-pin: 150w (3+ and 5-)
> ...



Thanks, I will give it a try. If there are any issues, what power supply would you recommend (just incase)?


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## jboydgolfer (Mar 26, 2016)

i feel like i might not be understanding the situation, but im gonna take a Shot @ what I THINK is the is going on here, and what i would recommend to solve it...

You are saying You have two plugs. Each have a 12 pin plug on one  end, and on the other end, it is a 6pin, And a 6+2 pin plug.

IF this is the case, then just plug BOTH 12 pin cables in(to the Power supply) ,and use the 6+2 from each cable to power each of the 8 pin female plugs on the card.

one thing that is throwing me off is the color of those pins you posted,  they are blue and yellow & black, but im assuming your PSU is a Black bequiet, which makes me wonder if those plugs You have are actually from that PSU, i cant imagine bequiet would use oddly colored plugs, they tend to make pretty high end stuff, but as i said before I am totally ignorant on theyre PSU's, ive never seen one in person.


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## P4-630 (Mar 26, 2016)

jboydgolfer said:


> one thing that is throwing me off is the color of those pins you posted, they are blue and yellow & black, but im assuming your PSU is a Black bequiet, which makes me wonder if those plugs You have are actually from that PSU, i cant imagine bequiet would use oddly colored plugs, they tend to make pretty high end stuff, but as i said before I am totally ignorant on theyre PSU's, ive never seen one in person.



Yeah you are right, the colors are odd, I have a BeQuiet! PSU myself, not the same model though, but all connectors/sleeves are black.
As you said those connectors could be from another PSU...


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## synectic (Mar 26, 2016)

jboydgolfer said:


> i feel like i might not be understanding the situation, but im gonna take a Shot @ what I THINK is the is going on here, and what i would recommend to solve it...
> 
> You are saying You have two plugs. Each have a 12 pin plug on one  end, and on the other end, it is a 6pin, And a 6+2 pin plug.
> 
> ...




You got that right. These cables are from this set, I've got exactly the same cable connected to my current graphics card, so those must be from one box. They even have identical markers.

So it's ok to use 2x12 connectors on psu and take each 6+2 from them to power the card? This way two 6 will just hang unused, is that fine?
On the PSU it's written PCI-E 1, PCI-E 2 and PCI-E 3, it doesn't cause any problems when I use two PCI-E connections (1 and 2) on one card?


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## synectic (Mar 26, 2016)

The current cable from PSU to graphics card has VGA1 mark on both 6 and 6+2 connectors. The other two cables are the same and have VGA2 and VGA3 on both as well.


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## animal007uk (Mar 26, 2016)

synectic said:


> The current cable from PSU to graphics card has VGA1 mark on both 6 and 6+2 connectors. The other two cables are the same and have VGA2 and VGA3 on both as well.



Then use it as thats what its for, almost all PSU's have 6+2 pin to make 8 in total and the 12pin part on the other end goes into your PSU

I really don't know why this has become so confusing and needed all these posts lol


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## synectic (Mar 26, 2016)

animal007uk said:


> Then use it as thats what its for, almost all PSU's have 6+2 pin to make 8 in total and the 12pin part on the other end goes into your PSU
> 
> I really don't know why this has become so confusing and needed all these posts lol



I'm quite a newb when it comes to plugging computer stuff, was afraid that I might break something etc., so sorry for the general confusion. My main problem was that the slots on CPU are numbered PCIE 1 2 3. I didn't know I could power the card using two cables plugged in separate psu slots, this just leaves 2x 6pin hanging, but if that doesnt matter, then Im gonna do this.

Thanks


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## animal007uk (Mar 26, 2016)

synectic said:


> I'm quite a newb when it comes to plugging computer stuff, was afraid that I might break something etc., so sorry for the general confusion. My main problem was that the slots on CPU are numbered PCIE 1 2 3. I didn't know I could power the card using two cables plugged in separate psu slots, this just leaves 2x 6pin hanging, but if that doesnt matter, then Im gonna do this.
> 
> Thanks


From your first post it seems you have a modular PSU that is why you have cables in a box, these cables are not spares they are there to be used when needed and now is a time when you need one extra power cable for your GPU so plug the 12pin end into your PSU and combine the 2+6 pin to make 8 then plug into your GPU. (And no it will not be an issue)

Looking at the pic and going by what you have said the back of your PSU has 3x PCIe 12pin sockets labled PCIe1 PCIe2 PCIe3 so connect 1 cable to PCIe1 and the other to PCIe2 then connect them to your GPU.

Last edited: 5 minutes ago


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## FordGT90Concept (Mar 26, 2016)

synectic said:


> So it's ok to use 2x12 connectors on psu and take each 6+2 from them to power the card? This way two 6 will just hang unused, is that fine?
> On the PSU it's written PCI-E 1, PCI-E 2 and PCI-E 3, it doesn't cause any problems when I use two PCI-E connections (1 and 2) on one card?


You could.

Yes, just make sure they won't find their way into a fan.

It shouldn't be a problem.




synectic said:


> I'm quite a newb when it comes to plugging computer stuff, was afraid that I might break something etc., so sorry for the general confusion. My main problem was that the slots on CPU are numbered PCIE 1 2 3. I didn't know I could power the card using two cables plugged in separate psu slots, this just leaves 2x 6pin hanging, but if that doesnt matter, then Im gonna do this.


The connectors are designed in a way to make it impossible to plug something in where it shouldn't be.

The only issue you _may_ run in to is the PSU not being powerful enough to run the system.  Unless you have something crazy in your system, it probably won't draw more than 500 watts.  The likelihood of the PSU being inadequate, therefore, is remote unless the unit is defective.  Cross that bridge if it occurs.

If I were in your shoes, I would just use one of those 6 pin + 6+2 pin -> 12 pin cables and call it a day.  Yes, two pins won't filled.  No, it shouldn't matter.


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## synectic (Mar 26, 2016)

FordGT90Concept said:


> You could.
> 
> Yes, just make sure they won't find their way into a fan.
> 
> ...




Thanks but I connected it the way *animal007uk* said, 2x 12pin cables from PSU to GPU 6+2 and 6+2 (with two 6 pin hanging) it works fine so far.


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## FordGT90Concept (Mar 26, 2016)

As it should, 12v is 12v.


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