Monday, February 3rd 2025
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 Runs on 3x8-Pin PCI Power Adapter, RTX 5080 Not Booting on 2x8-Pin Configuration
NVIDIA's flagship GeForce RTX 5090 demonstrated flexibility in power compatibility, while its sibling, the RTX 5080, struggled with stricter requirements. Recent tests by a German tech outlet, ComputerBase, reveal that the RTX 5090 can operate with three 8-pin PCI power connectors instead of the recommended four, albeit with a performance trade-off. However, the RTX 5080 fails to boot when using only two 8-pin connectors. The RTX 5090, with a default TDP of 575 W, officially requires a 600 W 12V-2×6 connector or an adapter with four 8-pin PCI cables. However, tests on the ASUS ROG RTX 5090 Astral and Zotac RTX 5090 Solid show the GPU boots even with three 8-pin cables, capping its TDP at 450 W—matching the three connectors' 150 W-per-cable spec. Performance losses are modest: benchmarks indicate a 5% drop in average FPS at 450 W compared to full power.
In contrast, the RTX 5080's 360 W TDP proves less forgiving. Attempts to run the Founders Edition and Zotac RTX 5080 AMP Extreme Infinity with two 8-pin connectors (300 W total) resulted in failure: the screen remained blank, and the card refused to initialize. NVIDIA's firmware appears to lack a lower power-limit threshold for the RTX 5080, unlike the 5090, which automatically adjusts when detecting insufficient power delivery. This requirement forces users to adhere strictly to the three 8-pin or 12V-2×6 power connectors. While the RTX 5090 offers flexibility for users upgrading from older systems, the RTX 5080's limitations may frustrate owners of less powerful PSUs. For the RTX 5090, the 5% performance penalty at 450 W may be a reasonable trade-off for avoiding costly PSU upgrades, but RTX 5080 users have no such recourse. Verifying power supply compatibility, as underpowered setups risk instability or hardware damage, is a must, and when your $2000+ GPU runs, you should at least power it properly. This experiment is more a "for science" type of run.
Sources:
ComputerBase, via VideoCardz
In contrast, the RTX 5080's 360 W TDP proves less forgiving. Attempts to run the Founders Edition and Zotac RTX 5080 AMP Extreme Infinity with two 8-pin connectors (300 W total) resulted in failure: the screen remained blank, and the card refused to initialize. NVIDIA's firmware appears to lack a lower power-limit threshold for the RTX 5080, unlike the 5090, which automatically adjusts when detecting insufficient power delivery. This requirement forces users to adhere strictly to the three 8-pin or 12V-2×6 power connectors. While the RTX 5090 offers flexibility for users upgrading from older systems, the RTX 5080's limitations may frustrate owners of less powerful PSUs. For the RTX 5090, the 5% performance penalty at 450 W may be a reasonable trade-off for avoiding costly PSU upgrades, but RTX 5080 users have no such recourse. Verifying power supply compatibility, as underpowered setups risk instability or hardware damage, is a must, and when your $2000+ GPU runs, you should at least power it properly. This experiment is more a "for science" type of run.
30 Comments on NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 Runs on 3x8-Pin PCI Power Adapter, RTX 5080 Not Booting on 2x8-Pin Configuration
Was running some maps in POE 2 when the distinct smell of burning plastic filled the air. I was only running 3 cables because I read when I first bought the card that would limit the card in my build to 450W instead of 450W+, and was in spec.
I would not recommend it.
150 watts which is the theoretical limit of the same 8-pin means 12.5 amps.
450 watts over 4 PCIe 8-pin means 9.375 amps per connector.
Something doesn't add up in your experiment. Are you sure something is not wrong in your case ?That's an ugly artificial software limitation, not that the hardware is no capable to support it. Blame Nvidia, vote with your wallet and don't buy.
We really are not going to see much this generation overall even if a 5080 ti comes out. Its really going to be 6XXX that makes a much more major difference all around.
Some power supplies have Y - CAbles.
Two graphic card connectors on the same cable which goes to the same connector to the power supply unit. It looks like the letter Y.
Regardless - I feel sorry for someone who get his expensive hardware damaged by an unfinished product.
I think those sensor pins just check if there are 12 Volt DC or not on 5 different pins what i saw a few weeks ago. I wouldnot call them sensor pints. They are just checking if there is a high signal there or not most likely.
Gamers nexus has equipment which they did a lot of efforts to calibrate. they can measure the peg slot and the other wires in total.
What i remember those 5000 series graphic card take around 40 Watts in idle. Just check the video first please. Thank you. It does not matter if its 32 or 40 or 35 Watts. Its far off the 6 to 12 Watts it should be in idle mode.
At the end of the day only the power consumption at the wall socket counts. That includes the efficiency for the efficiency curve of the power supply unit. Which is hardly measured in the range from 1 to 75 Watts output.
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Assuming that information is correct, you just need to set two pins to Gnd for the 600 Watts. That should be not difficult for an adapter cable.
www.smpspowersupply.com/atx3connectors.html
I went ahead and ordered a corsair 12vhpwrcable, and she's been running great at 450W.
It was just too much heat for those 3 8pins cables? They melted pretty evenly... they may have been defective, or maybe some other issues, who knows... but running anything at the absolute theorhetical max is never a great idea. Very little room for error - the connector from the nvidia dongle to the psu cable also melted and exuded some sort of clear resin.
This is a 5080 with 360W power limit and 2x8pin can supply 300W + the 75W from PCI-E. Total of 375W.
Compared to a 5090 that requires 575W and only getting 450W + 75W (525W) the 5080 should be "easier" to run with 2x8pin.
Clearly this is a limitation somewhere that could/should(?) have been avoided. Maybe it would require a more complex PCB/Power delivery subsystem that most likely the 5090 has.
In all honesty when you buy a 1000~1500+ GPU you dont try to cheap on power...
The 12VHPWR has a build-in sensing system for 450W and 600W options.
Claiming this board is a fail because you can't run it drastically out of spec is an outrageously puerile argument. Had NVidia done what you asked, then the first cable or mobo that was even slightly out-of-spec would have caused anything from a melted cable to an outright fire, and you'd have gone off the rails over that instead.