Question Buy a new 8-pin PCIe cable or convert my two existing 6 Pin to a single 8 Pin?

[Cyber_Akuma]

I am wondering if I should get a new PCIe cable for my PSU that has 8 pins, or just convert the two existing 6 pin PCIe plugs it has to a single 8 pin.

I have a Dell Precision T3610, it has a proprietary PSU with a single 8 Pin PCIe power port, it came stock with a cable that splits that into two 6-pin PCIe plugs. It also came stock with a Quadro K4000, which uses a single 6-pin PCIe port.

I want to replace that card with an RTX 2060, the majority of which have a single 8 Pin PCIe power port. I was wondering what would be the better way to try to go about this.

I could get a 3rd party cable designed for this PC that gives me a 8 pin Plug. My worries with that is that on top of being 3rd party (And the only one I could find is from a brand that I have seen comments their other adapters are of low quality) just about all of them try to split it into TWO 8-Pin Plugs, which I worry can be a fire hazard. Of course, that specific issue should not be a problem since I am only going to be using one of the plugs and leave the other unplugged, but the fact that the manufacturer makes a cable that tries to draw that much power out of a single 8 pin plug worries me about it's reliability and safety.

The one I found that does that is this: https://www.amazon.com/COMeap-Power-Adapter-Cable-13-inch/dp/B07HCYDK5K/

I also figured I could instead of replacing the stock OEM plug that already came connected to the proprietary PSU, I could just use a cable that converts it's two 6-pin into a single 8 pin. Since those are standard I don't have to worry about the cable properly supporting whatever proprietary pinout my PSU uses. Thing is, I have no idea if this would be safer or even less safe than just using the other cable to go straight from 8 pin to 8 pin as I am not familiar with the power specs of these 6 and 8 pin cables, or how it's wired. Also worryingly most of the cables I found like this tried to convert a single 6 pin to 8, but I did find a cable that does take two 6 pins and converts them into a single 8. No idea again about the reliability, build quality, or safety of such a cable though.

The one I found that does that is this: https://www.amazon.com/Female-TeamProfitcom-Adapter-Braided-Sleeved/dp/B07V4GGS43/

Any opinions on which route I should go? I am leaning more towards converting the two 6 pins to a single 8 pin, assuming the cable actually does convert both of them and isn't just taking power from a single plug while ignoring the other, but that would also be much messier and have a lot more extra cable all over my case.... not to mention I am essentially converting an 8 pin to dual 6 pion only to convert it back to a single 8 pin. But the other option I have to worry if the 3rd party is properly supporting my pinout and they seem to think it's ok to split a single 8 pin into dual 8 pins, which apparently is a fire hazard if using a power hungry card.

 

[letmepicyou]

I am wondering if I should get a new PCIe cable for my PSU that has 8 pins, or just convert the two existing 6 pin PCIe plugs it has to a single 8 pin.

I have a Dell Precision T3610, it has a proprietary PSU with a single 8 Pin PCIe power port, it came stock with a cable that splits that into two 6-pin PCIe plugs. It also came stock with a Quadro K4000, which uses a single 6-pin PCIe port.

I want to replace that card with an RTX 2060, the majority of which have a single 8 Pin PCIe power port. I was wondering what would be the better way to try to go about this.

I could get a 3rd party cable designed for this PC that gives me a 8 pin Plug. My worries with that is that on top of being 3rd party (And the only one I could find is from a brand that I have seen comments their other adapters are of low quality) just about all of them try to split it into TWO 8-Pin Plugs, which I worry can be a fire hazard. Of course, that specific issue should not be a problem since I am only going to be using one of the plugs and leave the other unplugged, but the fact that the manufacturer makes a cable that tries to draw that much power out of a single 8 pin plug worries me about it's reliability and safety.

The one I found that does that is this: https://www.amazon.com/COMeap-Power-Adapter-Cable-13-inch/dp/B07HCYDK5K/

I also figured I could instead of replacing the stock OEM plug that already came connected to the proprietary PSU, I could just use a cable that converts it's two 6-pin into a single 8 pin. Since those are standard I don't have to worry about the cable properly supporting whatever proprietary pinout my PSU uses. Thing is, I have no idea if this would be safer or even less safe than just using the other cable to go straight from 8 pin to 8 pin as I am not familiar with the power specs of these 6 and 8 pin cables, or how it's wired. Also worryingly most of the cables I found like this tried to convert a single 6 pin to 8, but I did find a cable that does take two 6 pins and converts them into a single 8. No idea again about the reliability, build quality, or safety of such a cable though.

The one I found that does that is this: https://www.amazon.com/Female-TeamProfitcom-Adapter-Braided-Sleeved/dp/B07V4GGS43/

Any opinions on which route I should go? I am leaning more towards converting the two 6 pins to a single 8 pin, assuming the cable actually does convert both of them and isn't just taking power from a single plug while ignoring the other, but that would also be much messier and have a lot more extra cable all over my case.... not to mention I am essentially converting an 8 pin to dual 6 pion only to convert it back to a single 8 pin. But the other option I have to worry if the 3rd party is properly supporting my pinout and they seem to think it's ok to split a single 8 pin into dual 8 pins, which apparently is a fire hazard if using a power hungry card.

Get a new power supply.
The power supplies put into OEM pcs are "adequate" (barely) for the purpose of their construction.
They do not allow much "headroom" for upgrading to components with higher power demand.
And the stock power supply very possibly won't be ABLE to run your new card.
The best advice (to me, the ONLY advice), is to replace the power supply with a more capable unit that comes with 8 pin connectors from the factory.
And buy the BEST power supply you can afford. The power supply is the one place you shouldn't try to save a few pennies.

 

[JohnBonhamsGhost]

opinions on which route I should go?

what wattage is the current PSU even?
the majority of these basic OEM systems come with 200-350w.

most RTX 2060 manufacturers recommend at minimum a 500w.
and for that minimum hopefully it would be higher quality model.

 

[Cyber_Akuma]

what wattage is the current PSU even?
the majority of these basic OEM systems come with 200-350w.

685 Watts. I specifically requested that over the standard 425 Watt PSU when I ordered this.

Get a new power supply.
The power supplies put into OEM pcs are "adequate" (barely) for the purpose of their construction.
They do not allow much "headroom" for upgrading to components with higher power demand.
And the stock power supply very possibly won't be ABLE to run your new card.
The best advice (to me, the ONLY advice), is to replace the power supply with a more capable unit that comes with 8 pin connectors from the factory.
And buy the BEST power supply you can afford. The power supply is the one place you shouldn't try to save a few pennies.

Sadly not an option, they are proprietary. I could get a higher wattage PSU, but they all would have the same ports on them.

There are only four PSU options for this system, 425 watt, 685 watt, 825 watt, and 1300 watt. They all have the same number of ports however as the PSU plugs into a daughterboard that has the ports on it, the PSU itself just has an edge connector.

https://imgur.com/h8XxIMu

View: https://i.imgur.com/h8XxIMu.jpg

https://imgur.com/Wq27jRm

View: https://i.imgur.com/Wq27jRm.jpg


So I would have the exact same number of power ports regardless of which PSU I use, as they would all just plug into that edge connector.

And I am only aware of one other variation of that edge connector that has two CPU 8-pin connectors, but none that have and additional PCIe connections or any other additional/standard plugs.

 

[JohnBonhamsGhost]

Precision T3610...

honestly i wouldn't bother with this project.
take what's salvageable and put it in a new case with a retail PSU and motherboard.

even cheaping out with the lowest trusted options available, you'd end up with a better system than these things.

 

[Cyber_Akuma]

The PSU, Case, and Motherboard is proprietary, and it uses Xeon CPUs and EEC RAM, plus it's old, the CPU is 2013 era and it's DDR3 RAM. I only even just recently replaced the SAS drive with a standard SATA one. Pretty much nothing is salvageable from it to rebuild it as a standard PC, especially a modern one.

 

[letmepicyou]

685 Watts. I specifically requested that over the standard 425 Watt PSU when I ordered this.



Sadly not an option, they are proprietary. I could get a higher wattage PSU, but they all would have the same ports on them.

There are only four PSU options for this system, 425 watt, 685 watt, 825 watt, and 1300 watt. They all have the same number of ports however as the PSU plugs into a daughterboard that has the ports on it, the PSU itself just has an edge connector.

https://imgur.com/h8XxIMu

View: https://i.imgur.com/h8XxIMu.jpg

https://imgur.com/Wq27jRm

View: https://i.imgur.com/Wq27jRm.jpg


So I would have the exact same number of power ports regardless of which PSU I use, as they would all just plug into that edge connector.

And I am only aware of one other variation of that edge connector that has two CPU 8-pin connectors, but none that have and additional PCIe connections or any other additional/standard plugs.

Except, that daughter board would seem to indicate it uses standard 24 pin and 8 pin connectors.
I think a regular power supply would work so long as it physically fits in the case.

 

[Cyber_Akuma]

Except, that daughter board would seem to indicate it uses standard 24 pin and 8 pin connectors.

It doesn't, notice there are no SATA connectors on that daughterboard.

The 24 pin ATX-like connector cable breaks out into 24 pin, three sata, and one mini-sata power plug meant for laptop style slimline optical drives:

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81xHVAtwF7L.jpg

Dell is pretty infamous for their proprietary PSUs and motherboards, even if the connectors physically fit they have had different pinouts in the past that resulted in some fried systems when people tried to use them with standard parts. I don't want to risk it. What's wrong with using the existing 685 Watt PSU I have in it?

It's dimensions are also listed as "10 x 3 x 3 inches" which AFAIK does not confirm to any modern PSU standard, definitely not ATX or SFX at least, I don't know every single PSU format out there.

 

[JohnBonhamsGhost]

Pretty much nothing is salvageable

doesn't necessarily need to be.
i still wouldn't bother with this project.

take your newer drive and use it for extra storage or whatever use you want
and build a new budget system that can perform much better than this thing, will run cooler, will look better(if that even matters), and will be available for upgrades as the years go on from now.

 

[Cyber_Akuma]

This is all I have, it can't accept a standard PSU and I don't have the money to build an entirely new system. This PC alone is itself a backup system since my main rig is incomplete. I just want to make it a bit more viable for gaming.

Also, you are thinking of consumer hardware, this is corporate workstation hardware, a bit different. The whole reason the PSU is designed like this is so it can easily and quickly be swapped in about 10 seconds without even opening the case, it's designed with the concept of having to buy parts for it if they break, not just buy once and it stays this way.

I cannot put a standard PSU in it without going Doc Brown with the re-wiring and case modifications and I cannot re-use any of it's parts other than it's drives in a new system, this is what I have and I need to make it work. No I can't afford to build another new system.

 

[letmepicyou]

This is all I have, it can't accept a standard PSU and I don't have the money to build an entirely new system. This PC alone is itself a backup system since my main rig is incomplete. I just want to make it a bit more viable for gaming.

Also, you are thinking of consumer hardware, this is corporate workstation hardware, a bit different. The whole reason the PSU is designed like this is so it can easily and quickly be swapped in about 10 seconds without even opening the case, it's designed with the concept of having to buy parts for it if they break, not just buy once and it stays this way.

I cannot put a standard PSU in it without going Doc Brown with the re-wiring and case modifications and I cannot re-use any of it's parts other than it's drives in a new system, this is what I have and I need to make it work. No I can't afford to build another new system.

I mean, you came here asking questions and for options, and it seems like you already have it figured out and none of the options we suggest are for you. So...good luck, and happy computing!

 

[Cyber_Akuma]

I was specifically asking about what of those options is the more viable one and which one is safer, and you told me to just build an entirely new system rather than actually try to help me with my question.

 

[bill001g]

I have no clue what the connector on the dell does but the way the connector works is there are only 3 pins that have 12 volts all the rest are ground no matter if it is 6 or 8. Both the 2 added pins are connected to ground on the power supply.

What I forget is why this is being done. I know that the center pin on 6 pin and one of the 2 extra pins on the 8 pin are called sense. It seems the video card will use the sense pins to determine how much power it can pull. The only way this would make sense is if the 12 volt wires were thicker on the 8 rather than the 6.

This is one of those things I will leave you to search the wiki. I know years ago when I was doing stupid stuff like making my own power cables I built one and it worked but now that I know the details I am not so sure why it actually worked.

 

[Cyber_Akuma]

I have no clue what the connector on the dell does but the way the connector works is there are only 3 pins that have 12 volts all the rest are ground no matter if it is 6 or 8. Both the 2 added pins are connected to ground on the power supply.

Hmm, that does make sense since in that image of the 825 Watt PSU you can see that dozens of the pins are just one solid piece of copper instead of separate pins.

What I forget is why this is being done. I know that the center pin on 6 pin and one of the 2 extra pins on the 8 pin are called sense. It seems the video card will use the sense pins to determine how much power it can pull. The only way this would make sense is if the 12 volt wires were thicker on the 8 rather than the 6.

I did see mentions of some of the more expensive adapters having thicker wire gauges. Also could it have something to do with the plug itself? In the examples I saw where people had overloaded their system it was almost always the 8-pin plug on the PSU daughterboard that had burned out or melted.

This is one of those things I will leave you to search the wiki. I know years ago when I was doing stupid stuff like making my own power cables I built one and it worked but now that I know the details I am not so sure why it actually worked.

Heh, I have nowhere near the electronics experience to safely build out my own custom cables like this. Not going to attempt that and risk a fire from doing it wrong.

 

[USAFRet]

The PSU, Case, and Motherboard is proprietary, and it uses Xeon CPUs and EEC RAM, plus it's old, the CPU is 2013 era and it's DDR3 RAM. I only even just recently replaced the SAS drive with a standard SATA one. Pretty much nothing is salvageable from it to rebuild it as a standard PC, especially a modern one.

"I want to replace that card with an RTX 2060 "

Personally, I wouldn't spend that money on this decade old proprietary Dell.

 

[Cyber_Akuma]

I know it's hardly great, but it's CPU is still viable enough for say, games from 2019 and older, and most non-AAA games today. Like I said it's a backup system as my main system is incomplete and it will be a while until that one is fully up and running, and I want to have a viable backup system to use if I have to take my main system down again in the future.

 

[JohnBonhamsGhost]

games from 2019 and older, and most non-AAA games today

there is not a large difference from the majority of 2019 games vs 2022.
i don't really get how that would be a factor.

maybe games from 2017 or earlier but even then there isn't that huge of a difference between a large portion of them.

I want to have a viable backup system to use if I have to take my main system down again in the future...

you are thinking of consumer hardware, this is corporate workstation hardware...

...was specifically asking about what of those options is the more viable one and which one is safer, and you told me to just build an entirely new system rather than actually try to help me with my question.

i really wouldn't call this system even "viable" if your intended use would be gaming from ~2019.

putting the effort into a modern system, even if it is low budget, would still be a much better option in this scenario.

having a cheap/generic "corporate" workstation that may be able to run a couple very old games at decent settings isn't much of a backup unless you are really just intending this to be a slower web browser in case of emergencies.

suggesting that you ditch this idea and build a decent, more modern system is proper advice here vs wasting time, money & effort on a decade+ old lower class system.

if this just a hobbyist project then make that part of your original post and/or thread title and instead of offering you better advice on how to proceed for the future you can probably get some others that enjoy working on older out-of-date systems such as these to help you continue.

 

[ttower2020]

Man there is a HEAVY push for you to get a new PC in this thread. While that may be the true best option, you can make what you have work, IMO. Plus a new GPU installed in this computer would also be good in any other system, so its not like you are wasting money buying and installing it, if you can use it later somewhere else.

I have an roughly equally old Dell Precision Workstation, currently running 2x Xeon E5-2667 V2s, 128GB RAM, and SSD for running servers. It had a GPU until I stole it for another PC. While Dell did lots of odd stuff with the PC, for example I had to use a Dell specific cooler for the second CPU when I upgraded, it is still capable. I would not trust its 850W PSU with a 3080 by any means, but it performs well.

That being said, my PC also has a similar daughterboard with connectors, and the GPU only has 2x 6 pins available. I have not had to mess with this, but my best guess for the safest route would be to get the adapter for 2x 6 pin to 1x 8 pin. You know the 6 pin connectors are pinned out normally, since they plug into the standard GPU. The 8pin plug on the daughterboard is unknown.

It is not recommended, but as long as the adapter you get has quality cables, and has the wiring actually run properly between the plugs, it should be fine IMO. 6 pins are rated for 75W, 8pin for 150W. If the adapter makes proper use of the 6 pins, the two of them should be providing enough power without overloading anything.

It is still a risk to take, but that is your risk. Out of the options, I believe that is the least risky, but it will depend a lot on the adapter you buy. I would not recommend it, but it is the best of the poor options you are looking at.

 

[Avro Arrow]

Convert two 6-pins to one 8-pin? I don't think that tinkering with your PSU is a great idea. If I were you, I'd just use one of these:

 

[Cyber_Akuma]

I have no molex ports at all on my PSU.

 

[ttower2020]

Convert two 6-pins to one 8-pin? I don't think that tinkering with your PSU is a great idea. If I were you, I'd just use one of these:

This would be even worse than using a dual 6 pin to 8 pin adapter. At least the two 6 pins are designed for GPU load, and add up to the wattage you might need. Molex connectors are rated for a max of 54W, so combined they would provide up to 108W ideally, potentially less.

 

[Avro Arrow]

This would be even worse than using a dual 6 pin to 8 pin adapter. At least the two 6 pins are designed for GPU load, and add up to the wattage you might need. Molex connectors are rated for a max of 54W, so combined they would provide up to 108W ideally, potentially less.

That's true but there's a real 150W connector on the other side. Just how much juice are you expecting an RTX 2060 card to draw? Even if they used two, that would mean the card could draw over 275W. Since they're using one, the card can draw over 325W. I've never seen my RX 6800 XT draw more than 325W even when mining with it. You didn't stop and consider all of the numbers did you?

It's worth a try and if it's not enough, it won't hurt anything, thePC will just do a hard reset crash. I wouldn't use two of those connectors (even though you could), but I wouldn't be afraid to use one. Those connectors have been on the market for well over a decade. If they were even half as bad as you seem to think that they are, they would've been discontinued years ago. Since they haven't, they work. They're made specifically for situations like the OP's where the PSU doesn't have the connector that they need.

Do you honestly think that a (relatively) dinky card like an RTX 2060 draws as much power as an RX 6800 XT? The power draw of an RTX 2060 is only 190W. I really think that you're overestimating what that card needs. Being willing to run a card on some proprietary PSU that some company put in a brand-in-a-box PC is a lot more of a risk than using a single molex to PCI-Express connector and is a lot less of a risk than screwing around with wires.

If you had taken the time to actually go and see what the RTX 2060's power needs are, you might have saved yourself from making that post. I'm actually shocked that it has two 8-pin ports on it because one 8-pin and the PCI slot alone deliver over 200W. There is no risk to this card from using that connector.

 

[ttower2020]

snip

He said right in the OP the GPU has 1 8-pin power connection......

Also, the slot provides 75 Watts of power. If your 190W RTX 2060 draw is correct (I did not verify), then the card needs to draw 115 Watts from the PSU connector. In that case, the 108W max of the Molex connectors is quite literally less than the amount of power the card needs.

I am also not sure where/why you think I am indicating that an RTX 2060 is going to draw 275+ Watts.

 

[Avro Arrow]

He said right in the OP the GPU has 1 8-pin power connection......

Also, the slot provides 75 Watts of power. If your 190W RTX 2060 draw is correct (I did not verify), then the card needs to draw 115 Watts from the PSU connector. In that case, the 108W max of the Molex connectors is quite literally less than the amount of power the card needs.

I am also not sure where/why you think I am indicating that an RTX 2060 is going to draw 275+ Watts.

Oh, I missed that part. In that case, you're 100% right and I stand corrected. I was under the impression that there were two (which I thought was odd). That's why I thought you were thinking that it would draw 275W. Honestly, I haven't seen a card that takes only one 8-pin connector in a very long time. In fact, I haven't ever owned one that just took 1. I forgot that they exist.

For only one 8-pin connector, I completely agree that this would be insufficient. The thing is, if he has a 6-pin connector, can the OP the power they need from the wires attached to it from a brand-in-a-box PSU? For their sake, I sure hope so because I know that those PSUs tend to be garbage.

 

[Cyber_Akuma]

Oh, I missed that part. In that case, you're 100% right and I stand corrected. I was under the impression that there were two (which I thought was odd). That's why I thought you were thinking that it would draw 275W. Honestly, I haven't seen a card that takes only one 8-pin connector in a very long time. In fact, I haven't ever owned one that just took 1. I forgot that they exist.

I mentioned that one of the reasons I am going with an RTX 2060 Super is that it's basically the best GPU I can get for $200 or less that uses a single 8-pin.

I think the confusion might have come from that I mentioned that my current GPU is 6-pin, that my system has a 2x6pin cable, and that I would not be able to split this safely into 6+8 or 8+8 pin and was asking if going 2x6 to 1x8 was safer than just finding a 1x8 to 1x8 cable to plug directly into my PSU. Since I mentioned just about every configuration that I can and cannot do I can see where it could be easy to forget I mentioned that I was going for a single 8-pin GPU (Since I highly doubt any RTX 2060 Supers were 1x6 or 2x6).

Even those single-fan OEM style cards are 8 pin..... and honestly, I am tempted to go for those over the larger retail 2 or 3 fan models since this is a smaller enterprise case since they would likely be easier to cool and power in this thing (and the power plug on most of them is on the side instead of top, just like my current GPU's is, I have no idea how much clearance I would have to route a cable from the top.

Basically, the cable I have right now that came with the system look like this:

The 8-pin end (Which I assume is a proprietary pinout) plugs into the PSU, it splits into two 6-pin plugs. One is plugged into my Quadro K4000 GPU, and since the GPU only has a single 6-pin port the other end of the cable is just plugged into nothing.