Recommendations for 8+4pin cpu with GTX980ti

[DJ-Specter]

Hi everyone! I've got the Gigabyte Z170x-SOC Force mobo, which has 1x 8pin and 1 x 4pin cpu requirement. I'm only using one graphics card in it (GTX 980ti), but all the lowish wattage psus seem to only have 1 x 8pin power for the cpu. Any good recommendations for this criterion? Cheers in advance!

 

[jay32267]

Don't use adapters.
Make sure the PSU you buy has the proper connectors.
Buy a quality PSU such as a Corsair or a Seasonic.
If you plan on upgrading...make sure you buy the PSU to accommodate that.

 

[geofelt]

What are you trying to do?
What is the make/model of your psu?

The extra 4 pin eps connector supplies extra power for such things as dual graphics cards and overclocking.
Most times, the 4 pin power need not be connected.

 

[Zerk2012]

Hi everyone! I've got the Gigabyte Z170x-SOC Force mobo, which has 1x 8pin and 1 x 4pin cpu requirement. I'm only using one graphics card in it (GTX 980ti), but all the lowish wattage psus seem to only have 1 x 8pin power for the cpu. Any good recommendations for this criterion? Cheers in advance!

Really no need to use the 4 pin.

 

[rcald2000]

DJ-Specter I agree with the others, that you don't need to connect the 4 pin PCIe connector on the motherboard to the power supply. But just out of curiosity, what is the manufacturer and model of your current power supply? Which CPU did you install? Also, I've heard great things about that board. It's one of the few Z170 chipset motherboards that can accommodate three M.2 SSDs.

I time stamped the video for you (below). But you can watch the entire thing, if you have time.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dA8yNEZgQU&t=6m20s

 

[DJ-Specter]

Wow, thanks for the quick and very detailed responses guys! I'm really grateful

Very interesting answers - I have actually been running it with just the 8pin and it has been fine so far, but I keep getting a Steam VR crash that I thought might have been related to being underpowered (after doing a load of other troubleshooting for it). I'm definitely not doing any overclocking - pretty much just using the machine for playing Beat Saber and other vr games on my Index in the living room!

Another thing was when I was running Beat Saber, GPU-Z said my PerfCap reason was 'pwr' (Limited by total power limit).

I'm running a Corsair 550w psu, which I think is 50w under the recommended number for a 980ti.

I didn't originally intend on using that card with that psu, so just bought a 650w one but it only had the 1x8pin cpu, so wanted to return it and get one that has enough cpu pins in addition to wattage to power that card. But, because I'm only using a single graphics card in the machine, I don't need one with stupid watts, but feels like if I'm buying one for this machine's dedicated VR purpose, I might as well get one that fully powers the cpu?

 

[rcald2000]

DJ-Specter I know the 980 Ti very well. I've owned six of them, if memory serves me well. I also used to run two 980 Ti's in SLI, which is why I still have the PSU listed in my signature.

Summary: Sounds like you've been informed by the error, that you need to increase your GPU power limit. I would max it out the power limit, without necessarily increasing the core and memory overclocks. You might want to install MSI afterburner and see what the card is set to. By any chance, have you previously done a memory or core overclock on your 980 Ti? Kind of sounds like a manual overclock without raising the power limit. I'm not talking about the factory overclock here, but asking if you or whoever installed the card, set an overclock.

I feel highly confident that these problems have nothing to do with your power supply. Truthfully, your 550 watt PSU was sufficient for your 250 watt TDP 980 Ti, and your newer 650 watt model definitely can handle it.

Just in case my theory is wrong, the google query below might lead you to the solution of your problem.

google query: nvidia perfcap reason pwr

Stutter when PerfCap Reason (GPU-Z) hit PWR/THRM
https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/geforce/forums/game-ready-drivers/13/273408/stutter-when-perfcap-reason-gpu-z-hit-pwrthrm/