8 pin connector pinout. Connecting power to the video card. Connecting additional power
Video adapters are one of the main components of a computer. Every year they become more and more productive and require an additional source of energy, since the tasks assigned to them are no longer rendering a single 8-bit picture, but complex 3D rendering. So what types of video card power supply exist and in what cases is it necessary?
Types of video cards
Depending on the adapters, they consume different amounts of electricity. On older models, additional power for the video card was not required, since 75 W from the PCI slot itself was sufficient, and where passive cooling was used, half of this power was sufficient.
Energy consumption depends almost entirely on the type of GPU and cooling system. She may be:
- Active - on simple coolers (1, 2 or 3 fans) and water, where liquid is used for cooling.
- Passive - one large-volume radiator is used without any electronics. There are separate versions of quite powerful video cards with this type of cooling. But, as practice shows, such a solution cannot always cope with the assigned tasks.
How is the video card powered?
Modern video cards are powered in three ways:
- Via PCI slot. Maximum power consumption 75 W.
- 6 pin connector. Additional 75 W.
- 8 pin connector. Additionally up to
In this case, all three types of video card power can be combined or have two 6/8 pin connectors. This is necessary to power boards with a power of over 250-300 W for their stable operation, or for video cards with multiple graphics processors, which must receive energy through separate channels.
In addition to powerful flagship video cards with power like a nuclear reactor, there are adapters that can use only a PCI slot to obtain all the necessary energy. Typically, this type of connection is used by low-power and old video cards.
If someone wondered what kind of video card power supply to choose, then the answer is simple: the presence of an additional connector is present only where it is necessary. A more powerful card will always consume more power from additional sources.
Perhaps, when video adapters become multi-core or the number of processors increases, they will receive even more powerful additional power, or acquire their own power supplies, but for now a 6/8-pin connector is quite sufficient.
SLI, Crossfire and Electricity Bills
Installing several video cards in one system is a fairly common solution to improve performance, especially in cases where the second video card is available for free. NVidia and Radeon have many video cards that support parallel technology called SLI and Crossfire. This way you can connect several video cards into one powerful computing system.
The problem is that powering video cards turns into continuous consumption of huge amounts of energy. It’s good if your unit can handle this and even has enough connectors, you won’t have to buy a new one.
Some craftsmen have gone even further - they install several low-power power supplies into one system. This solution helps distribute the load across two blocks, making the assembly less busy and even reducing noise. True, this solution has some problems related to launch synchronization.
Connecting additional power
Most modern power supplies have built-in outputs for the GPU and CPU 8 pin. They are very similar to each other, but have different pinouts.
Typically, an adapter is included in the kit for the additional power supply of the video card. It is a branching of 6/8 pin contacts into two Molexes. Which, in principle, will be enough when using two 12 V channels. If the adapter was not included in the kit, then it can be purchased separately for literally pennies.
Of course, power supply through connectors that are not designed to deliver such power often leads to their burning and even failure, as well as the entire power supply. Therefore, it would be advisable to acquire a new power supply with enough power for the normal functioning of all components.
Emergency power connection
Sometimes, when buying a used video card, you may not find an 8 pin adapter included in the package. How to connect power to the video card in this case? You can try making a plug for the two remaining pins. To do this, you will need an old ATX power plug, CPU or GPU 6 pin connector. The pinout of the contacts is as follows.
In 8 pin connectors, the only difference is the presence of two GND contacts. If you try to start equipment with 8 pin from a 6 pin connector, you will receive an error about insufficient power to the video card, and, accordingly, a refusal to start.
Contacts No. 4 and 6 are not only GND, but also signal, which means you can safely power them either from another source (as an option - a Molex connector) or simply duplicate the GND channel from an already connected 6-pin connector, as in factory adapters. In theory, you can simply stick a jumper between the contacts from a reliable wire, but it doesn’t look very good, and it’s difficult to achieve stable contact.
It is important to remember that each plug has its own keys to prevent connection to other connectors. Therefore, you only need to cut off those parts that exactly fit the nest.
Connecting power to the video card in this way can help if you really understand what is happening and all the possible risks. And long-term work on such “crutches” is hardly guaranteed.
Selection of block by power
Power supplies are classified mainly by power. In the old days, 300 W of energy consumption was enough for a fairly productive computer. Now one top-end card can consume such an amount of energy, but what if there are two or, even worse, three of them installed, even if they are not the most demanding ones?
Power supplies with connectors for a video card began to be produced immediately with the release of the first video adapters that required additional power. In some power supplies you can find connectors with adapters from 6 to 8 pins, in which 2 pins are simply unfastened.
To successfully select a power supply for a video card, it would be advisable to use special calculators, of which there are quite a few on the Internet. You just need to enter the names of the components and the recommended power will be automatically selected. If you are planning future upgrades or want quieter operation, you should choose a power supply with slightly increased power - 100-150 W.
I was lucky enough to purchase an Nvidia GTX 780 video card instead of my old Nvidia GTX 560. The joy from the purchase did not last long, because... The video card refused to fit into my case. Although this problem can be quickly treated with the help of an angle grinder and straight hands)))
The next and main problem was the presence of two 8 pin connectors on the video card and their absence on the power supply. The unit I have is 700 W but it comes out with 2*6 pin.
First, let's turn to the theory, what kind of 8-pin connector is this? In essence, this is the same 6-pin connector only with the addition of two additional ground contacts. This is necessary to provide additional power to the video card via the 12V bus, which in turn is necessary for powerful video adapters, as well as for overclocking and using standard technologies such as AMD OverDrive.
After reading “smart” forums, I came to the conclusion that, in principle, the use of additional contacts is not mandatory, although desirable.
When trying to start the system, the video adapter generated an error about lack of power and refused to start the PC. It became clear that it was necessary to connect an eight-pin connector. In principle, there are adapters from 6 to 8 contacts, but firstly they cost money, and secondly you need to wait until they are delivered, and installing a new video card is “on fire” right now))).
Having studied the proposed adapter, it became clear that two additional contacts are simply duplicated from the existing ones.
It was also necessary to obtain a connector for connecting to the video card. The existing eight-pin adapter for powering the processor was perfect for this purpose. I simply sawed off the necessary parts that fit into the video card.
Now we needed to connect the connector to the power supply. It would have been possible to connect to 6 pin connectors, but I did not touch them, but cut off one unused SATA power connector and took two ground wires from there, and insulated the rest. And this is what happened.
When buying a computer, many may initially be interested in the diagonal of the monitor, the amount of RAM, the hard drive, and the performance of the video card. All this is true, but when choosing a PC, pay attention to one of its most important components - the power supply. An 8 pin adapter for a video card performs its main function - it breathes life into the device. The computer's reliability and performance depend on its quality.
What is this?
In most cases, power supplies are included with your laptop or computer. They are installed in a computer case. If the buyer focuses on the external data of the PC, forgetting about the technical characteristics, this may lead to the inability to install a more powerful video card or additional disk in the future. The main reason may be a lack of connection connectors.
The main elements of the PC are connected to the power supply. The number of connectors determines how many devices will be connected to it. Its main task is to supply energy to the processor, memory, video card, hard drive and other elements. The power reserve of the power supply allows it to operate in optimal conditions without overload. Today you can find units of varying power on sale (from 150 to 1500 Watt). The average unit power range to stick to is 450 watts. When buying a laptop, consider its weight. If the device is light, then the power supply is unreliable, and vice versa.
The main elements of a PC are divided into modular and standard. Modular connecting parts are placed on the cables by the manufacturer. They can be detached and attached as needed. For standard units, the connectors are located on cables that cannot be removed. 8 pin is an adapter that is used to connect the central processor. Many motherboards have a 4 pin connector. Often an eight consists of two fours. There are also 15 pin, 8 pin, 6 pin connectors.
Appearance
Provided using connectors built into the device body. 8 pin - an adapter similar to a cord, on one side of which there are eight connectors, and on the other - connecting elements. Fixed adapter - built-in. It has eight connectors arranged in two rows (four in each row).
Other models are similar in appearance, the only difference is the presence or absence of auxiliary connectors.
Purpose
8 pin is an adapter that is designed to power a video card located in a computer. The amount of energy consumption by a video card depends on the manufacturer, purpose, series and other parameters. Power fluctuates widely. To provide power to the video card and other components, the device will need sources. The most common are PCIe x16, 6 pin, 8 pin. The adapter is needed not only for the video card; the power supply for other elements in the computer depends on it. It provides maximum PC performance.
How to connect?
If the motherboard in a computer or laptop is demanding, then an 8 pin adapter will provide adequate power to the processor. If you don't have an eight-pin connector, a removable connector will help. Some users of outdated PCs and modern video cards may encounter the presence of an eight-pin connector on the card and its absence on the power supply. The advantage is that 8 pin consists of six connectors that have two additional contacts. This is necessary in order to give the video card additional power. It is advisable to use all eight connectors on the adapter, but this is not a strict rule.
If an error appears when starting the system, this means that the video adapter does not have enough power, and you need to connect the corresponding connector to the power supply. The Molex 8 pin adapter is designed to power the video card. The cable has an eight-pin connector on one side and two interfaces on the other. This allows you to connect an additional GPU without having to buy a new power supply. Such an adapter is necessary if the equipment requires updating or installation. The cost of an eight-pin cable is more than affordable and starts from 40 rubles.
Peculiarities
The 8 pin power adapter is a fairly powerful type of connector that is used for demanding video cards. It supplies the computer elements with an additional 150 watts of power. For a modern video card, the unit must be provided with a power connector. Additional connectors may indicate that the video card requires a lot of energy to operate. This also indicates the high performance of the PC or laptop. Modern video cards are powered by the motherboard connector, which produces power up to 75 W. This is enough for low-end video cards without additional connectors with low performance.
The number of connectors on a video card can help calculate how much power will be consumed. If the video card has several connectors, normal operation will be ensured by connecting one to each connector. This will ensure normal PC operation and good performance. If the video card has 8 pin, 6 pin, it can receive 300W power. Users may come across power supplies that have split lines. Each connector will receive energy through its own channel. Experts advise that when choosing a computer, pay attention to the types of connectors if you do not want to encounter low performance and lack of power in the future.
Flaws
An 8 pin adapter for a video card performs a specific task. The connector cannot have any actual shortcomings, because this is one of the factors the supply of energy and power supply to the elements of the device depends on. The quality of connectors, like other parts, depends on the manufacturer, materials and assembly methods.
When choosing a plug-in adapter, consider its purpose, type of equipment, connectors on the device, cable length, compatibility, weight, packaging. The quality of the adapter will determine its service life and computer performance. Buy a durable cable, also pay attention to the wires and fasteners. There should be no chips, cracks or other defects.
