Dual pin cards, run them off single rail, or dual?

[xMorpheousx416]

Okay folks.. quick question.

 

For those of you running dual pin video cards (like a six pin and and eight, or twin eights), do you find better performance power wise, or is there a significant difference if you run your card off a single rail (with twin connectors on the end of the power cord) vs. running the card off of two separate 8 pin connectors to the PSU?

[Jim K Global Moderator]

One cable with the splitter at the end should be just fine.

 

 

[theefool]

Depends on the video card.

 

The x16 PCIe slot gives 75 watts.

 

Each 8 pin cable gives 150 watts.

[xMorpheousx416]

On 19/05/2022 at 16:22, theefool said:

Depends on the video card.

 

The x16 PCIe slot gives 75 watts.

 

Each 8 pin cable gives 150 watts.

A 2060 Ventus OC... I'll use the single rail for now, and if either my encoding or game play sees any issues, I'll switch to a dual rail. She requires a 6 + 8 pin configuration, unlike other Ventus / Super  models that only need the 8 pin.

[GSDragoon]

Never use a splitter with a GPU. Always use separate connections from the PSU.

 

https://knowledge.seasonic.com/article/8-installation-remark-for-high-power-consumption-graphics-cards

 

Edited May 20, 2022 by GSDragoon

[theefool]

Well, the above link from seasonic mentions 225 watts to recommend two cables.  But, the link for the 2060 on the specs has the wattage being 160. Though this 160 number can fluctuate pending on usage.

 

Personally, I'd use 2.  But, seems one may be fine.

Edited May 20, 2022 by theefool

[+BudMan MVC]

I have been out of this game for quite some time.. But if the card has provision for 2 connections like that - it would be for a reason.  Some sort of split connector while it might fool the card into thinking it has power it needs.. I don't think its a good idea..

 

Do you not have power connectors available, or just not the right connectors off your power supply for this card?

 

I would look for a power supply that has the power and connectors you need to properly connect and power your card..

 

Does the card manual say it has just 2 connectors 6 and 8 to accommodate different connections and only need 1, or does the manual say they both need to be connected?  Oh yours has 2 8's - yeah that kind of seems like they should both be connected and correctly powered, not split.

[xMorpheousx416]

On 20/05/2022 at 08:11, BudMan said:

I have been out of this game for quite some time.. But if the card has provision for 2 connections like that - it would be for a reason.  Some sort of split connector while it might fool the card into thinking it has power it needs.. I don't think its a good idea..

 

Do you not have power connectors available, or just not the right connectors off your power supply for this card?

 

I would look for a power supply that has the power and connectors you need to properly connect and power your card..

 

Does the card manual say it has just 2 connectors 6 and 8 to accommodate different connections and only need 1, or does the manual say they both need to be connected?  Oh yours has 2 8's - yeah that kind of seems like they should both be connected and correctly powered, not split.

Using two makes sense to me... every custom build I seen typically shows the builder using two separate rails.

 

The TDP for this card is 184W, according to the specs posted. So.. if we take off 75W for the PCI-E supply, we're theoretically left with 109W. Quite short of the 150W per rail.

 

I am using a Corsair 850W gold certified PSU, modular, with a few leftover 8 and 6 pin connectors not used... so if I went dual rails it would just require me to plug in the second rail.

 

And apologies all, I should've remembered to post the complete specs of the card in the original post... she's a Ventus GP 12G OC. While all other Ventus models in the 2060 series, this one does require the 6 and 8 pin connector, whereas the others (say the 6GB models) only need the single 8 pin.

 

Kinda like my motherboard... the X570 series, which has 4 and 8 pin CPU power connectors, but since I'm only using a Ryzen 7 3700X, she only requires the 8 pin to boot. Anything higher, like the 100W+ CPUs, and I'd need to connect that additional 4 pin. (with the current CPU, the board won't boot if I use both power connectors)

 

I appreciate the replies, folks.. and like mentioned,.. it does make more sense to have two rails going if that card was going to use more than 200W. I did run 3DMark for about 30 mins, and had no issues.. so I'll keep an eye on it.