I'm building my first gaming PC and am currently at the PSU wiring stage. I'm installing the PSU first because I can't get to the cords later on due to tight space with my liquid cooler. I have a power supply with two CPU cables and one PCIe cable. My ASUS Prime 5070 Ti graphics card comes with an 8-pin cable that splits into three separate PCIe connections. The only PCIe cable I have is a 6-pin and a 2-pin, and I've read those can be risky and might cause overheating. I'd prefer to stick with my quality power supply and avoid damaging my new setup. Some videos suggest using two CPU cables instead of a PCIe one, but ideally, I want to stick with just one CPU cable, if possible. Should I use both CPU cables or just one, and how many PCIe cables should I try to connect to the GPU? I just want to ensure I've got this right before I continue. Here's a list of my components:
- AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D 4.7 GHz 8-Core Processor
- ARCTIC Liquid Freezer III Pro A-RGB 360 CPU Cooler
- Asus TUF GAMING B850-PLUS WIFI Motherboard
- G.Skill Trident Z5 Neo RGB 64 GB DDR5-6000 Memory
- Samsung 990 Pro 2 TB NVME SSD
- Asus PRIME GeForce RTX 5070 Ti Video Card
- Lian Li Lancool 207 Digital Case
- MSI MPG A1250GS 1250 W Power Supply
- Asus ROG Strix OLED Monitor
1 Answer
Your PSU actually comes with a 12vhpwr connector that directly connects to the GPU, which means you don't need to use the PCIe cable that came with the RTX 5070 Ti. Just plug that in, and you're good to go! It’s best to avoid using that PCIe adapter for your GPU — the dedicated connector will provide the right power without issues.
Got it! I'll look for that connector. Just to clarify, does that mean I should store the other cables away or can I use one of them for something else?