I'm in the process of building an ultra-powerful PC and I'm tackling the new GPU situation. Recently, I got hold of a 5090, which has a huge power draw. It comes with a cable that combines four 4x4 connectors into a single 12-pin cable. My power supply unit (PSU) includes a native 12-pin PCIe 5.1 cable. Can I connect this thicker 12-pin cable straight to my GPU, eliminating the need for the four separate connectors? Are there any potential downsides to this setup?
2 Answers
Definitely go with the cable that came with your PSU. The four-wire adapter is mainly for setups that don’t have a dedicated cable.
You can use the 12-pin cable, but just be cautious of the pin connections. If there’s a bad contact, it can put extra strain on the other pins and potentially melt the connector. If you have an Asus motherboard, you can monitor it through their software, but if not, you might need a thermal viewer to keep an eye on the connections and ensure everything’s good.
So does that mean the 5.1 cable fully replaces the four 4x4 cables, or are they two separate things? I have an Asus motherboard, an MSI GPU, and a Be Quiet PSU too.