I recently bought a Gigabyte RX 9070 XT GPU, which requires three 8-pin connectors, but my MSI MPG A1000GS PSU only has two 12V ports available. I need to use one of the 8-pin PCIe connectors for my CPU, leaving me short on the necessary connectors for my GPU. Neither the GPU nor the PSU came with a 600W splitter cable. Is it safe to buy a splitter cable in this scenario?
3 Answers
You can definitely manage with two cables instead of relying on a 12VHPWR for your AMD card. Just ensure that each cable has at least two connectors. A lot of good quality PSUs come with cables that are full length and don't use daisy chaining, so that could work well for you.
Actually, this PSU only has one PCIe 6+2 connector since they opted for the 12-pins. Your advice isn’t quite accurate.
12V-2x6 splitters are pretty rare to come across. Only a few PSU brands offer them, and that's usually for specific models. Corsair is one brand that does, and they even sell those cables separately.
I've been wondering if these splitters are for backwards compatibility since I want to avoid frying anything. This Amazon listing by Corsair seems to suggest they are for that.
Looking at the images, I'm not sure about compatibility since the splitter's four small pins only have two metal contacts.
Just a heads up, the CPU and GPU 8-pins are different, and since you only have one GPU 8-pin, it might be best to return and swap out the PSU if you can. If not, a splitter is your next viable option.
Are splitters one-directional? Meaning, do they only connect with 12V going into the GPU, so as not to overload the PSU's 8-pins?
So you're saying I should just use two cables instead of a splitter for three? It feels weird to leave an 8-pin port unused when I could plug it in.