I'm planning to buy a 5070 Ti and found a good deal, but the card includes a 3x8-pin-to-12VHPWR adapter. My used PC currently has a Gigabyte P850GM and only one daisy-chained cable with two 8-pin connectors, which was previously used with an RTX 3080. I don't have three separate 8-pin leads, and I'm not comfortable buying an unverified third-party cable. Is there a safe way to obtain or use the correct cables, or would replacing the power supply be the better option?
1 Answer
You may not necessarily need three separate PSU cables. Using two properly rated PCIe cables with three total connectors can be acceptable, provided they are genuine cables made for that exact PSU model and the manufacturer approves that configuration. However, a single daisy-chained cable carrying two of the adapter’s plugs is a different situation and may not be something to assume is safe for a high-power GPU. Don’t mix modular cables from another power supply, and contact Gigabyte for the correct replacement leads. If they can’t supply or confirm compatible cables, replacing the PSU is the safest option.
I only have one cable with two daisy-chained 8-pin connectors, so I’m not sure it’s appropriate to connect both of those to the GPU adapter. I’d rather confirm the pinout and current rating first than risk the card or power supply.