6-pin power cable

[Shelha]

Hello,

I recently purchased an ASUS MAximus V Extreme motherboard and while I was setting it up, the manual said that if you are using multiple GPUs you need to connect a 6-pin power cable to the motherboard(EZ_PLUG_1). I have two PSUs and neither of them have the appropriate 6-pin power connector; the 6-pin connectors for the GPUs do not fit. The PSUs that I have are the ANTEC Truepower Quattro 1200W and the ANTEC High Current Pro 1200W. I searched the web and found adapters that will convert 2 four pin molex connectors into a 6-pin connector; the problem is that the 6-pin connector in these adapters seems to be for the 6-pin pci-e for GPUs. Is there a specific name to differentiate the two types of 6-pin connectors, or how can I get the correct adapter to work with either one of my PSUs?

Any info will be greatly appreciated! :cool:

[billyray520]

I have the Thermaltake Toughpower Grand 1200 Watt PSU. It has 6 pin power cables which I can use either on the mobo or the VGA card. I believe (correct me if I'm wrong) that the Asus mobo is configured to take the normal 6 pin power connector that also could be used in the PCIe graphics card. It's really surprising that Antec's 1200W PSU doesn't have them. :confused:

[Chino]

Welcome to the ROG forums, Shelha.

For the EZ_Plug_1, you can use the 6 pin PCIe cable to connect to it. As for the EZ_Plug_2, you can use the 4 pin floppy drive connector.

[Shelha]

Thanks for your reply Chino, but as I stated in my original post, the 6-pin PCIe for the video cards do not fit the 6-pin connector for EZ_PLUG_1 on the motherboard. I tried the connectors from the 2 PSUs I mentioned and non of them work. The ASUS MBD manual shows a picture of the connector layout and after comparing it to the 6-pin PCIe connectors on the PSUs, the connector required for the motherboard has 3 square prongs and 3 notched prongs, the connectors on the PSUs have 2 square prongs and 4 notched prongs. Am I the only person with this issue? I found a couple of reviews on amazon were 2 people got adapters that had the wrong pin configuration, but there is no way to know which adapter has the correct pin layout. This is so frustrating, hopefully somebody can help!

[Chino]

Shelha wrote:
Thanks for your reply Chino, but as I stated in my original post, the 6-pin PCIe for the video cards do not fit the 6-pin connector for EZ_PLUG_1 on the motherboard. I tried the connectors from the 2 PSUs I mentioned and non of them work. The ASUS MBD manual shows a picture of the connector layout and after comparing it to the 6-pin PCIe connectors on the PSUs, the connector required for the motherboard has 3 square prongs and 3 notched prongs, the connectors on the PSUs have 2 square prongs and 4 notched prongs. Am I the only person with this issue? I found a couple of reviews on amazon were 2 people got adapters that had the wrong pin configuration, but there is no way to know which adapter has the correct pin layout. This is so frustrating, hopefully somebody can help!

My bad. I've never examined that slot closely enough to notice that the pin layout was different. But despite the difference in the pins, the connector on the MVE is still indeed a PCIe 6 pin cable. Maybe not a lot of people know or notice it but the 6 pin PCIe cables that come with modern PSU is actually the second version. Some older and some modern PSU still come with the first version 6 pin PCIe cables.

Maybe it was a design slip up on Asus's part to incorporate the previous pin layout onto the board when most modern PSUs don't come with thoss PCIe cables anymore. So the solution would be to either find an adapter like you mentioned or get a PSU that still comes with the version 1 cables.

On a sidenote, why don't you try to run the Quad Sli configuration without it meanwhile? Unless you'll be overclocking the crap out of them, I don't think there's an inmediate use for the extra power.

[Shelha]

Chino wrote:
My bad. I've never examined that slot closely enough to notice that the pin layout was different. But despite the difference in the pins, the connector on the MVE is still indeed a PCIe 6 pin cable. Maybe not a lot of people know or notice it but the 6 pin PCIe cables that come with modern PSU is actually the second version. Some older and some modern PSU still come with the first version 6 pin PCIe cables.

Maybe it was a design slip up on Asus's part to incorporate the previous pin layout onto the board when most modern PSUs don't come with thoss PCIe cables anymore. So the solution would be to either find an adapter like you mentioned or get a PSU that still comes with the version 1 cables.

On a sidenote, why don't you try to run the Quad Sli configuration without it meanwhile? Unless you'll be overclocking the crap out of them, I don't think there's an inmediate use for the extra power.

No problem and thanks for taking the time to assist me! The problem is finding an adapter that works! There is no way to know if you are getting one configuration or the other since they are both called the same: 6-pin PCIe connector.

I am not sure either if Asus missed that one or what, but it sure is annoying and frustrating. I do have an old 1000W Tagan PSU from 2007, I am going to check and see if the connector for the PCIe will fit and if it does I will just use that.

If you are going to use 4 GPUs.....of course you are going to overclock the heck out of them!!! lol :cool:

I am on the early stages of the build so right now I cannot test the Quad SLI without the extra power, but I am still leaning towards being safe and using the extra power (I still remember the X58 boards problem with insufficient power in the PCIe lanes).

Anyway, thanks again! 😄

[Area_66]

DO you really need it, what kind of GPU are you using on that board ?

[Shelha]

Area 66 wrote:
DO you really need it, what kind of GPU are you using on that board ?

I would not ask if I did not need it, but thanks for asking, I am using 4-way SLI EVGA GeForce GTX 680 Hydro Copper so yes, the extra power is needed to ensure stable operation.

[Area_66]

with 4 GPU it's a Rampage Extreme and a i7-3930k 6 cores you need

[Shelha]

Area 66 wrote:
with 4 GPU it's a Rampage Extreme and a i7-3930k 6 cores you need

Man, don't take this the wrong way, but I do not understand your post, what exactly were you trying to say? I am not sure how this helps me solve my problem.