6 pin power connector on motherboard. whats it for?

[SprinklyBagel77]

I have this MSI Z-390 A-pro motherboard and it has a 6 pin power connector on the motherboard next to the PCIE slots. I did some research and some people say its for more high end cards and for sli crossfire what not to balance out the power. Well, I also happen to have PNY GT 1030 2GB GDDR5 that pulls 30 watts from only the PCIE slot and was wondering what happens if I plug in the connector with the GT 1030. Will it give a performance boost? will it ruin motherboard? idk, thats why I came to the forums. if anyone has an answer would be amazing. 

[skimmilk5]

It's auxiluary 12v power that you'd plug a PCIe connector from your power supply into. It's really designed for motherboards that want to deliver a lot of power through the PCIe slots or want some extra power for the CPU voltage regulator modules (VRM), which is why it's located in that really strange position. It's not really necessary, so not having it plugged in is no biggie!

[minibois]

2 minutes ago, SprinklyBagel77 said:

I have this MSI Z-390 A-pro motherboard and it has a 6 pin power connector on the motherboard next to the PCIE slots. I did some research and some people say its for more high end cards and for sli crossfire what not to balance out the power.

The motherboard manual unfortunately doesn't hold any additional information, but that is indeed what extra power connectors near the PCIE slots is for.

3 minutes ago, SprinklyBagel77 said:

Well, I also happen to have PNY GT 1030 2GB GDDR5 that pulls 30 watts from only the PCIE slot and was wondering what happens if I plug in the connector with the GT 1030.

Will it give a performance boost? will it ruin motherboard? idk, thats why I came to the forums. if anyone has an answer would be amazing. 

To both questions: no.

The GT 1030 is not limited by the amount of power it can pull from the motherboard (up to 75W) and a motherboard is designed for a port, why would plugging in said cable ruin it?!

 

That connector is really only meant for people running 2+ heavy power using videocards on the board.

[Jurrunio]

It wont help nor hurt anything. The ATX 24pin is already responsible for powering the PCIe slots, this is just extra wires to help cope with big PCIe power draws.

 

1030 draws so little power, you can run 5 of them easily without needing the extra connector. More connectors doesnt raise the power limit (which is set in the BIOS inside the card) anyway

[Hairless Monkey Boy]

I had something like this on an old LGA775 board, but it was a 4-pin Molex for extra PCIe power instead of a 6-pin.

 

Instead, I used it to power a case fan. 

[SprinklyBagel77]

so ok your right, useless for low end G-cards unless your running multiple high ends and you need more power, you can still run it but wont do much... or use it for a case fan witch I might plug into because my back exhaust fan isnt spinning for some reason, plugged it onto every connector on board and nothing. might replace anyways because the rest of the fans in the case are incompatible with mobo. thanks for the help guys