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2 question about 4090 cabling

Bullet4Justice
By Bullet4Justice
in Graphics Cards
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Posted

Hey, hope you are well. 

 

I have 2 questions regarding my 4090 (Zotac GAMING Trinity OC):

 

1- My new PSU only came with 3 PCI-E cables, when I need 4 for the GPU adapter. Is it OK to use one from an older PSU?

2- What the hell is this cable that came with the 4090?

 

Thanks for your help!

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8 minutes ago, Bullet4Justice said:

My new PSU only came with 3 PCI-E cables, when I need 4 for the GPU adapter.

The GPU will power up with 3, you need 4 in order to overclock the card. If you weren't planning on doing that, you don't need the 4th cable plugged in (though it's still not a bad idea). 

 

9 minutes ago, Bullet4Justice said:

Is it OK to use one from an older PSU?

As in an 8 pin from an older PSU? That is very likely to end in disaster unless you know the cable from the old PSU and new PSU are the same pinouts. 

 

10 minutes ago, Bullet4Justice said:

What the hell is this cable that came with the 4090?

It's for some sort of RGB, likely to sync the lighting in your case with the lighting on the card. You can ignore it if you don't care about that. 

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10 minutes ago, Bullet4Justice said:

Hey, hope you are well. 

 

I have 2 questions regarding my 4090 (Zotac GAMING Trinity OC):

 

1- My new PSU only came with 3 PCI-E cables, when I need 4 for the GPU adapter. Is it OK to use one from an older PSU?

2- What the hell is this cable that came with the 4090?

 

Thanks for your help!

Do not use any cables from your old PSU if its of different brand. Some brands you can use the same cables with different PSU's within the same brand range like RM series from Cosair but you gotta be 100% sure its compatible.
What is your old PSU and what is your new PSU?

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7 minutes ago, Bullet4Justice said:

1- My new PSU only came with 3 PCI-E cables, when I need 4 for the GPU adapter. Is it OK to use one from an older PSU?

Not recommended. It is a maybe though. If the cable is not compatible, you will fry something. So you better be very sure it is the same. Some PSUs use different pin-outs, and then you have some manufacturers, that even within the same brands and same models, have made changes so the cables can not be interchanged safely. 

 

On the other hand, every PSU in my house uses the same cables, so I have one big box labeled Seasonic PSU cables, and I can just grab cables out of them freely.  However before I did this, I verified this, and before I add cables, I make sure new PSUs are the same as well.

 

The safest bet here is order the correct cable for your current PSU or order a custom cable that doesn't need an adapter.

 

12 minutes ago, Bullet4Justice said:

2- What the hell is this cable that came with the 4090?

That's for RGB

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14 minutes ago, Bullet4Justice said:

Hey, hope you are well. 

 

I have 2 questions regarding my 4090 (Zotac GAMING Trinity OC):

 

1- My new PSU only came with 3 PCI-E cables, when I need 4 for the GPU adapter. Is it OK to use one from an older PSU?

2- What the hell is this cable that came with the 4090?

 

Thanks for your help!

You can safely use just 3 PCI-e connectors on that GPU. Please do not use cables from a different PSU. How old is your current PSU. Most modern PSUs will have a plethora of connections for GPUs like that. You may have to get a new unit as well with that GPU unless your old one is powerful enough for your new system.

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25 minutes ago, RONOTHAN## said:

The GPU will power up with 3, you need 4 in order to overclock the card. If you weren't planning on doing that, you don't need the 4th cable plugged in (though it's still not a bad idea). 

 

As in an 8 pin from an older PSU? That is very likely to end in disaster unless you know the cable from the old PSU and new PSU are the same pinouts. 

 

It's for some sort of RGB, likely to sync the lighting in your case with the lighting on the card. You can ignore it if you don't care about that. 

24 minutes ago, OhioYJ said:

Not recommended. It is a maybe though. If the cable is not compatible, you will fry something. So you better be very sure it is the same. Some PSUs use different pin-outs, and then you have some manufacturers, that even within the same brands and same models, have made changes so the cables can not be interchanged safely. 

 

On the other hand, every PSU in my house uses the same cables, so I have one big box labeled Seasonic PSU cables, and I can just grab cables out of them freely.  However before I did this, I verified this, and before I add cables, I make sure new PSUs are the same as well.

 

The safest bet here is order the correct cable for your current PSU or order a custom cable that doesn't need an adapter.

 

That's for RGB

 

21 minutes ago, Applefreak said:

You can safely use just 3 PCI-e connectors on that GPU. Please do not use cables from a different PSU. How old is your current PSU. Most modern PSUs will have a plethora of connections for GPUs like that. You may have to get a new unit as well with that GPU unless your old one is powerful enough for your new system.

 

25 minutes ago, Hinjima said:

Do not use any cables from your old PSU if its of different brand. Some brands you can use the same cables with different PSU's within the same brand range like RM series from Cosair but you gotta be 100% sure its compatible.
What is your old PSU and what is your new PSU?

My old on is RM650x (2018) and my new one is RM1000x (2021). The cables look identical. I also labeled the old one so I don't get them mixed up. 

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12 minutes ago, Applefreak said:

You can safely use just 3 PCI-e connectors on that GPU. Please do not use cables from a different PSU. How old is your current PSU. Most modern PSUs will have a plethora of connections for GPUs like that. You may have to get a new unit as well with that GPU unless your old one is powerful enough for your new system.

My old on is RM650x (2018) and my new one is RM1000x (2021). The cables look identical. I also labeled the old one so I don't get them mixed up. 

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I feel like there is very valuable information here, but we haven't come to a conclusion, should I take a picture of the old PCI-E cable and the new one? So you see that they look identical or does that not matter?

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use the cables that come with your power supply, don't use cables from another power supply. 

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16 minutes ago, Thatgod123 said:

use the cables that come with your power supply, don't use cables from another power supply. 

What if I got a third party 12VHPWR cable like a cable mod one or a corsair one. Would that be ideal?

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On 9/12/2023 at 12:55 PM, Bullet4Justice said:

What if I got a third party 12VHPWR cable like a cable mod one or a corsair one. Would that be ideal?

that is a good option, of course make sure its compatible with your RM1000x. 

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