Weird additional GPU power connector on a motherboard, thoughts?

[Morgan MLGman]

So I ordered a new motherboard, ASRock 990FX Killer, and while looking at it I noticed something, it has a weird, Molex connector on it, on ASRock website it says this:



Does it actually help? Should I connect it if I have a lot of free Molex connectors even if I have a single R9 290X in my system? Can it hurt the mobo/GPU/CPU? No other brand of motherboards has something like it on their mobos...

More pictures of it:

on the 970 Performance board:

on the 990FX Killer board:

[PlayStation 2]

Looks like snake oil to me.

[Untouchable]

i'm pretty sure its for running 2 or 3 card setups, i wouldn't use it for your single card setup.

[afyeung]

Have that on my board as well. Probably just leave it alone. I might try it for crossfire

[0ld_Chicken]

my evga has a pci 6 pin connector.  Its optional and to help keep the pci lanes from drawing too much power when using multiple cards while (extreme) overclocking

edit: i did not connect mine for my OC'd 980

double edit: my evga also has an additional 8pin for cpu power for LN2 shizz (which i will probably never use  )

[Jacktastic-Mofo]

It's for helping power your PCI-E GPU's and making sure in 3/4 way cross fire or SLI that you're not short on lane power.

[Morgan MLGman]

i'm pretty sure its for running 2 or 3 card setups, i wouldn't use it for your single card setup.

 

 

my evga has a pci 6 pin connector.  Its optional and to help keep the pci lanes from drawing too much power when using multiple cards while (extreme) overclocking

edit: i did not connect mine for my OC'd 980

 

 

It's for helping power your PCI-E GPU's and making sure in 3/4 way cross fire or SLI that you're not short on lane power.

But can it hurt if I plug it in for a single R9 290X setup? I mean it draws a lot of power for a single GPU and if it can't hurt then I might just as well plug it in considering my Corsair TX650 V2 PSU is non-modular and got lots of free Molex plugs lying around... Or can it cause ANY kind of harm? Cause if there's even the slightest risk then I'll leave it alone ;-;

[Jacktastic-Mofo]

But can it hurt if I plug it in for a single R9 290X setup? I mean it draws a lot of power for a single GPU and if it can't hurt then I might just as well plug it in considering my Corsair TX650 V2 PSU is non-modular and got lots of free Molex plugs lying around... Or can it cause ANY kind of harm? Cause if there's even the slightest risk then I'll leave it alone ;-;

No, if it needs it it'll use it. You can plug it in without worry- however if it works fine now why bother?

[Morgan MLGman]

No, if it needs it it'll use it. You can plug it in without worry- however if it works fine now why bother?

I don't have the motherboard yet, will be here by tuesday/wednesday, just asking out of curiosity cause the only time I've seen it was when I was putting together a PC I built for my father and it also had an ASRock board, the X99X Killer one, but I ignored it

Could connecting it potentially help in overclocking results of the GPU? In theory?

[0ld_Chicken]

But can it hurt if I plug it in for a single R9 290X setup? I mean it draws a lot of power for a single GPU and if it can't hurt then I might just as well plug it in considering my Corsair TX650 V2 PSU is non-modular and got lots of free Molex plugs lying around... Or can it cause ANY kind of harm? Cause if there's even the slightest risk then I'll leave it alone ;-;

I wouldn't think it could hurt it but I suppose there is always a chance.  The graphics card should only be pulling 75w from the pci iirc and the rest will come from the additional power connectors (8/6pin).  Go for it though if you've got the connections