8pin pci-e connectors.

[SmokeAndMirrors]

I am wondering, I've picked up a few more 6970's tonight. My power supply has failed me as it comes with 2 6+2 pins, 2 4 pin peripherals and about 10 sata supplies. I've been able to connect 1 6970 no problem, leaving me with 1 6+2 pin pci-e, 1 peripheral (after connecting my IDE HD) and 9 sata after connecting my larger HD. I've been able to connect 1 of the 6+2 pins to the second 6970 and have a single 4pin peripheral left over. The 8pin adapter that comes boxed with the 6970's has two female connectors per 1 8pin adapter. That seems like overkill in the case that each additional 6970 I add would require 3 4pin peripherals, 1 6pin and 18pin.

My question is, does the 8pin adapter (seriously?!) need 2 4pin peripheral connections in order to power these things? Or would 1 4pin peripheral supply enough power to the 8pin pci-e adapter. If it doesn't, this is either one ridiculous power sucking card or I'm missing something else all together.. Any help would be appreciated so that I could at least get the 2 cards running tonight. Otherwise I suppose I will just find a bunch of splitters tomorrow to keep well stocked.

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[JoelKatz]

The number of power connectors is decided by the card manufacturer based on worst case assumptions all around. Certainly your power supply and connectors will not be the very worst allowed by the specification. This card draws about 280W maximum. At 12V, that's about 23A out and 23A back. Each pin is rated up to 11A. So theoretically, 6 pins total would do it (3 +12V, 3 ground). But that would mean a 30C rise in the connectors, which would probably be pretty ugly.