I'm unsure about PSU connectors.
I'm unsure about PSU connectors.
hey everyone! I'm new to PC building, and have a question about power supplies. Sorry in advance if this is a stupid question, but some preliminary googling didn't give me any results.
I have a
MSI MAG Z790 Tomahawk
, that I plan to use with a
i9 13900K
. For a GPU, I was eyeing a
RX 7900XTX
, but I noticed something about power connectors that I would like to clarify before committing.
Thing is, the motherboard has two 8-pin connectors for the CPU, and I assume you need both of those, since the i9 is really power hungry, and the 7900XTX requires three of these as well. Most "sensible" modular PSUs (<1200W) only seem to have four of these. I've done the power calculations, and I won't need much more than 750W, so buying something much bigger seems unwise. How is that power setup supposed to work then, am I missing something?
thank you.
Avoid combining +12V EPS connectors for CPU power with +12V PCI-E connectors for GPU power. They serve different purposes and are detailed separately on the PSU specifications page. For instance, the Seasonic PRIME TX series offers specific cables; you can choose from the top-right yellow box to view them. The TX-750 includes 2 CPU (EPS) cables and 4 PCI-E (GPU) cables. Also note, out of three systems I own, two use Seasonic PRIME TX-650 PSUs. Full specifications with images are available in my profile.
It's great to hear that. On the PSU side, it remains the same 8-pin connection, but it's important to use the correct connection cables. Seasonic seems to fit perfectly, which is why I didn't notice it before. Thanks for your prompt reply! 😊
Here are the PSU side connectors from my PRIME TX-650, with the cables I've connected noted:
Looking at it, the CPU and GPU power cables fit into the same sockets on the PSU side. However, at the other end of the cable, the connector changes and you can't connect things like an EPS cable to a GPU or a PCI-E cable to a MoBo CPU power socket. The keying is different, so it won't fit.
Seasonic PRIME TX - the flagship model from Seasonic. Also, this is the only PSU worldwide that includes a 12-year warranty. Plus, my TX-650 was the top 650W PSU available when I bought it, and it remains one of the best (or possibly the best) PSUs ever created.
My main build's PSU (Skylake architecture) has been running smoothly since 2016. For my wife's PC (Haswell architecture), I purchased the TX-650 in 2020.