Confused about GTX1070 6/8 pin connectors

[Marakai]

Hi,

With wifely permission I'm finally going to get my GTX 1070 card. As quiet is important and as I've had previous good experiences with them (my now ancient MSI GTX 660 is still going strong) I'm leaning towards the MSI Gaming X.

My current PSU is 850VA, which should be more than sufficient, but it's lacking in the connector department, meaning I'll have to get some adapters. Wanting to be prepared, I downloaded the manual/quickguide from MSI and found this under Hardware Installation:

3. Connect to 6/8-pin power connectors (if any).​

"if any"? And if there aren't any, I can just merrily run this card as is? I didn't gather that the power connectors were optional!

Is this just confusingly phrased? Which one is a *must*, keeping in mind I plan no further overclocking or other mucking about, just gaming and GPU-accelerated development projects?

I'd been under the impression that 8-pin is needed (so I'd need a 6+2 or similar adapter) and the added 6-pin was for serious overclockers and such. Or was it the other way around?

 

[Qwertilot]

The natural assumption is that they've been lazy and written the manual as a generic thing for all of their GFX cards - they'll make a few types of GFX card (not 1070's!) which don't have any external power connectors.

I'd definitely connect the PSU to any/all actual sockets on the GFX card iirc the 1070 can even work with just a 6 pin if not overclocked, so depending on which flavour you purchase the connectors will potentially vary quite a bit.

The card descriptions online will say. Single 8 pin probably most likely.

 

[Marakai]

Thanks! Hadn't thought about a "copy-paste generic doco handed out with every model we've ever produced" approach.

The online and product descriptions list 1x6-pin + 1x8-pin. Top-down photos of the card indicate the same.

The current GTX660 uses a 6-pin and I just dug out the buried-in-the-case other PSU cables and there's a 6+2, so I'm hoping that I'm good with that, unless I muck around with OC.

 

[96Firebird]

What PSU do you have, and what specific model card are you looking at? Its easier for us to match for you, and then tell you why we matched.

Edit - It sounds like your PSU has the correct connectors (6-pin and 8-pin), so you should be good. I don't think there are any 2x 8-pin GTX 1070s, so you shouldn't have to worry about that.

 

[Marakai]

What PSU do you have, and what specific model card are you looking at? Its easier for us to match for you, and then tell you why we matched.

Dang, I just closed up the case again! Had opened it to check for the reply to Qwertilot. I'm nearly certain it's a Thermaltake Toughpower series, which came with the Thermaltake Commander MS-II case. It's 800VA (not 850VA as I erroneously stated above), probably a W0296.

Card I'm looking at is the MSI GTX 1070 GAMING X 8G

 

[96Firebird]

Looks like that card needs 6-pin and 8-pin, but you said your current card has a 6-pin connected and you found an 8-pin so you should be good. Be sure to connect both connectors when you install the card.

 

[Marakai]

Looks like that card needs 6-pin and 8-pin, but you said your current card has a 6-pin connected and you found an 8-pin so you should be good. Be sure to connect both connectors when you install the card.

Wilco! Better safe than sorry. Many thanks!