Why don't they make 6-pin PCI-E connectors *optional*?

[VirtualLarry]

For cards like the GTX 1050 ti, and the RX 460.

Allow the card to have two different TDP settings, one for plugged into only PCI-E slot power, and one when the 6-pin PCI-E supplemental power connector is connected.

Do any of them behave this way? My understanding is, that you *must* connect as many PCI-E supplemental power connectors as sockets on the card, otherwise, they beep at you on boot-up, and otherwise, don't function correctly.

 

[whm1974]

That would be nice if they did do this.

 

[Smoblikat]

That would be cool, but there would be a very small number of people that would find this useful. I have a 1050Ti at work with no external 6 pin power, if you need a card without a power connecter, just buy one that way.

 

[Valantar]

The reason is most probably that there's very little to gain, while it would add significant board complexity. You'd have to trace two paths to each power phase, which adds PCB copper cost, and add the required diodes and whatnot to avoid shorting anything out or putting 12V into a 12V output (which I'd imagine wouldn't be good for either your motherboard, PSU, GPU or anything else). And adding voltage sense circuits to automatically discover which power source is connected, that's another layer of even more components, traces and R&D.

In other words, a noticeable price disadvantage - in a very competitive, low margin price bracket, no less - while not really gaining much. Also, novice buyers would most likely not get that it's optional, and thus skip that card.

It would be neat, but I doubt it's going to happen.

 

[DaveSimmons]

That all makes sense, but it would still be nice

 

[bystander36]

Then you realize that why would you want to buy a card and not use the 6-pin PSU connection, when it would require the card to down clock and not have near its performance. Why not just buy a card that is designed for that, and costs less?

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

I'm trying to figure out what the utility is.

 

[mikeymikec]

Then there's the annoyance of having to double-check which graphics card you're getting (including the possibility of the seller providing not enough or incorrect information about the product), the one with on-par performance with reviews and the one that provides sub-par performance and could cause unhealthy things to happen to the board that it's connected to (if either or both aren't quite within specs).

 

[LTC8K6]

For cards like the GTX 1050 ti, and the RX 460.

Allow the card to have two different TDP settings, one for plugged into only PCI-E slot power, and one when the 6-pin PCI-E supplemental power connector is connected.

Do any of them behave this way? My understanding is, that you *must* connect as many PCI-E supplemental power connectors as sockets on the card, otherwise, they beep at you on boot-up, and otherwise, don't function correctly.

Then we have to put the connector on every card, and that costs money and resources.

 

[aniket93]

I have seen 1050ti's with a 6-pin power connector, they generally help in over clocking.