HP Z620 +980Ti = melty PCIe power cables

[izools]

Just upgraded my Z620 with a GTX 980Ti.

This card requires two 8-Pin PCIe power cables.

I've installed a pair of six to eight pin adaptors as the Z620 only comes with six pin PCIe power headers.

Two sets of these six to eight pin cables have melted now. Completely melted. 

I noticed that HP only have two of the three 12v lines connected on their PCIe power headers so I've modified the 6-8 pin cables to double up on one of the 12V lines actually present on the HP PSU and it has helped a bit, I can run Superposition without melty moments but the six to eight pin cables still get **bleep** hot.

The cables on the HP cables are ice cold.

I'm concluding that the cause is the gauge of wire used on commonly available PCIe 6 to 8 pin converters.

I've used two different brands now, and I've stripped back the sheath on both, they both have stupidly thin guage wire under the insulation. Far thinner than HP use on their PSU cables.

So the question is:

Where can I get beefy AF 6 to 8 pin PCIe adaptor cables that use stonking great conductors?

Help much appreciated. 

[SDH · Accepted solution]

There is an excellent company that knows the HP engineering of the high amperage PCIe supplemental power cables coming straight out of the HP power supplies.  And, they also make beefy properly engineered 6-to-8 pin adapters to add to the HP 6-wire PCIe cables.

The name of that company is HP, and we've posted about those adapters over and over on this forum.  The forum's   search function will find you pictures of them, and also their part numbers. Those cables can carry 18A of 12VDC = 216 W.  But not if you stick tiny wires and less wire runs at one end...

[DGroves]

like "SDH" i also have been warning users about cheap gpu power adapters and most replies have been i'v used xxx and it doesn't matter....... as this poster found out IT DOES MATTER WHEN THE CURRENT DRAW IS HIGH the problem with these adapters is that unless you destroy it there is no way to determine the wire guage used and it's impossible to visually determine if the metal molex ends are of a proper quality construction

https://www8.hp.com/us/en/ink-toner-and-accessories/product-details/8397979

if you absolutely can't afford the HP one (which is the gold standard) stay with NAME BRAND parts, these companies usually care about their image/brand name and are less likely to sell crap items

https://www.amazon.com/EVGA-6-Pin-Female-8-Pin-Cable/dp/B00M49SELW

https://www.amazon.com/StarTech-com-Express-Power-Adapter-Cable/dp/B001TK3TJY

the above also applies to those SATA to GPU power adapters, some of these are also crap, and again it's impossible to determine build quality visually so i personally don't recommend these at all

the HP adapter while possibly overpriced, will not melt or damage your card/system and while normally a 980TI card would be a semi cheap replacement, in today's market that card is still rather pricey

[izools]

Of course you're both absolutely right.

I can't sit here cheaping out on chinese rubbish and then scratch my head over why it nearly starts a fire.

Even when modding the cable to double up the 12V lines they still get very hot, so it isn't HP's design at fault... It's because many of these PCIe power adaptors use such thin guage wire I wouldn't even use for headphones. 

I hope others find this thread as a warning.

I've bitten the bullet and bought the HP OEM cables. 

Re: 980Ti... Yeah, I was running a Quadro M5000 quite happily, but upgraded our TV to one that supports 4K HDR.

Yes... I'm using a Z620 as our HTPC and lounge gaming rig. It serves the purpose wonderfully. It's quiet, fast, and reliable (when not on fire).

This being mid graphics card scalp-ocalypse the 980Ti seemed to be the best option for something that performs at least as well as an M5000 and costs about the same as an M5000 sells for right now.

Would have loved to keep the M5000 but as it only has DP1.2 output and no HDMI it wouldn't support 4K HDR 60Hz, only 30Hz with HDR enabled or 60Hz with HDR disabled... Just wasn't *quite* there.

Thanks for the speedy feedback guys, really appreciate it. Keep up the good work 👍

[DGroves]

doubling up the wires on the cheap gpu power connector id not resolve your problem most likely due to the also cheap molex metal inserts used in the no name gpu adapter, thes cheap molex connectors will usually start to make a poor mating connection due to the cheap metal used,  normally it expands and then fails to contract when inserted/removed several times

the end result is a connector that fails to make a solid connection to the mating connector, and this results in increased current and heat issues

[izools]

Yeah, you're right in some cases but in this case the hot spot was the middle of the cable right at the centre point between the two ends / two connectors.

The wire used was terrible, just a few strands of very thin copper. We are talking fractions of a millimetre total. I wouldn't be half surprised if it's copper coated aluminium rather than pure copper, too... This is something often done on cheap Chinese wiring. 

It makes you wonder how many PCs there are out there teetering on the edge of near-catastrophy. I'm making sure to inform the respective vendors and eBay / Amazon of the fire hazards their cables are causing. 

It might also explain why there were many reports of 980Tis catching fire... If they were fed with poor quality cables, there would have been significant voltage sag and if they weren't getting their full 12V stable under load then the MOSFETs would have had to work extra hard leading to the smattering of reports you see about explody moments with 980Tis back along...

[izools]

Just wanted to check back in and confirm for all others benefit that the HP official PCIe power adaptor cables (which are manufactured by Foxconn) work a treat, and don't heat up in use at all.

Have upgraded my Z620 now with 2x E5-2690 CPUs, 64GB RAM, 2TB SSD, and the 980Ti.

Blindingly fast, blindingly good value for money, and still so quiet under normal use... 

Really great system.