Power supply offers only 1 6-pin connector for a GPU, but my new GPU has 2 6-pin slots. Can I use a splitter?

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c3bhm

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Oct 15, 2017
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I have an HP desktop that comes from the factory w/ a GTX460 GPU. The original died, so I bought a replacement GTX460, but the replacement has 2 6-pin power connections at the back of it. The original GTX460 only had 1. I can't boot up when I just plug the 1 power cable into 1 of the 2 slots on the new card. The motherboard beeps and nothing happens.

So can I buy a splitter, to turn my single 6-pin power cord into a double?
I don't game. I'm just using the GPU for movies and Youtube videos, etc. No 3D gaming.
So can I draw enough power through the one cable, w/ a splitter? Can I get away with that, so long as I don't use the GPU too intensely?

I really don't want to try to replace the power supply. These HP's are not designed to have stuff swapped out. And I've already paid for a replacement GTX460, so I don't want to have to find a single-connection GTX460.

Thanks for any help!
 
Solution
W
Some aftermarket GPUs come with extra power connections for overclocking that aren't really needed at rated speed.

The OEM 6 pin connector would provide 75W plus 75W from the PCIe slot. So it can power a 150W GPU.

If HP sold it with a GTX460 then the GPU should draw 150W or less, The splitter should be OK in this instance.

HP just specified a version of the card without overclocking potential.
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chemmajorp53

chemmajorp53

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Apr 5, 2013
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You can probably get away with a splitter for a little while, but that's a good way to set a crappy power supply (like you have) on fire if you draw too much current. I don't know why you wouldn't just buy a modern GPU that's faster and draws less power, used 750 ti's are only like $60
 
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USAFRet

USAFRet

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Mar 16, 2013
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MERGED QUESTION
Question from c3bhm : "Can I use a 15-pin SATA power cable to power a GPU by using a 6-pin PCIe adapter?"







 
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william p

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Sep 22, 2010
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Some aftermarket GPUs come with extra power connections for overclocking that aren't really needed at rated speed.

The OEM 6 pin connector would provide 75W plus 75W from the PCIe slot. So it can power a 150W GPU.

If HP sold it with a GTX460 then the GPU should draw 150W or less, The splitter should be OK in this instance.

HP just specified a version of the card without overclocking potential.
 
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Solution
BFG-9000

BFG-9000

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Sep 17, 2016
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There were only two GTX460 models that used 160w and you've got one of them. As the 2nd 6-pin would only need to deliver 10w, I'd say a dual-molex to 6-pin adapter should be fine.

I've got a stack of GTX260 cards that Dell modified to have only single 6-pin--despite being 55nm cards they only have 192 cores and were clocked low enough to drop them by 21w to 150w.
 
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