Mysterious cable in my graphics card?

[ru_disa]

Hi,
I have a GTX 260 1.8gb... When I opened the case of my pc, I noticed that right besides the two 6-pin power connectors there's a third small cable, with a very small square plug.
What is this cable? What does it do?
I'm going to install a new card soon, and judging from the specs on the store page, it only has the two 6-pin power connectors and nothing else. FYI, the card I ordered is a GIGABYTE GTX 560 448 cores.... So, what do I do with this mysterious cable?

I'm obviously not a tech wiz, so any help is very much appreciated!

 

[teaser]

its an audio connector maybe?

 

[ru_disa]

Can anybody confirm this? Maybe someone familiar with the GTX 260 1.8gb? Isn't it weird for a graphics card to have an audio output? ...and what should I do with this cable once I install my new card? Can I just leave it hanging?

 

[Mousemonkey]

Can anybody confirm this? Maybe someone familiar with the GTX 260 1.8gb? Isn't it weird for a graphics card to have an audio output? ...and what should I do with this cable once I install my new card? Can I just leave it hanging?

IIRC the 2xx series do not have an onboard sound chip but they can pass audio from the motherboard through their HDMI or DVI connections by using that cable you have.

 

[ru_disa]

I see. So, if I understand correctly, it's not a vital cable and I can just leave it hanging in the tower when I install my new card. Right?

 

[teaser]

yes,you dont have to hook it up unless your passing your audio from the motherboard through hdmi or dvi as mousemonkey stated

 

[ru_disa]

Thanks a lot for the feedback!

 

[ru_disa]

Best answer selected by ru_disa.

 

[Mousemonkey]

I see. So, if I understand correctly, it's not a vital cable and I can just leave it hanging in the tower when I install my new card. Right?

Yes, if you cannot unplug it from the card then just tie it back so that it can't get caught in any of the fans.

 

[Mousemonkey]

Thank you for the BA.