MAC PRO 4,1 and 5,1 PCIe AUX Power
The
Mac Pro 4,1 & 5,1 have plenty of PCIe AUX power, unless you need more than 300 watts for your GPU(s). Remember you get 75 watts from the PCIe slot for GPU cards. Each PCIe AUX 6 pin connector in the Mac Pro towers delivers 150 watts. Yes all three power pins in both of the PCIe AUX plugs are connected. The PCIe specifications don't required pin numb
er two to have power, but it also does not prohibit it either. In the MAC Pro 4,1 / 5,1 it is connected. To be clear, this delivers the same power as a 8 pin connector without the extra sense and grounding pin on the 8 pin plug. Just buy the correct 6 to 8 Pin PCIe AUX cables and you ar
e all set. I'm running a NVIDIA STRIX 980 Ti OC with two 8 pin plugs (150w + 150w + 75w = 375w). The Mac Pro 900+ watt power supply can handle it. I also have t
wo 130 watt x5690s. No issues during stress testing.
Make an intelligent choice. If you use something more, it should wear out sooner. Some of these machines are 7 years old and taxing a 7 year old power supply can cause it to reset or become inoperative.
In researching this topic, GPU cards can have the 8-pin connector, but this has not been standardized yet, these cards do not carry the official PCI Express logo. This configuration will likely be standardized by PCI-SIG with the PCI Express 4.0 standard. But the design is there for these power hungry GPUs. Here is some great information about computer power and how much you can use.
http://www.overclock.net/a/gpu-and-cpu-power-connections
Mac Pro 4,1 & 5,1 have plenty of PCIe AUX power, unless you need more than 300 watts for your GPU(s). Remember you get 75 watts from the PCIe slot for GPU cards. Each PCIe AUX 6 pin connector in the Mac Pro towers delivers 150 watts. Yes all three power pins in both of the PCIe AUX plugs are connected. The PCIe specifications don't required pin numb
er two to have power, but it also does not prohibit it either. In the MAC Pro 4,1 / 5,1 it is connected. To be clear, this delivers the same power as a 8 pin connector without the extra sense and grounding pin on the 8 pin plug. Just buy the correct 6 to 8 Pin PCIe AUX cables and you ar
e all set. I'm running a NVIDIA STRIX 980 Ti OC with two 8 pin plugs (150w + 150w + 75w = 375w). The Mac Pro 900+ watt power supply can handle it. I also have t
wo 130 watt x5690s. No issues during stress testing.
Make an intelligent choice. If you use something more, it should wear out sooner. Some of these machines are 7 years old and taxing a 7 year old power supply can cause it to reset or become inoperative.
In researching this topic, GPU cards can have the 8-pin connector, but this has not been standardized yet, these cards do not carry the official PCI Express logo. This configuration will likely be standardized by PCI-SIG with the PCI Express 4.0 standard. But the design is there for these power hungry GPUs. Here is some great information about computer power and how much you can use.
http://www.overclock.net/a/gpu-and-cpu-power-connections
