Power cable /GPU question

Ok, I have a Corsair RM850x power supply and a Sapphire Pulse RX7800XT graphics card. The power supply came with cables that have two connections on the GPU end (I hate electrical stuff BTW). Am I good feeding both connectors on the GPU from a single cable? I currently have it set up with separate cables (because I think I read something about a 150W limit) but now I'm questioning whether that is per plug on the GPU side or whether that is on the PSU side.

Kind of asking because it looks dumb having that second connector hanging there (x2). I don't need the power for anything else so maybe my solution is to find some power cables without the second connector and just run those (but one cable and two connectors would be so much cleaner).

I know it's a dumb questions, I also know it works the way I currently have it set up but I figure it might help someone else who hasn't really built a computer in the last 20 years (like me) or ever.

I can't tell you what you should do, but I can tell you what I do.

I use two cables on my RTX 3070 Ti just to be on the safe side. I don't know the per cable rating of my PSU, so I think it's better to use two cables and not stress the PSU by drawing all of that Amperage out of a single dual plug cable. I think it's better to spread the load out between the PCIe circuits. It's not as neat and clean as the single cable approach, but I think my PSU will last longer as a result.

But that is just me. The electrical engineer in me is making me do this. It is not based on some hard, fast rule based on specifications.

Someone is going to come along and tell you that I am wrong, so you will have to make the decision what to do yourself. I am just stating my preference for connecting this stuff in my own PC. Your mileage may vary.

if you have the option to run 2 physical cables from the power supply to the GPU, I would do that. Even if it looks a bit dumb. I only use the little pigtail adapter if it's my only choice.

I failed to quickly find a reference, but the general recommendation is to use two cables. (That begs the questions as to why cables with two connectors are supplied.)

If you are compulsive (like me), it's possible to buy single PCI-E cables, from Corsair or third parties. Amazon has a number of choices.

Each power connector on the GPU should always have a separate power cable connected at the GPU end to its own pci-e connector at the PSU end. There should be no daisy chaining where there are 2 connectors at the GPU end going to one pci-e connector at the PSU end.

For example, I have a Sapphire 7900 XTX which has 3 connectors at the GPU end and three separate cable's connected at the PSU end.


Based on information on the website linked above an 8 pin pci-e connector can supply up to 150 watts. The Sapphire RX 7800 card in question can use up to 266 watts. So two connections to the PSU are required.

Plus the PCIe slot can supply up to 75 watts.

OK, thanks for the confirmation.

The pair of single cables is the route I was thinking to clean it up some. I need to pick up a SATA power cable with 4 connectors for my NAS too so I'll just grab that at the same time.