What splitter did I just buy?

[GotNoRice]

I got one of these: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00A5TA7NG?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=od_aui_detailpages00

Item description is pretty straight-forward. I have one 8-pin PCI-E power cable that I need to split into one 8-pin PCI-E and one 6-pin PCI-E power cables. That splitter seemed to be what I needed.

I bought one and it has since arrived. The first big red flag was when none of the 8-pin PCI-E power connectors from my power-supply even fit into the adapter. They all have a bridge across the top of two of the pins which prevent them from fitting into the adapter. For curiosity sake I tried plugging the EPS12V cable into the adapter and it fit perfectly. Looking at the adapter, it has EPS12V color coding to all the wires, that is to say, all yellow wires on the first row, all black on the 2nd row. That would be opposed a correct PCI-E layout that has all black on the first row and 3 yellow on the 2nd row.

So it's almost as if they sent me a EPS12V splitter instead, but as far as I know, 8-pin connectors that split into 6+2 is only something that is done with PCI-E. EPS12V/ATX12V connectors are usually split 4+4 if at all.

Any ideas what this is?

 

[Ocellaris]

Looks like they just sent you the wrong item.

 

[GotNoRice]

Looking at the plastic package that they sent it in, lists it as a 6+2 to dual 6+2 Y splitter, which is different from the item description which implies it can accept 8-pin. Looking at 6+2 connectors, it would appear that they would fit, and the 6+2 outputs of the adapter each fit into the input. For whatever reason, my PSU didn't come with 6+2 connectors, but came with 8-pin connectors and separate 8-pin to 6-pin adapters to use if needed. Unfortunately that doesn't leave me with any way to plug all 8-pins of my 8-pin PCI-E cable into this adapter. I'm really not sure why a dedicated 8-pin PCI-E power cable would be keyed differently than a 6+2 PCI-E power cable, since they both have 8-pins and are used for the same purpose.

Of course, even if it is simply a 6+2 to dual 6+2 Y splitter, that doesn't explain why they used EPS12V color coding on the wires, but I guess since it's just a splitter it shouldn't necessarily matter.

 

[Ocellaris]

FWIW all of the power supplies I have used for myself or friends never had an 8 pin PCIE connector, they have all been 6+2s.

 

[JBark]

Yeah, the description on the Amazon page is wrong, it's an EPS12V -> 2x PCIe 6+2 cable. Phobya makes such a thing if you look around, they call it "Y-cable 8Pin socket to 2x 6+2Pin plug".

I checked the pile of PSU cables we've got here at work, and even the true 8 pin PCIe connectors all have that bridge between the 2 connectors. The 8 pin connectors on the GPU side also are designed to take cables with the bridge.

Pretty sure your PSU has two EPS12V cables (an 8 pin and 4+4), so I can't see any reason why not to use one of them with this splitter. As far as I can tell, the full 8pin EPS12V cable is rated for 336W, so should easily handle what the splitter is designed for.

 

[GotNoRice]

I contacted the seller via Amazon. They agreed that the item description was misleading. They are going to change the description, and they are issuing me a full refund. They didn't ask for the splitter back; I guess it's too cheap to bother with.

Any recommendations on a cable that will do what I need? That is, needs to accept an actual 8-pin PCI-E power cable (including the two pins that are bridged), and should output to two 6+2 PCI-E power cables.

Yeah, the description on the Amazon page is wrong, it's an EPS12V -> 2x PCIe 6+2 cable.

The socket would certainly indicate that but the wiring does not. If it was an EPS12V to PCIE power adapter/splitter, the 12V wires would have to be changed, via the splitter/adapter, to a different position for the outputs. EPS12V has 4 12V on the top row, 8-pin (as well as 6+2) PCI-E power has 3 12V on the bottom row. On this splitter, it doesn't change anything in that regard. All 4 wires on the top row of the input socket go directly to the top row of the output plugs, and same with the bottom wires.

 

[Tsumi]

It shouldn't be too hard to swap the pins around.