no PCIe power cable required?

[WhiteFireDragon]

i have a 7900gt right now and it does NOT require the 6 pin power plugged in and it runs fine. i have dual monitors running off this card right now, but no games or anything.

1) why does it still work with no separate power cables plugged in from the PSU?

2) should i plug in the 6 pin power plug anyways?

3) would connecting to the PSU increase stability or would it not matter?

4) is it more energy efficient since it's only using power supplied from the mobo?

 

[INTELCRAZY]

i have a 7900gt right now and it does NOT require the 6 pin power plugged in and it runs fine. i have dual monitors running off this card right now, but no games or anything.

1) why does it still work with no separate power cables plugged in from the PSU?

2) should i plug in the 6 pin power plug anyways?

3) would connecting to the PSU increase stability or would it not matter?

4) is it more energy efficient since it's only using power supplied from the mobo?

It seems to be getting all the power it needs from the PCI-e Slot...

I would anyway, just to make sure it got adequate power..

^Above

Either way... If it doesn't need power it won't use it..

 

[Geoff]

From what I've heard/read when you don't use the 6/8 pin PCI-E power cable, the card will downclock itself.

When the card is just in 2D/3D-Low mode such as when you are only using Windows, you won't notice a difference. However I would bet that games will either crash, not run, or run very slowly if you do try.