I’m putting an idea out to see if anyone has some data to back a theory.

I’ve been talking with ​@Spanner about some problems I was having with a card, and, after looking over everything I’ve done, I’m wondering if a 75W slot is *required* rather than recommended, which would mean you need to use a PCIe x16 slot.

One issue I had with the card was a small v shaped cut-out in the full height PCIe back-plate, which meant that the card wouldn’t sit fully into any PCIe x16 slot that I had (photo attached so you can see what I mean). This meant I had to use a 8x or 4x slot.

Looking through the PCIe spec, only 16x slots are supplied with 75W, meaning that the 8x and 4x slots I tried were limited to 25W (which I confirmed), which I’m thinking could be the cause of the problems I saw.

I have a 2nd hand machine turning up next week which I can test this theory on more easily (eBay still is useful for some things), but I’m wondering whether the PCIe card should be sized for a 16x slot in order to ensure the 75W capability, or if there should be an optional 6 pin power connector which would allow a PSU to supply 75W, and allow the card to fit into a 4x or larger slot.

Anyone have thoughts on this?