The cables which connect my power supply to graphics card are hench !

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Blurgh

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the 2 cables which connect my power supply to my radeon 4890 are huge and to my eyes they seem kinda pointless, what i mean by this is...

if you look at the picture below of the cable you will see that it basically starts off as a one type of connector (i don't know the name, anyone care to enlighten me ?) and then splits off into two other connectors one of which has ANOTHER type of connector attached to it (which doesn't even seem to plug into anything on the gfx card). These are then plugged into another lead which converts it back into the same connector it started with. There are two of these cables and they take up so much room in my case.

surely this is madness and i should just get myself cables which have the same connector at both ends without all these other connections getting in the way and taking up lots of room ? or are the cables built this way for a reason ?

I hope iv explained myself ok, it probably would have been much easier to explain myself had i known what all the connection types were called !

anyway here is the picture of the cable


http://img145.imageshack.us/img145/9996/img0066g.jpg
 
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This would be the adaptor way of powering the graphics card, I take it you don't have any connections on the psu that go straight to the end plug then if you are using that.
The two that are connected to you adaptor are standard 4 pin molex and the other on looks like a floppy drive connector.
As siumatfung said what powersupply do you have as that is a funny way of powering them.
 
On the specs it says

- 1 x 6-pin PCI-E
- 1 x 6+2-pin PCI-E

So you should have 2 different cables that fit, they are sometimes not modular and are already pre-attached to the psu so check that first.
 
ok i just noticed that the front and end connectors are slightly different looking

this is the end iv been pluggin into my psu

psuconnect.jpg


and this is the end iv been pluggin into my gfx card

gfxcardconnect.jpg


so basically can i not just get a cable which has these 2 connectors at either end ? and will it work the same ?
 
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bobbydigital said:
On the specs it says

- 1 x 6-pin PCI-E
- 1 x 6+2-pin PCI-E

So you should have 2 different cables that fit, they are sometimes not modular and are already pre-attached to the psu so check that first.
Click to expand...

the only cables i have which are not modular and pre attached are the main mobo connector and these two

http://img19.imageshack.us/img19/9849/img0081cen.jpg

the 2x4 is plugged into the ATX 12v input on the mobo and that just leaves the 2x2 which as far as i remember isn't plugged into anything.

no graphics cards connectors other than the cables i posted at the top of this thread

Btw, do i even need to plug in both 2x3 connectors into the graphics card ? i assumed there were 2 inputs on the gfx card for a reason and thus it needed both 2x3 leads going into it.
 
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If it didn't come with the cable, speak to OCUK and see if they can find a spare from an RMA'd/returned unit - it should be the same across the OCZ model range and they seem like a reasonable bunch for that IME.

Otherwise speak to OCZ themselves and see if they will send one out to you.

I have a 6pin PCI-E cable on my main [non-modular, covers 24+8pin mobo] bundle on my Antec Basic 550, and a spare 6-pin one that I can plug in if required to a second card - very surprised your one isn't similar, I assumed that most modular PSUs had the 'essentials' on a non-modular cable as well :-$
Btw, do i even need to plug in both 2x3 connectors into the graphics card ? i assumed there were 2 inputs on the gfx card for a reason and thus it needed both 2x3 leads going into it.
Click to expand...

I'd assume so, my 4850s 6-pin adaptiod has seperate Molex 12v inputs going into seperate inputs on the 6pin plug head with the exception of LIVE 12V [I think] so they'll be sending power to one [bottom middle, if the blank is at the top], and then having neg+earth on two seperate sockets. Does it make a difference electrically? Who knows. Will the card complain if it's not got the right signals from all the inputs? Almost certainly...
 
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StevenRaith said:
If it didn't come with the cable, speak to OCUK and see if they can find a spare from an RMA'd/returned unit - it should be the same across the OCZ model range and they seem like a reasonable bunch for that IME.

Otherwise speak to OCZ themselves and see if they will send one out to you.

I have a 6pin PCI-E cable on my main [non-modular, covers 24+8pin mobo] bundle on my Antec Basic 550, and a spare 6-pin one that I can plug in if required to a second card - very surprised your one isn't similar, I assumed that most modular PSUs had the 'essentials' on a non-modular cable as well :-$
Click to expand...

ok, so just to confirm... do i only actually need 1 2x3 cable going into my graphics card ? iv had 2 cables going in as the graphics card has 2 2x3 inputs...
 
Edit, sorry, got confused, you mean the card has 2x6pin inputs? I thought you were referring to the 2x4pin --> 1x 6pin adaptoid.

Are you referring to what the six pin adaptoid plugs into on the card, and you have two of them?

Yeah, I think you'll want both of them in there - I can't see why they would put them there if they weren't required.
 
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ah ok im with ya.

still would be good to know if i could just get a cable with 2x3 pin either side and if it would work !

having 2 of these cables in my case makes things a complete mess
 
Please stop calling them 2x3 pins, you're confusing me :( :D

Incidentally, from the XFX website:
ATI Radeon HD 4890 System Requirements

* PCI Express® based PC is required with one X16 lane graphics slot available on the motherboard
* 500 Watt or greater power supply with two 75W 6-pin PCI Express® power connectors recommended (600 Watt and four 6-pin connectors for ATI CrossFireX™ technology in dual mode)"
* Certified power supplies are recommended. Refer to http://ati.amd.com/certifiedPSU for a list of Certified products
* Minimum 1GB of system memory
* Installation software requires CD-ROM drive
* DVD playblack requires DVD drive
* Blu-ray™ playback requires Blu-ray drive
* For a complete ATI CrossFireX™ system, a second ATI Radeon™ HD 4890 graphics card, an ATI CrossFireX Ready motherboard and one ATI CrossFireX Bridge Interconnect cable per graphics card (included) are required.
Click to expand...

So yup, the card requires TWO six pin inputs for power per card - so if you had a pair in Crossfire, you'd need four of them..

Amazing where RTFingM can get you. ;)

Drop OCUK an email/webnote and see if they can hook you up :cool:
 
Also, on that other thread, someone has noted that the eight pin power cable is convertable - that is, you can hinge the last two pins and make it a six pin, or something. Check that.
 
ok sweet. thats that the bit solved

now i just need to work out if i can get a 6 pin to 6 pin PCI-E cable and if it will actually work the same as this ghastly mess of a lead im currently using !

when i google 6 pin PCI-E cables they all look like the adapter im using !!!

PCI%20Express%204%20pin%20to%206%20pin%20power%20adapter.jpg


do these 6 pin to 6 pin cables even exist ? i can't find them anywhere !
 
StevenRaith said:
Also, on that other thread, someone has noted that the eight pin power cable is convertable - that is, you can hinge the last two pins and make it a six pin, or something. Check that.
Click to expand...

ok i think i may have been colossal retard

basically iv just realised i have one 8 pin to 6 pin cable and one 8 pin to 8 pin (where you can hinge the two pins and make it a six pin)

the reason i never thought about using these leads is that when i looked at my power supply i thought all the modular outputs were 6 pin but iv just looked again and there are two 8 pin outputs (in red, the others are black)

ocz_modxstream.jpg


So im thinking i could blatantly just use these 2 leads i just found.

That is so long as its ok to use an 8 pin output to 6 pin input ? i don't want to fry anything !!
 
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Yup, should be.

If you check the end of the manual:
http://www.ocztechnology.com/manuals/psu/MXSPRO_manual_allpgs_FINAL_lr.pdf

You'll see that the eightpin PCI-E powe cable - the convertable one - has na identical pin layout to the six pin PCI-E cable - except the two extra pins are earths.

Pins 1-3 are live, pins 5-7 [3-6 on a six pin] are earth.

So unfold the eight pin so it turns into a six pin, plug it into the six pin socket on the GPU.

Take the other six pin, plug it into the six pin socket.

Plug both into the red sockets on the PSU, and FIRE IT UP FIRE IT UP FIRE IT UP.

[Not literally mind, that would be a terrible waste of lighter fluid.]

edited to add, I built my first machine in about five years a couple of months ago for a mate, modular PSUs had me scratching my head, and I'm a ******* sysadmin/network/hardware tech for a living :D
 
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You think your cables are huge... mine are INSANE, with huge ferrite beads on them and considering I need 4 of them it is pretty space consuming, not to mention they put strain on my hard drive connections.
 
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