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Regarding 8 pin PCI-E connectors

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8 Dec 2010
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Hi, I was planing on ordering either a 6970 or 580 on the 15th once I see how the new ATI cards perform but I'am unsure if I will need to order a new psu. Currently I have an Enermax Galaxy 1000w psu that I purchased in 2006 to run two 8800 GTX's in SLI. It only has 4x 6 pin pci-e connectors, I purchased it just before they released them with 8pin connectors which was quite annoying. Anyway, long story short, can I get away with using 6 to 8 pin connectors with this psu or will I need to purchase a new one?

Thanks in advance for any help

Edit: Maybe should have posted this in the power supply section, sorry
 
contact enermax who will sort you out with a new cable with 8 pins they just have an adaptor built in on those anyways.
 
Well I haven't tried it gaming but I had exactly the same issue and brought 2 (keep a spare) of the convertors from ocuk - I hooked one up tonight to connect a gtx280 in my old pc with the enermax 1000w and it booted into linux fine so my experience is that it works.
 
CraigN said:
contact enermax who will sort you out with a new cable with 8 pins they just have an adaptor built in on those anyways.
Click to expand...

Ive done extensive research on this and this simply isnt an option.

A 6 pin connector only provides 75w whereas an 8 pin provides 150.
Some people were suggesting 2 x 6 pin to 8 pin adapters, but they're rarer than unicorns, I cannot find them anywhere.
And the manufacturers (both ati and nvidia) for some reason specifically say they are not for long term use anyway.

I may even just get a 6950 if it has two 6 pin adapters, I don't really want to shell out for a new PSU either.
 
If you look at an 8 pin adaptor compared to a 6 pin, there is 2 extra black cables. Now, from my understanding, the yellow cables provide the power, and the black are grounds. Meaning a 6-pin has 3 power and 3 ground, whereas an 8-pin has 3 power and 5 ground.

I'm purely basing this off my psu which has 2 6+2 pin cables
 
neo2210 said:
Ive done extensive research on this and this simply isnt an option.

A 6 pin connector only provides 75w whereas an 8 pin provides 150.
Some people were suggesting 2 x 6 pin to 8 pin adapters, but they're rarer than unicorns, I cannot find them anywhere.
And the manufacturers (both ati and nvidia) for some reason specifically say they are not for long term use anyway.

I may even just get a 6950 if it has two 6 pin adapters, I don't really want to shell out for a new PSU either.
Click to expand...

I don't know, but this sounds like it makes a lot of sense to me.
Why would Nvidia/ATI start putting 8-pin connectors on high end graphics cards just to add extra ground pins and cause a number of PSU to become out of date? As far as I know neither ATI or Nvidia make PSUs, so it's not like they're trying to encourage sales.
New cards needing extra power makes more sense to me.
 
Invertigo said:
If you look at an 8 pin adaptor compared to a 6 pin, there is 2 extra black cables. Now, from my understanding, the yellow cables provide the power, and the black are grounds. Meaning a 6-pin has 3 power and 3 ground, whereas an 8-pin has 3 power and 5 ground.

I'm purely basing this off my psu which has 2 6+2 pin cables
Click to expand...

This is true, but the resistence drops off with more grounding and it can supply more power, but if its a 6+2 its built for it.
If it's a 6 it isn't, and is not recommended by ati and nvidia.

Oh and btw, this forum wont give you a definative answer, most people are just interested in arguing ATI vs. Nvidia, tech questions are frowned upon.
 
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This is the Enermax cable you need

http://goods.us.marketgid.com/goods/1506/48717/

413teV8-hzL.jpg


Am using one these on my Enermax 720w PSU...
It plugs into two of your PSU 6 pin PCI-E sockets to make one 8 pin PCI-E
 
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I think your card will come with a molex to 8 pin converter. once the cards come out, check out some unboxing vids on youtube and see what you get with each
 
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