1 molex to 1 6 pin

[ESP Ouija]

Hello,
I have a custom built computer, specs are :

-HAF932 Case
-Intel i7 870
-Palit GTX 460 2gb
-8gb A-Data RAM 1600
-Xion 700w Power Supply
-1tb WD HDD Sata III
-30gb Kingston SSD
-Sentry LX
-Water cooling on CPU to dual Enermax Fans

My question is that I just bought a 2nd Palit GTX 460 2gb, and I only have 2 4pin
Molex connectors left, is it recommended to get a splitter for each molex to one 6
pin for the graphics card? Or should I just upgrade to a higher power supply?

thanks for all your help!

 

[Emerald]

get a PSU that is made to handle four PCIe connectors.

I recommend 850W or higher

 

[beenthere]

The link below will allow you to objectively determine what power your Vid card(s) require and what amps. the 12v rail(s) must provide to make it all work. Once you know precisely what you need you can determine if your current or potential new PSU will meet your needs. Molex to 6-pin splitters are fine if the PSU is capable of supplying sufficient power.

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/314712-28-please-read-determine-power-required

 

[ESP Ouija]

Ok I checked my PSU and I have 2 12V rails that have 21amps/22amps, 43A combined.

My PSU says:

+3.3V +6V +12V1 +12V2 -12V +5VSB
24A 32A 21A 22A .6A 2.0A

Do you think it's enough for a 1 molex to 2 6pin splitter and to run 2 GTX 460 2gbs?

 

[inzone]

I think you need to upgrade to a good power supply that has the proper number of 6 pin and 8 pin connectors and I would stay away from the Xion brand as thier 850w doesn't have the proper cables. If you were to ever upgrade to video cards thet require 8 pin you don't want to have to upgrade your power supply again. If the psu only has two 6 pin then it's not going to handle very powerful cards.

Antec EarthWatts Series EA-750 Green 750W ATX12V v2.3 SLI Certified CrossFire Certified 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Continuous Power Supply
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371051

I don't know what you can afford but you can look at this psu for a start.

 

[ESP Ouija]

I was trying to avoid buying another PSU...but my PSU won't be able to handle the molex splitters?

 

[mightymaxio]

Personally ive never had a beef with Xion their 1000 watt power supply works great powering an i7 2600k, 16 gigs of ram, 6 hard drives, 2 cd drives, an creative Xfi, 2 gtx 470s which are extremely power hungry, and 6 case fans which 3 are 220mm ones. So ive never had a problem with Xion and my asus program meter never warns me about bad voltage and ive ran this computer for 10 hours a day for 2 years now.

My friend was able to power 2 560 gtxs on a 550 watt power supply by cutting his case fans and putting a box fan to the side of the case for air flow. So yours should work honestly. try extreme power supply tester lite with your configuration found here and see what it recommends for minimum and maximum power draws: http://extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp

 

[ESP Ouija]

I tried that site you linked, With 2 video cards on SLI, 10% capacitor aging, and my OC i7/Water cooling. It says I need recommended 642W. I have a 700...I'm still not sure If I should be able to get a molex splitter :/

 

[mightymaxio]

You could always use a PCIE 6 pin to 2 6 pin connector. One came with a computer i had not to long ago and since then ive used it quite a bit.
http://www.google.com/products/catalog?hl=en&q=6+pin+to+2+6+pin+pcie&gs_upl=4490l5179l1l5347l5l5l0l0l0l0l103l388l4.1l6l0&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_cp.,cf.osb&biw=863&bih=873&wrapid=tlif131880895573410&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=shop&cid=1511775244630209497&sa=X&ei=kG2bToSXI8KKsgLh-pGwBA&ved=0CD0Q8gIwAw#

 

[ESP Ouija]

What would you recommend? One Molex going to One 6 pin? Or 2 Molex going to one 6 pin and then to 2 6 pin?

Thanks everyone for their help!!

 

[ESP Ouija]

What do you think about this?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812198022&nm_mc=OTC-Froogle&cm_mmc=OTC-Froogle-_-Cables-_-Athena+Power-_-12198022

 

[scout_03]

Each card need two 6 pins connector and use 170 watts each. so use Emerald answer to buy a 850 watts psu with 4 pci-e connector if you want to run them safely

 

[ESP Ouija]

I'm going to go with a corsair GS800 as an upgrade, good idea?

 

[nordlead]

ok, for everyone saying you have to upgrade just because you don't have enough of the right connectors, that really isn't true. However, make sure you know what you are doing before you go overloading a PSU.

The reason they use a 6-pin connector is to prevent overheating in the cabling. The real problem isn't the cables coming from the PSU which I believe are 18 gauge, but instead the tiny wires in the circuit board. The max draw from a 6-pin PCIe connector is 75W, or 6.25 Amps, which is below what 18 gauge wire can handle. However, I wouldn't go from a single molex to two 6-pin PCIe connectors unless you want to start a fire.

Here is a good link explaining the different connectors in ATX power supplies - http://www.playtool.com/pages/psuconnectors/connectors.html#pciexpress

Also, I've never agreed with beenthere's one size fits all solution for PSUs. However, I do agree with him that you should learn how to calculate what you need and find quality products with independent reviews.

 

[beenthere]

nordlead-

I'm not sure where you got your idea from... I've NEVER said one size fit's all.

I have provided people with the TOOLS to intelligently and accurately determine what their Vid card power requirements are and their PC system total watts and amps. required on the 12v rails. This is the proper and objective means to determine what PSU is required for a given application without all the subjective, conflicting information posted.

 

[nordlead]

nordlead-

I'm not sure where you got your idea from... I've NEVER said one size fit's all.

I have provided people with the TOOLS to intelligently and accurately determine what their Vid card power requirements are and their PC system total watts and amps. required on the 12v rails. This is the proper and objective means to determine what PSU is required for a given application without all the subjective, conflicting information posted.

Maybe I used the wrong words, but you're solution is that the 12V rail needs to provide 15A + 5A + whatever the GPU takes. The equation works for a power hungry systems with an overclocked 125W TDP CPU, but for other types systems you may be buying a PSU bigger than needed. Like I said, I agree with you trying to educate people. However, If you know what you are going to do with your system you can buy/reuse a PSU that fits your system more closely and save some money. The difference between reusing a 600W PSU versus buying a 750W PSU for "future growth" can be $100 which is a good amount of money.

 

[ESP Ouija]

I changed my mind about buying a 1molex -> 1 6pin or 2 molex -> 2 6 pin idea, I'm just going to upgrade to either a Corsair GS700 or Corsair GS800 that someone recommended. They also told me that my Xion 700W only puts out 516W on the 12V rails, which is not enough to power my SLI. What do you guys think?

 

[inzone]

Upgrade and have a good power supply you don'e have to worry about , it's realy not good idea to clutter up the inside of your computer with all the adaptors anyway even if it did work you would be getting close to the capacity of the PSU you have. It would be better to have a little flexability.

 

[ESP Ouija]

I'll probably go for the GS800 to give me some flexibility like you said, it has good reviews and it's made for SLI so that should be good. Does anyone have anything better? For my specs/to run SLI (maybe a cheaper price on the PSU)?

EDIT : I also have a Sentry LX, AND I'm going to upgrade to 16gb DDR3 1600 RAM soon also (probably either corsair or G-Skill)

I also want to thank everyone who's been helping me with this

 

[beenthere]

Maybe I used the wrong words, but you're solution is that the 12V rail needs to provide 15A + 5A + whatever the GPU takes. The equation works for a power hungry systems with an overclocked 125W TDP CPU, but for other types systems you may be buying a PSU bigger than needed. Like I said, I agree with you trying to educate people. However, If you know what you are going to do with your system you can buy/reuse a PSU that fits your system more closely and save some money. The difference between reusing a 600W PSU versus buying a 750W PSU for "future growth" can be $100 which is a good amount of money.

The 15 amps. is to cover the additional system components such as the CPU, HDs, fans, etc. NO overclocking was considered - which would require more amps. The +5 amps. is so that the PSU is not working at 100%. These are very representative values for any current PC system. If you know exactly what your PC is using then you could adjust these figures but for 98% of PC users these numbers are legit unless you have a very low end system with say a 65W CPU, one HD, a couple case fans, etc. in which case you might only need 10 amps. instead of 15 amps. It's hardly worth skimping for 5 amps. when you consider all of the headaches that can result running a PSU at 90+ % load.

The numbers don't lie and that's why I suggest PC enthusiasts learn how to properly calculate what their PC really needs and not guess or go by well intended subjective opinions that are often inaccurate.

 

[ESP Ouija]

Does anyone have a PSU recommendation that is better/(and/or cheaper) than a Corsair GS800?

Thanks