6 pin to 8 pin modification

[mornelerx]

Hi, i need to convert a 6 pin to a 8 pin cable that leads to my msi gtx 970. Is there any way to do this without buying a adapter?

 

[justanotherjose]

I have never heard of a way and I don't think it's very safe to do it. Also if your power supply does not have an 8 pin cable it might not be suitable to handle a gtx 970. Happened to me personally. I got an adapter for my cheap 40$ power supply that I previously used fine on an old graphics card. I bought a 6 to 8 pin connector and hooked up my ASUS GTX 970 and it blew out the motherboard so be careful.

 

[mornelerx]

i saw alot of tutorials for other graphics cards about this, so i thought there may be one for the 970 aswell. The psu is a 500 watt psu so its at least powerfull enough to handle the 970

 

[Roryiscool]

The safest 8-pin PCI-e adapter is a 2-molex to PCI-e adapter. You can buy them for $5 USD. But don't get them.

@justanotherjose is right. You should upgrade your power supply. It doesn't even have to be top of the range for a 970, but it's worth it. Power supplies degrade over time, and the potential to blow up (yes im one of those paranoid people) is much higher due to the old capacitors. It won't actually blow up of course, but it can lead to a lot of problems with your hardware if the amperage of the PSU lowers enough. Not to mention it can hard your components BIG TIME. Never skimp out on a PSU!

Sorry for the rant, but trust me, bite the bullet and buy a new one. You won't regret it. Buy a cheap Antec one, they are the best if you are on a budget

 

[maxalge]

i saw alot of tutorials for other graphics cards about this, so i thought there may be one for the 970 aswell. The psu is a 500 watt psu so its at least powerfull enough to handle the 970

the only safe adapter to use is a dual 6-pin to single 8-pin adapater


6-pin's are rated at 75w


8-pins at 150w


mickey mousing a 6-pin into a 8-pin is not a smart idea


get a good power supply

 

[apk24]

As the several people before me have stated, just don't do it. An 8 pin is rated for double the draw of a 6pin. Even if you had an extremely high quality PSU, that would be highly inadvisable. The fact that your PSU doesn't have an 8 pin connector is usually an indicator of not being able to support that kind of draw. There are plenty of 500W units out their that should really be listed as 350W or 300W units because they can't actually provide more than 300W on the 12V rail. Your PSU might be one of those.

When a PSU goes, it takes other components with it. A friend of mine blew out his PSU and it took the GFX card with it. Personally, I'm very risk averse and I wouldn't even consider anything short of a tier 3 unit (and have usually ended up buying a tier 1 unit) for my shiny new 970. An EVGA 600B (tier 3) goes for as little as 45USD, which isn't that expensive, especially considering the cost of the other components that you'll be protecting.

PSU Tier List
A few acceptable PSUs

In general, EVGA is pretty solid at this price point. Usually their budget offerings are cheaper than other quality PSUs, and they don't stick the EVGA logo on poor quality PSUs. IIRC only 1 or 2 of their older PSUs (NEXB comes to mind and that's it) have recieved poor reviews.