Gfx card psu replacement. 6 to 8?

Nov 9, 2018
8
0
10
I just bought an rtx 2070 to replace my Radeon 5800 (Omega upgrade). During my installation I noticed that I have 2x 6pin psu's, and not an 8pin that's required. Is the solution to this problem as simple as buying an 8pin cable and switching it with one of my 6pins?
 
No, it's not. If a power supply is capable of a specific amperage or voltage on a given cable, it will already have it. Six pin cables are only rated for 75w while 8 pin cables, or cables with 6+2 pin connectors, are rated for 150w. In some cases you can use a 2 x6 pin to 8 pin adapter, but it's HIGHLY not recommended to adapt ANY power supply cable to something other than what it already is.

What is the EXACT model number of your power supply?
 
What exact PSU do you have?
What exact 2070 do you have?

It is possible that your PSU can support what you are asking, and it's also entirely possible it does not. We'll need to know which PSU you have before that assessment can be made, but since your PSU supports two 6 pin, your chances are good.

 
Nov 9, 2018
8
0
10
But what is the psu? I have my Mac open and just see a bunch of pci slots, an intel chip, I'm guessing this is the motherboard, and my Radeon card that I've put back in
 
Nov 9, 2018
8
0
10
Yeah, I'm trying to answer my own questions here, but Google isn't helping. If I try to get some adapter to give me an 8pin, what's the worst that could happen?
 


The worst is that you could fry your new GPU which is likely worth more than the system your plugging in to.
Though you said you're connecting this to a Mac, and I'm fairly certain that Nvidia doesn't even work with Mac (especially the new cards), but I'm not going to research it.
 
Nov 9, 2018
8
0
10
Well it's a Mac machine, but I'm running Windows. Sorry ive never replaced anything inside my PC, except for ram. I don't see anything labeled psu anywhere.
 


PSU is power supply unit, it'll be the large box in the case.
Though, as it's an OEM machine chances are now very likely it will be insufficient anyway.
 
Nov 9, 2018
8
0
10
Well this machine was pretty high end when I bought it, it just came with a really terrible card for some reason, so maybe not. I see a body with no label. I'll keep looking.
 


It's perfectly acceptable to use the above adapter since the power delivery is the same. The ONLY potential issue is a crappy adapter which unfortunately is a potential problem.

Having said that I can't even find such a connector. It needs to be FEMALE on the 6-pin side and MALE on the 8-pin side but I only see the reverse.

There are 1x6-pin to 1x8-pin but those are to be avoided at all costs since then 150W can be drawn through the 6-pin connector on the PSU which it may or may not handle.

*But please STOP and open up the case and give us the exact MODEL. The proper connectors may already be there.

In addition give us at least the CPU so we can estimate TOTAL power usage. It's possible you only have a 450W PSU for all we know which may or may not be sufficient for reliable usage.
 
Nov 9, 2018
8
0
10
At this time I can't get access to the PSU; I need some weird screw driver that I do not have at the moment.

This is my system information. If something is missing you'll have tell me, as I said before I do not have much expertise at all in this matter.

System Model MacPro5,1
System Type x64-based PC
Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU W3680 @ 3.33GHz, 3458 Mhz, 6 Core(s), 12 Logical Processor(s)
Installed Physical Memory (RAM) 32.0 GB

Apparently the power supply for the MacPro5,1 is 980 watts?

If 980 watts is sufficient, would something like this be what I'm looking for?
https://www.amazon.com/JacobsParts-Express-6-pin-8-pin-Video/dp/B00OSLGQGE
 

TRENDING THREADS