ih81m Motherboard with 14pin, Can I run a RX480/ RX470

[Maikeru86]

I have a Lenovo Thinkcentre M73. Specs are i5 4430, 8gb Ram, 240w psu.

I'm planning on putting the components in mATX case with a 450-500w PSU. I'll then get a 24 to 14 pin connector to power the mobo.

My question is, will this be able to run a RX480/RX470 or is there some reason why a mobo with a 14 pin connector won't work?

Regards,
Mike

 

[Maikeru86]

anybody there?

 

[Virtual_Singularity]

Short version: doable, though you may experience bottlenecks depending on what type of pcie slot your mobo has and what the other components of your sys are.

From what I gather, the mobo on your model has a single pcie 2.0 slot (not positive, a quick search didn't yield precise info from Lenovo, I didn't check any pdf's). If so, while you can use a card designed for pcie 3.0 on a pcie 2.0 slot, there may be some performance loss, as 3.0 specs allow for more bandwidth throughput. Regarding the 24-14 pin adapter... Found some useful info and positive reviews of these converters on Amazon, from others who'd used them as you plan to.

As to how efficient or ideal this solution is, I wouldn't know. A better, if less practical, solution, may be looking into finding a used, or new, more current mobo with a pcie 3.0 slot as well as a standard 24 pin ATX connection, you may be able to find one that's relatively cheap. If you haven't already, it may be worth first upgrading to a solid state drive to your sys to use for boot and performance-intensive tasks.

 

[Maikeru86]

Short version: doable, though you may experience bottlenecks depending on what type of pcie slot your mobo has and what the other components of your sys are.

From what I gather, the mobo on your model has a single pcie 2.0 slot (not positive, a quick search didn't yield precise info from Lenovo, I didn't check any pdf's). If so, while you can use a card designed for pcie 3.0 on a pcie 2.0 slot, there may be some performance loss, as 3.0 specs allow for more bandwidth throughput. Regarding the 24-14 pin adapter... Found some useful info and positive reviews of these converters on Amazon, from others who'd used them as you plan to.

As to how efficient or ideal this solution is, I wouldn't know. A better, if less practical, solution, may be looking into finding a used, or new, more current mobo with a pcie 3.0 slot as well as a standard 24 pin ATX connection, you may be able to find one that's relatively cheap. If you haven't already, it may be worth first upgrading to a solid state drive to your sys to use for boot and performance-intensive tasks.

I ended up getting a new mobo (Asus h81m-k), i'm not not sure if pci 2.0 and 3.0 makes a big difference since im only gaming at 1080p60fps.

There where just too man little things that worried me, the most important was that the manual for this board says 40w max on the pci-e 16 port. Those 24-14pin adapters are not too cheap if you add shipping (for what it is). I also wanted spdif onboard which it didn't have.

I got the rx480 which had pci power draw "issues" so I'm pretty sure it would still work, but I think I chose the better route.

 

[Virtual_Singularity]

Fwiw I think it's a much better choice than the 14 pin converter route, congrats on the new board. Even if you were using a monitor that was 144hz, the performance loss using pcie 2 x16 vs pcie 3 would be negligible (if any) for most cards at typical loads/usage, with the possible exception of some of the latest higher end cards. AMD released drivers for the 480 which now include "compatibility mode" for pcie 3 iirc, as well as a power efficiency mode. PE Mode would likely be your best best if you're using a 60hz 1080p monitor. At 60/1080 you could likely even (slightly) reduce the power draw further on your own if you wish, without experiencing any performance loss. Anyhow congrats again on the new board, and good choice.