[SOLVED] Is a 4 pin molex to 6pin pci-e safe?

Mar 1, 2021
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I want to sell my old pc (i5-4460, 8GB of ram) but i need to get a video card for it so it can actually run most games. I was thinking about getting a second hand GTX 1060 3GB for a low price but my PSU doesn't have a 6-pin connector.

Instead of getting a new PSU can i just get a 4 pin molex to 6pin pci-e adapter?
 
Solution
Molex connectors are not standardized. Ampacity of each pin on the molex can vary wildly (especially with old school molex), these also include molex adapters.
Most of the time you can't determine its ampacity (even the after market you buy it from probably won't know), and it can be the case that you might get a low ampacity molex to pci-e that does not meet your GPU's power requirement. This can only mean fire.

PCI-E connectors on the other hand, are standardized.
I second to just get a new, proper PSU that has all the power connectors you will need.

Jmi20

Prominent
Jun 5, 2020
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790
I am neutral on the usage of adapters, I’m neither for nor against. But here’s my two cents:

based on my previous testing, the connectors themselves appear to be the weak point rather than the wires. I’ve had 18 gauge wires not warm up much, but the connectors themselves (molex or sata to pci-e) get very warm.

some gpus come with molex to pci-e adapters. They appear to be of better quality than ones you could buy elsewhere, with thicker wires and better quality connectors.

Typically, if a psu doesn’t come with pci-e power connectors stock; then that means it isn’t meant to handle the load of something that requires a pcie connector.

it is up to you, what your tolerance for risk is.
 
Molex connectors are not standardized. Ampacity of each pin on the molex can vary wildly (especially with old school molex), these also include molex adapters.
Most of the time you can't determine its ampacity (even the after market you buy it from probably won't know), and it can be the case that you might get a low ampacity molex to pci-e that does not meet your GPU's power requirement. This can only mean fire.

PCI-E connectors on the other hand, are standardized.
I second to just get a new, proper PSU that has all the power connectors you will need.
 
Solution

Eximo

Titan
Ambassador
Not sure it is worth buying parts for a system to sell it in this case.

An older quad core, just sell it as that, it has onboard graphics, so someone could use it as an office PC. Buying a GPU/Power Supply to then re-sell just sounds like a lot of work particularly now. You risk getting a bad or fake GPU, then have to deal with that...

I wouldn't recommend anyone to buy into a DDR3 based system at this point, in any case.

Might be worth it to sell the motherboard, CPU, and memory, separately. Probably someone out there with an old dual core i3 or Pentium that would like to have the i5. And probably many people out there looking for replacement motherboards for their 4th gen CPUs.
 

USAFRet

Titan
Moderator
I want to sell my old pc (i5-4460, 8GB of ram) but i need to get a video card for it so it can actually run most games. I was thinking about getting a second hand GTX 1060 3GB for a low price but my PSU doesn't have a 6-pin connector.

Instead of getting a new PSU can i just get a 4 pin molex to 6pin pci-e adapter?
No.

Sell it as is. Not everyone is thinking "game" when looking at an old used system.
 

DSzymborski

Curmudgeon Pursuivant
Moderator
Even if adapters were a good idea -- they're not -- a PSU that is junk enough to not even have a PCIE connector isn't one you want to use with a discrete GPU anyway.

Ignoring for a second the ethics of selling someone who may not know better a fire hazard they don't realize, you're not going to get extra profit this way. Old GPUs are far more in demand than old GPUs with a basic old PC attached.