Question Is this GTX 1070 GPU compatible with my HP Z440 PC?

[ally0007]

Hi all,
I'm looking at upgrading the GPU in my HP Z440 workstation. The GPU I am looking at buying is:
MSI GeForce GTX 1070 Gaming X 8GB

The question is: is it compatible with my PC? The PSU in the PC is the standard 700W version. It only has two 6-pin power connectors for a GPU. It also has an unused 4-pin MOLEX power connector. The above GPU has a 6-pin AND and an 8-pin power socket. I'm not sure why it has both, as the power consumption is only supposed to be 150W. Anyway, will this GPU be suitable? If not, what would be a good budget GPU to opt for, instead? (I need something fairly quiet, yet with half-decent gaming performance. I also do some video editing and rendering and music production.) Many thanks!
Below are my system specs:

Operating System
Windows 10 Pro 64-bit
CPU
Intel Xeon E5 v3 @ 3.20GHz 28 °C
Haswell-E/EP 22nm Technology
RAM
64.0GB DDR4 @ 1064MHz (15-15-15-36)
Motherboard
Hewlett-Packard 212B (CPU0)
Graphics
XB253Q (1920x1080@60Hz)
4095MB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti (Gigabyte) 84 °C
Storage
1863GB Seagate ST2000DM001-1ER164 (SATA ) 27 °C
1863GB Samsung SSD 870 QVO 2TB (SATA (SSD)) 28 °C
476GB Fanxiang S101 512GB (SATA (SSD)) 35 °C
476GB Fanxiang S500PRO 512GB (Unknown (SSD))
Optical Drives
hp TSST DVDRW SU-208HB
Audio
BEHRINGER UMC 202HD 192k
PSU
700W

 

[Dj0gany]

To be honest I wouldn't invest in that.
I'd rather sell your current HP system and build a budget rig for less that $500, that is going to outperform your current one.

 

[ally0007]

I'd rather sell your current HP system and build a budget rig for less that $500, that is going to outperform your current one.

Thanks, but I can't spare $500, or the time, at present.

 

[Dj0gany]

Alright,then, you would new a need PSU since the gtx 1070 is a serious card. Do not buy splitters, it can be a serious fire hazard. Can you get me the exact make/model of your case? or just take a picture. Cuz i think a standard ATX PSU is not going to fit into your case.

 

[thestryker]

Hi all,
I'm looking at upgrading the GPU in my HP Z440 workstation. The GPU I am looking at buying is:
MSI GeForce GTX 1070 Gaming X 8GB

The question is: is it compatible with my PC? The PSU in the PC is the standard 700W version. It only has two 6-pin power connectors for a GPU. It also has an unused 4-pin MOLEX power connector. The above GPU has a 6-pin AND and an 8-pin power socket. I'm not sure why it has both, as the power consumption is only supposed to be 150W. Anyway, will this GPU be suitable? If not, what would be a good budget GPU to opt for, instead? (I need something fairly quiet, yet with half-decent gaming performance. I also do some video editing and rendering and music production.) Many thanks!
Below are my system specs:

Operating System
Windows 10 Pro 64-bit
CPU
Intel Xeon E5 v3 @ 3.20GHz 28 °C
Haswell-E/EP 22nm Technology
RAM
64.0GB DDR4 @ 1064MHz (15-15-15-36)
Motherboard
Hewlett-Packard 212B (CPU0)
Graphics
XB253Q (1920x1080@60Hz)
4095MB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti (Gigabyte) 84 °C
Storage
1863GB Seagate ST2000DM001-1ER164 (SATA ) 27 °C
1863GB Samsung SSD 870 QVO 2TB (SATA (SSD)) 28 °C
476GB Fanxiang S101 512GB (SATA (SSD)) 35 °C
476GB Fanxiang S500PRO 512GB (Unknown (SSD))
Optical Drives
hp TSST DVDRW SU-208HB
Audio
BEHRINGER UMC 202HD 192k
PSU
700W

The reason it has both connectors is that it can use almost 200W.

MSI GTX 1070 Gaming X 8 GB Review

MSI's GeForce GTX 1070 Gaming X is an overclocked custom-design variant of the GTX 1070 that is whisper quiet even during heavy gaming thanks to its dual-fan TwinFrozr thermal solution. We also overclocked this $439 card in our review, where it's even faster than the GeForce GTX 1080.

www.techpowerup.com

You'd definitely need a new PSU if you wanted to use that card.

If you were to find a card that has a single 8 pin connector you should be okay using an adapter cable that goes from the 2x 6 pin to 1x 8 pin.

 

[ally0007]

The reason it has both connectors is that it can use almost 200W.

Okay, thank you. If this GPU can use almost 200W, I gather that 75W is supplied via the card slot. That leaves 125W. A single 8-pin power cable supplies up to 150W, no?

 

[ally0007]

Alright,then, you would new a need PSU since the gtx 1070 is a serious card. Do not buy splitters, it can be a serious fire hazard. Can you get me the exact make/model of your case? or just take a picture. Cuz i think a standard ATX PSU is not going to fit into your case.

 

[thestryker]

Okay, thank you. If this GPU can use almost 200W, I gather that 75W is supplied via the card slot. That leaves 125W. A single 8-pin power cable supplies up to 150W, no?

It's very much not that simple as cards can stray beyond their rated amount of power. AFAIK every card that has been sold with a PCIe power connector doesn't pull more power than those cables can provide. Cards certainly do still use the PCIe slot power, but they never rely on that to make up for not enough power direct from the PSU.

You should check your PSU connectors to make sure your motherboard uses all standard connectors.

 

[ally0007]

It's very much not that simple as cards can stray beyond their rated amount of power. AFAIK every card that has been sold with a PCIe power connector doesn't pull more power than those cables can provide. Cards certainly do still use the PCIe slot power, but they never rely on that to make up for not enough power direct from the PSU.

Understood, thanks. However, the msi card specs seem to suggest it would be ok:

https://www.msi.com/Graphics-Card/GEFORCE-GTX-1070-GAMING-X-8G/Specification

There is an unused molex cable from the PSU that I imagine I could adapt to the card's 6-pin socket, and the PSU's two 6-pin plugs could be adapted to the card's 8-pin socket, no? I've seen the same PC being sold with GTX 1080 cards installed.

You should check your PSU connectors to make sure your motherboard uses all standard connectors.

Could you clarify, please?

 

[thestryker]

Understood, thanks. However, the msi card specs seem to suggest it would be ok:

https://www.msi.com/Graphics-Card/GEFORCE-GTX-1070-GAMING-X-8G/Specification

There is an unused molex cable from the PSU that I imagine I could adapt to the card's 6-pin socket, and the PSU's two 6-pin plugs could be adapted to the card's 8-pin socket, no? I've seen the same PC being sold with GTX 1080 cards installed.

You absolutely do not want to adapt anything other than a PCIe power connector to another PCIe power connector. You need to be sure you have sense pins, ground and proper power delivery. This is why I said it'd be safe to go from 2x 6 to 1x 8, but beyond that you really shouldn't try it.

Could you clarify, please?

While your system is of the age it should have a standard power supply you need to make sure it has an ATX standard (you'll need to check pinout) 24 pin power connector and the EPS12V for the CPU is a standard 4, 4+4, or 8 pin connector. If it isn't standard then buying a new PSU may not work for your system.

 

[ally0007]

You absolutely do not want to adapt anything other than a PCIe power connector to another PCIe power connector. You need to be sure you have sense pins, ground and proper power delivery. This is why I said it'd be safe to go from 2x 6 to 1x 8, but beyond that you really shouldn't try it.

Ok, thanks. So it looks like I should opt for one of the other variants of the GTX 1070, which have a single 8-pin socket, then adapt the two 6-pin plugs from my 700W PSU, to a single 8-pin plug?

Incidentally, the previous owner of my HP Z440, was successfully running it with an AMD Vega 56 GPU, which has two 8-pin sockets. He used two 6-pin to 8-pin adapters!

 

[thestryker]

Ok, thanks. So it looks like I should opt for one of the other variants of the GTX 1070, which have a single 8-pin socket, then adapt the two 6-pin plugs from my 700W PSU, to a single 8-pin plug?

Yes that's the only safe way to do it (or any other video card that uses a single 8 pin).

The previous owner of my Z440, was running it with an AMD Vega 56 GPU, which has two 8-pin sockets, and draws more wattage than the GTX 1070. He used two 6-pin to 8-pin adapters.

While you can do this it isn't even remotely safe due to the fact that you're missing at best a sense pin and ground or at worse a 12v, sense pin and ground. While the 6 and 8 pin designs are overengineered pulling excess power like that is asking for component damage especially with an older PSU.

 

[ally0007]

While you can do this it isn't even remotely safe due to the fact that you're missing at best a sense pin and ground or at worse a 12v, sense pin and ground. While the 6 and 8 pin designs are overengineered pulling excess power like that is asking for component damage especially with an older PSU.

Okay.. Thanks for your advice. It's appreciated.

 

[ally0007]

I've seen this 2x 6-pin to 1x 8-pin adapter:

https://tinyurl.com/bde9rssc

Is it okay to use it in my HP Z440 (with its 700W PSU and its two 6-pin GPU cables, with this alternative GPU: ASUS NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 8GB GDDR5? Asus rates it as:
TDP: 150W
Suggested PSU: 450 W

Thank you.

 

[jojesa]

A 6-pin PCIe is rated at 75W and depending on the quality it could get warm or burn when carrying more than 100W.
Also the 6-pin to 8-pin could be of cheap quality .

That might be the reason it appears to be conflicting data.

Best case scenario: Your PSU has very good quality cables and you also use a good quality adapter.
Worst case scenario: you could destroy your GPU or other hardware or start a fire.

 

[DSzymborski]

Please don't start duplicate threads when it's related to your already current thread and people are already discussing it and dispensing advice. The two choices for number of threads involving a singular situation are either one or zero.

 

[ally0007]

Best case scenario: Your PSU has very good quality cables and you also use a good quality adapter.
Worst case scenario: you could destroy your GPU or other hardware or start a fire.

Thanks! I'll take a chance on the fire/damage, as The GPU will be running at idle when I'm not around. The chances are, it won't be running at full tilt very much, even when I am around. I have a good nose for burning smells, too.

 

[thestryker]

I've seen this 2x 6-pin to 1x 8-pin adapter:

https://tinyurl.com/bde9rssc

Is it okay to use it in my HP Z440 (with its 700W PSU and its two 6-pin GPU cables, with this alternative GPU: ASUS NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 8GB GDDR5? Asus rates it as:
TDP: 150W
Suggested PSU: 450 W

Thank you.

Generally speaking I'd look for one with more reviews (gives a better idea of potential quality control problems), but that's exactly the type of adapter you'd want. I looked up the one I bought, but it doesn't seem to be available on amazon UK.

 

[ally0007]

Generally speaking I'd look for one with more reviews (gives a better idea of potential quality control problems), but that's exactly the type of adapter you'd want. I looked up the one I bought, but it doesn't seem to be available on amazon UK.

Thank you. I'm glad to hear that from you, as I know you're fairly particular. Thanks for having a look for an alternative. They seem a bit scarce, and pricey (over here, at least).