New graphics card, no cable to plug it into

[Dave Hines]

Hi,

I have an HP ProDesk 405 G1 Microtower (specs, computer is entirely stock except it came with only a 2GB RAM stick and I added a 4GB so I have 6GB of RAM) and wanted to upgrade the onboard graphics card, so I bought an EVGA GeForce GTX 750 2GB FTW from Amazon. I checked before buying to make sure my power supply met the requirements (both the supply I have and what it said it required were 300 watts).

So I get it home, unwrap it and plug it in. Problem: There's a power connector on the top and I have no power cords to plug into it. The manual only says plugging in the extra power cord is "recommended" but trying to boot up without it only displays a message to please plug in the power cables.

Here is a picture I took of my problem:

On the left is the only type of spare power cable that is in the computer. On the right is the 6 pin slot on the graphics card. They did include an adapter that has 2 Molex connections go into the 6 pins, but my computer has no Molex cables.

I'm the first to admit that I am not a big "hardware guy" by any means. It really seems like this card should work if I can just get it appropriate power. Is there any kind of adapter I can buy? Or would I need to get a new power supply?

EDIT: After a bit of extra research, it seems that the spare cable I have is a SATA 15 pin. So should an adapter fix the problem?

 

[George Mulligan]

You'll need one of these guys...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA6J32TK8411&cm_re=sata_6_pin_power-_-9SIA6J32TK8411-_-Product

although you might find a different source for quicker delivery (online only, you won't find one of these at a local store).

Or you can get a different PSU with more connectors, depending on how much more upgrading you're going to do (more HDDs, SDD??)

 

[Dave Hines]

Thanks, George. That was exactly the solution I came to as well, though I luckily found a seller on eBay who was located only half an hour away from me, so I should get the adapter very quickly.

At some point, I'll likely update the PSU. Thankfully, it's not an urgent issue though.

 

[George Mulligan]

Well, on second thought... sorry, that might not work.

The 6-pin GPU can demand up to 75W, and the SATA cord you have available can only supply about 42W. Because your card is a FTW model with the fans, I worry that the current draw might be too much for the SATA power cable you have (even though it might be within the PSU power). If you do try the adaptor, run a video test on the GPU (3dMark) with the case open and carefully check the cables to make sure they're not too hot. As well, if the 3dMark stress test fails, you'll know you're not getting enough power.

 

[Dave Hines]

Just for the sake of posterity on this, in case anyone searches, I got the SATA-15 pin to PCI-E 6 pin adapter, and it's worked fine ever since.

I did the 3DMark test like George suggested. It passed just fine and the wires didn't get hot at all.