Power Supply Help (No direct connection to 8 pin direct)

[BatsCargo6]

I am upgrading from a geforce gt 610 to a gtx 950 with an 8 pin connection. Gt 610 needed no direct connection. My power supply is Apevia 500W ATX 12W, will it be enough to just get an 8 pin connector added? I really don't want to downgrade on watts and voltage, but if it's one of those unreliable time bomb PSU's then I will have to. Any thoughts?

 

[rhelmar1]

That PSU should be fine, since it says it has 34 amps on the 12v rails. That's theoritically enough. However It's never a good idea to run a gpu on adapters. It just means that the psu was never intended to be used in that way. You might get away with it , but in my opinion it's better to be safe than sorry. If you are willing to upgrade go with something like this: http://de.evga.com/Products/Product.aspx?pn=100-W1-0430-KR
I would't go below this one.

 

[BatsCargo6]

That PSU should be fine, since it says it has 34 amps on the 12v rails. That's theoritically enough. However It's never a good idea to run a gpu on adapters. It just means that the psu was never intended to be used in that way. You might get away with it , but in my opinion it's better to be safe than sorry. If you are willing to upgrade go with something like this: http://de.evga.com/Products/Product.aspx?pn=100-W1-0430-KR
I would't go below this one.

Thank you, I want to try it, as the wiring job is extremely efficient, and the psu has excellent safety. If I were to watch for anything fishy with speccy to make sure nothing will detonate, would I watch for gpu temperature? Will that be enough to see if it is stable? Or do I need to look at fan speed and such?

 

[VincentP]

A GTX 950 card requires a 6-pin PCI-E connector, or no connector for the low power models.
A good quality 360W power supply would be fine.
You just need a decent quality power supply with at least 27A on the +12V rails.

The Apevia supply though is a hazard. There are tier 5 on the PSU list:
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-2547993/psu-tier-list.html

There are plenty of good alternatives, here are some suggestions:
Seasonic S12II 430
Rosewill Capstone 450
XFX TS 430
Antec HCG 520

 

[rhelmar1]

That PSU should be fine, since it says it has 34 amps on the 12v rails. That's theoritically enough. However It's never a good idea to run a gpu on adapters. It just means that the psu was never intended to be used in that way. You might get away with it , but in my opinion it's better to be safe than sorry. If you are willing to upgrade go with something like this: http://de.evga.com/Products/Product.aspx?pn=100-W1-0430-KR
I would't go below this one.

Thank you, I want to try it, as the wiring job is extremely efficient, and the psu has excellent safety. If I were to watch for anything fishy with speccy to make sure nothing will detonate, would I watch for gpu temperature? Will that be enough to see if it is stable? Or do I need to look at fan speed and such?

There is unfortunately no way to see if your power supply is working well. If your pc crashes, and everything still works, get yourself a new psu. If you are lucky the psu has some sort of security mechanism, that turns it off before it fryes everything in your pc.

 

[Math Geek]

A GTX 950 card requires a 6-pin PCI-E connector, or no connector for the low power models.
A good quality 360W power supply would be fine.
You just need a decent quality power supply with at least 27A on the +12V rails.

The Apevia supply though is a hazard. There are tier 5 on the PSU list:
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-2547993/psu-tier-list.html

There are plenty of good alternatives, here are some suggestions:
Seasonic S12II 430
Rosewill Capstone 450
XFX TS 430
Antec HCG 520

+1 to this. the psu is VERY poor quality and trying to use an adapter to an already suspect unit is only asking for trouble. if you don't already have the card, there are 950 models that only use 75w and need no extra connection. this is what i would suggest to you. here is a list of models to consider if you have not already b0ught the card. http://pcpartpicker.com/parts/video-card/#c=366

if you already have the card, a new psu is needed to run it.

 

[turkey3_scratch]

Never heard of a 950 that has an 8-pin PCIe adapter requirement. That seems excessive. Anyway, I second the replacement of the Apevia.