Powering a Gigabyte GTX 980 Ti G1 in a Dell T7810?

[timothyb123]

Hi, I'm trying to find a clear answer regarding if the Dell T7810 can power a single GTX 980 Ti card that requires two 8 pin connectors.

The Dell T7810 arrives next week, but from what I've found online, the Switching PSU, 825w 80+ Gold, has an 8-pin to dual 6-pin connector. Out of the box, the cables are setup for mostly powering single/dual K4200, K5200 and similar Quadro cards.

Here's a photo I found showing that cable and where it connects to the T7810 PSU:

If I replace the current cable with a PCI-e 8 pin to dual (6 + 2) pin cable, will this be sufficient? (Plus where do you find such a male to male cable?)

• 
  ■ Or will I have to use the adapter that comes with the card for a 2nd 8-pin?
  ■ Or choose a GTX 980 Ti that's not overclocked or slower card?

I'll be using this tower as a workstation for 3D modeling, rendering, and gaming/VR.

Note: Oddly the manual for the T7810 shows a picture of dual (6+2) pin connectors. While everyone online says it has dual 6-pin, as seen in the image. Maybe they mixed up photos from a different tower. I wish I had more specs on the PSU to post, but it's difficult to find such information on a pre-built workstation.

 

[cin19]

From one review http://www.storagereview.com/dell_precision_tower_7810_review I think you should check out the pc before you buy the gtx980ti. Because the K5200 dimensions (L x H) = 10.5inX 4.4in http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/productdetail.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=bsd&cs=04&sku=a7899924 and the gtx980ti is 11.6". So from the T7810 review, the gtx98-ti may not fit into the case. Double check it.

For the 8-pins pcie cables, you can use the 6-pin to 8 pin adapter, or the 8-pin comes with the GPU, but I think the dell psu may not have enough 4-pin molex for that 8-pin adapter.

 

[timothyb123]

Thanks for the reply.

Length:
There's a video showing a SLI install of two Asus GTX 970 Strix cards. Checking the specs, they are 11" long. Installed, there appeared to be generous space left, especially if you remove those plastic retainers or whatever they are.

Video still: http://m.imgur.com/LXiedCi
(In this still, the guy used a modular 8-pin to dual 8-pin cable. The video never mentions if it was a custom cable to support the Dell PSU card's 8-pin port)

Power:
To play it safe, I ended up ordering an EVGA GTX 980 Ti SC+ around the same time you replied. It's shorter, 10.5", and requires one 8 pin and one 6 pin. It also includes two adapters, one to convert two 6-pins to one 8-pin, and a two molex to one 6-pin. In the tower, I believe there is one free molex, and I can use a sata power cable from a 2nd drive I won't need. Or I can get one 6-pin to 8-pin adapter.

Earlier, I was considering an old FSP Booster X5 450watt GPU Power Supply for 5.25 drive bays. It would provide two 8pins and two 6 pins. Sadly, I guess these devices never caught on and are very hard to find.

I should have the card by Friday, so I'll post a follow-up. If it works, the GPU performance should last a while. Otherwise I was considering selling the T7810 as a bare bones system, removing the memory and the E5-2687w V3 and building a new machine around those parts.

 

[TomScrut]

Hi,

How did you get on with this? I am thinking of putting a 1080 in my T5810 and am pondering my options for adapting the 2 6 pins.

 

[timothyb123]

I had no problems so far using the 980 TI Superclocked + that requires an 8 and 6 pin.

To hook it up using the Dell's two 6 pins, I used one 6 to 8 pin adapter and then just the other 6 pin.

It's been able to handle hours of Dark Souls III, Doom, Tomb Raiser, VR games, and more, all while maintaining its boost clock of 1310mhz.

The card seems to get to 83c in this tower, which is on its side. The side panel becomes very hot. But, it manages to never pass that threshold or max out the fans with its default fan curve. I also removed the rubber pad on the side panel so it would not touch the card, but it would close up fine with it on.

With a 1080 card, which most require a single 8 pin, I'm sure a double 6 pin to a single 8 pin adapter will be included. But it's good to know it can handle at least one 8/6 pin card.

Here's the 6 to 8 pin adapter I used:

StarTech PCI Express 6 pin to 8 pin Power Adapter Cable (PCIEX68ADAP) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001TK3TJY/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_f7uyxbHYA89WE

 

[TomScrut]

Many thanks, I will probably go with one of the 8 pin 1080s, like the MSI Aero OC, but the higher end ones such as the MSI Gaming X and ASUS Strix are 8 + 6. I thought it would be fine, it does say that the PC supports up to 225W of external GPU power (on the 685W PSU), its just there isn't a 'proper' way of implementing it! I also saw the video of two 970s in SLI in a 7810 with the 825W PSU (the 150W difference being taken up by the second CPU we can presume), they replace the 8 pin to 2x 6 pin with an 8 pin to 2x 6+2 pin. God knows where they found that! I bet it could run 1070s or 1080s in SLI if needs be given how much better on power than the 900s they are meant to be, but I'll cross that bridge if I ever get to it, one is all I am planning for at the moment.

Tom