Question Split 12v, 8-pin Power Connector Between Motherboard and Graphics Card

willowen100

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Sep 9, 2014
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Hi

On my Dell PowerEdge T410 there is a single 8-pin connector that comes straight out of the PSU's and provides 12v to the motherboard. I really want to install a graphics card on this server to improve graphic performance but there isn't any additional connectors to give the GPU extra power.

I have looked over the specifications in the manual and it is indeed a PCIe ×16 slot but running at ×8 speeds. The current card I have currently installed is a really old 512MB, DDR2 GPU with a large heatsink and there is no extra power needed for it.

I had to disable the integrated graphics in the server's BIOS settings to get the card working and I had to run the driver installation in Windows 7 compatibility mode.

The interesting thing is 8-pin splitter cables do exist and it's the same connection that is required to power graphics cards. Could I not take the 12v connector from the PSU's and feed one line to the motherboard as normal and the second connection to the GPU?

I know that Dell doesn't recommend a GPU in this server but I got a fairly cheap deal with it and had intentions of running virtual machines on it using something like Windows Server 2012 R2 or Server 2016 as the host operating system. The on-board Matrox GPU has 8MB of video RAM and is so laggy when running a GUI based virtual machine such as Ubuntu. In fact, even when I have no Hyper-V servers running, I often find the mouse and keyboard input slow just navigating around Windows.

I know my way around Linux fairly well through command line if I really had to install the server flavour of Ubuntu as a last resort. On the other hand I was just hoping that I could test GUI based operating systems like I would on my personal PC considering the server has more physical cores and 32GB RAM.

Many thanks in advance.
 
Why not just run a Quadro P600 or P1000 instead. That would give you a card that will run from the PCIe bus only, all while being a huge leap in performance.
This is a great idea, and there's also other power-less cards that can give you a solid kick in the pants. You should also think about upgrading the cpus as that will be dirt cheap, especially to dual if your system supports that like my R410 does.

While the Dell power plug looks like the gpu connector, I don't think it is the same. Verify the schematics and pinouts before you try this or it could be a very quick way to blow a gpu.

Even though I have found it frowned up on here, you can always get some quality sata to 6-pin/8-pin adapters too, at least for a single 6-pin, which is all many cards need.

I'm not sure if you know about the memory capability of your T410, but I just found out my R410 can take a full 8x 32GB modules for a total of 256GB of ram--great for VMs! I'd definitely research that as well as the processor upgrades as you can put in 6/12 processors, so with duals you can have up to 12 cores and 24 threads across that 256GB of ram.
 

willowen100

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Sep 9, 2014
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Thanks for the replies. Those Quadro GPUs look perfect but they are a little expensive compared to a second hand, standard GPU that requires auxiliary power via 6/8pin power leads from the PSU.

The pinouts for a GPU will be standard so I should be able to acquire a wiring diagram for that easily enough from the internet. However, I am tempted to try powering a GPU from the server's 8-pin PSU lead on a second hand GPU. I was thinking of buying a 8-pin splitter so the power can go to motherboard as normal and then get voltmeter and test each of the pins on the second lead to make sure the readings match up with the wiring diagram for the GPU.

What do you think?
 
Thanks for the replies. Those Quadro GPUs look perfect but they are a little expensive compared to a second hand, standard GPU that requires auxiliary power via 6/8pin power leads from the PSU.

The pinouts for a GPU will be standard so I should be able to acquire a wiring diagram for that easily enough from the internet. However, I am tempted to try powering a GPU from the server's 8-pin PSU lead on a second hand GPU. I was thinking of buying a 8-pin splitter so the power can go to motherboard as normal and then get voltmeter and test each of the pins on the second lead to make sure the readings match up with the wiring diagram for the GPU.

What do you think?
They are a bit more, but for the convenience of not having to deal with the power connector issue, they're perfect.

I wouldn't try using the 8-pin, even on a gpu you're willing to blow up--because if your power supply blows, you've just inherited an expense while trying to save money.
 

willowen100

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Sep 9, 2014
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The GTX 1650's max power consumption is 90w and 75w for the GTX 1050. Wouldn't I still need extra power for them other just the PCIe slot?

In regards to the Quadro GPUs, I could definitely save up for one in the long run but looking at the specs, their max power consumption is 49w. If I remember correctly the Dell PowerEdge T410 outputs 25w from it's PCIe x16 slot.
 
The GTX 1650's max power consumption is 90w and 75w for the GTX 1050. Wouldn't I still need extra power for them other just the PCIe slot?

In regards to the Quadro GPUs, I could definitely save up for one in the long run but looking at the specs, their max power consumption is 49w. If I remember correctly the Dell PowerEdge T410 outputs 25w from it's PCIe x16 slot.
If they do not have an external power connector, they will not need extra power and will manage from whatever they can get from the slot. You would need to check if performance is getting throttled though.
 

willowen100

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Sep 9, 2014
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I've actually settled with purchasing a Nvidia GT 710 2GB GDDR5 GPU which has a power consumption of 19w.

It's Windows 10 compatible so installing drivers should be a lot easier than my current one which was last supported on Windows 8.0, plus the card has x4 more storage. Its not by any means a gaming card but it will certainly give the server a graphic boost.
 
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