2 Amd 280x's w/intel chipset or 1 gtx 770

[VirtualLarry]

If the MSI site says 30A on 12V minimum, then your PSU is a fairly stout 36A. In theory, it should be enough.

I'm running two rigs, each with an EVGA 500 B PSU, each with a G3258 CPU @ 3.6, and each with a 7950 (renamed as R9 280).

Which model Antec do you have?
http://database.ul.com/cgi-bin/XYV/...n=versionless&parent_id=1073787374&sequence=1

 

[ROKINRANDY]

If the MSI site says 30A on 12V minimum, then your PSU is a fairly stout 36A. In theory, it should be enough.

I'm running two rigs, each with an EVGA 500 B PSU, each with a G3258 CPU @ 3.6, and each with a 7950 (renamed as R9 280).

Which model Antec do you have?

TP II - 550 or TP2-550 is the model number, and it says it's a true power 2.0, Thanks

 

[EliteRetard]

You'll be OK with that PSU and a Sandy i7 plus 280x as long as you don't have much else.

I see that PSU only has 1x6pin PCIE, and two separate leads with molex. Use one separate run of molex for each of the connections on the 8 pin adapter.

One line has 2 molex and a floppy, and the other line has 3 molex and a floppy.

There is a pair of 2 wire molex connectors only for low power fans, don't use these for the adapter.

 

[EliteRetard]

Decided to make a picture to help clarify:

Use the first molex connector on each string for the 8 pin adapter. Hope that helps.

 

[ROKINRANDY]

Decided to make a picture to help clarify:

Use the first molex connector on each string for the 8 pin adapter. Hope that helps.

Most helpful indeed,Thanks guys.
On the gtx 570 I just carried it to a guys shop and paid him 20 bucks to make the connection to the two 6 pin connectors on the gtx 570 . Then I just had to pay for the 6 pin adapter that he had to add to the two 4 pin molex's. Perhaps that 6 pin from the two 4 pin molex's that he added are already hooked up to the same strings that your are talking about in the pic. That way I can just simply switch them out,I'll have to look.

Well That's why I joined and asked here,Good solid info I've been reading for a couple years now,really glad I finally signed up.

I'm still waiting on the card ,It should be here soon. So I guess I'll try to get familiar with the lines and wiring and psu stuff. If that fails then back to the computer shop.Or maybe I can post some pics of my spaghetti tomorrow.
Thanks so much yall are the best!

 

[EliteRetard]

It should separate out fairly easy, as far as I could find your PSU should be:

1 string for the 20/24pin ATX
1 string for the CPU power (yours is 4pin, but newer models have 6 or 8)
1 string for the 6 pin PCIE
1 string for "fans". There are 2 molex connectors, but these are 2 wire/2pin
2 strings for SATA, with 2 connectors each (total of 4)
---
2 strings for regular molex/floppy. These two strings are what you need.

One string has 2 molex connectors on it, and the other has 3 molex connectors, each with a small floppy connector at the end.

And again, it would be "best" to use the first connector from each string. This should help spread the load on the PSU and help keep you from pulling to much power over one wire.

What else is in your system? I'm assuming something simple like 1x SATA HDD, 1x SATA DVD, and a few fans. All of which should have their own connectors. If you can, it would be nice to avoid using any of the remaining molex connectors on the lines for the 8 pin PCIE adapter (there's some nerd info below).

If your PSU does have a different setup than what I have listed here then yeah a good picture or two will probably be all that's needed to figure something out.

-----------Nerd Info Below------------

You wont be using the red 5v wires for the 8 pin connector, just the yellow 12v. The 8 pin PCIE connector is rated for 150w, about 4 amps at 12v over 3 lines. If you tried to use two molex connectors from the same line you would be pulling all that power over the one yellow 12v which is rated at a max about 8 amp on molex. So essentially you would be pulling 12 amps or 50% over the rated spec for the connector/line.

By using two separate lines you will be pulling around 6 amps from each. Which also doesn't leave much spare power, at least on the 12v line. Though under normal conditions you shouldn't be pulling the max power from that 8 pin PCIE. The 280x uses around 200 watts gaming. Combined with the 75 watt board power and 75 watt 6 pin PCIE cable you have a total of 300 watts to draw from. With some overvolting/overclocking running some heavy GPU program you might get close to 300 watts though.

Edit: Oh and your i7 should have a rated power draw of 95 watts (depending on specific model). Along with a few watts each for fans HDD's ect you should still be under the rated 550w of your PSU.

 

[ROKINRANDY]

I have a minimal system. I built it originally to run vst and to prove to my wife that I could do it. And I did pretty good until it came time for a video card. And I'm still afraid of blowing something up!

But It's in a small atx case and it's as tight as rush hour traffic with a video card in it. It has one exhaust fan and of course the cpu fan. a dvrw drive and a 1 tb hard drive.

The other stuff is a card reader and 2 external drives that I run via usb 3.0 and keyboard and mouse,powered speakers and that's about it.

I might get laughed at but When ever I can get a minute I'll open it up and snap a shot of this system so I can see if these strings match what you listed above.Thank you:thumbsup:

 

[ROKINRANDY]

These are the 2 the guy from the shop used to power my gtx 570..There are 2 6 pin pci-e connectors from the psu and I asked him why he just didn't hook up the 2nd pci-e from the psu..
But he had me buy this 6 pin adapter and made this type of connection instead. He said because something was powered from one molex on the mother board so it would use less power..Or something like that,beats me I was happy it worked.

So can I just put it on the connection by switching out the 8 for the 6 ?????

 

[ROKINRANDY]

And then there is this string of plug ins..unlike where the string has the 6 pin adapter hooked onto it..This string without the adapter has more than just 2 molex's

There are more than 2 molex on here 3 or 4....Do I have to use this string with the top 2 ???
or should I use the other one with the adapter on it?????? that would be awesome!

 

[ROKINRANDY]

I believe the other strings that are left are either irelavant or hooked up to the drives or motherboard itself..
In the top left I believe that is the power for the cpu on the mother board.. And I think it is a 4 pin..Can't remember, I don't build them everyday and this one is going on 4 yrs old,lol

 

[ROKINRANDY]

See this line is hooked up to the HD, This is the only place that I could put it using the gtx 570 so I could use the upper pci-e slot. And I remeber the rule about using the first molex in the chain. I beleiev it's made just for a chain of drives..

 

[ROKINRANDY]

And as I mentioned there are 2 6 pin pci-e.. one is marked "card" in ink because thats the one he used for the 570 and made me buy an adapter for the 2nd 6 pin pci-e port on the gtx 570..

 

[ROKINRANDY]

Another shot of the one with the adapter in front of the old pentium 4 pc that is only used for a off line juke box for the house.
There's only lines left for fan only and the one for the dvd drives and stuff that i didn't load up.So i guess that's my options,Thanks

 

[ROKINRANDY]

Sorry about all the pics, And the mess. Now I'm hungry!

 

[loccothan]

Look at my RIG
Working Great up to 2k
Of course for Gaming i have 4.1 - 4.3 GHz rest is like in Spec.
Now im playin' with Max of 3.85GHz cuz i have SSD as cache for RAID-0 and is a game changer really.
So i dont have to OC CPU that much any longer.

 

[ROKINRANDY]

Look at my RIG
Working Great up to 2k
Of course for Gaming i have 4.1 - 4.3 GHz rest is like in Spec.
Now im playin' with Max of 3.85GHz cuz i have SSD as cache for RAID-0 and is a game changer really.
So i dont have to OC CPU that much any longer.

Wow man! That looks like a really good excellent gaming pc.Super Awesome! That thing is screamin! That PC is Ultramatic, No it's systematic! Why that PC is greased lightnin" :thumbsup:

I didn't see a rig but you have some good specs above.And some good artwork at the link..

But a Rig..I always thought a "rig" was something the pc was used to manage.Like the pc was just a pc and only part of the rig. like with monitors side by side and racks of gear so on and so forth..
Like the pc I want to play games on is being used to run less than half of my rig..Don't think I will I ever do any over clocking while gaming with this PC. I've been told it's best not to overclock because it shortens the life of your pc and you will fry the cpu.
I need it to last and keep rendering data to audio fast and seamlessly as it has been doing for 3 years now.And hopefully longer. The rest of my rig (mics,mixing) is done with the mac and the brand has been the best thing for it for years side by side with anything.

I would like to build a pc (guess I'll call it a rig) just for gaming, 1000 watt psu. Maybe try an Amd fx and overclock it since that is what they are known for and perhaps designed for, I suppose.

I don't know if I'll ever be able to get the wife to agree since she bought an xbox one for Christmas though..To her that's more than plenty good enough and she can't see why I just don't sit down and play on it and be happy..She's a bit pissed off about that.


Now if I could only hook up the PSU with confidence without carrying to the shop And a plate of spaghetti,, MMMM spaghetti

 

[ROKINRANDY]

Of course I might just be paranoid.. Everyone has told me to try not to overclock it wears the system out. About like me not wanting to hook this card up to this power supply because I really don't have much knowledge about electronics.
Electricity;All I have is a healthy respect for it and it makes me nervous

 

[loccothan]

Wow man! That looks like a really good excellent gaming pc.Super Awesome! That thing is screamin! That PC is Ultramatic, No it's systematic! Why that PC is greased lightnin" :thumbsup:

I didn't see a rig but you have some good specs above.And some good artwork at the link..

But a Rig..I always thought a "rig" was something the pc was used to manage.Like the pc was just a pc and only part of the rig. like with monitors side by side and racks of gear so on and so forth..
Like the pc I want to play games on is being used to run less than half of my rig..Don't think I will I ever do any over clocking while gaming with this PC. I've been told it's best not to overclock because it shortens the life of your pc and you will fry the cpu.
I need it to last and keep rendering data to audio fast and seamlessly as it has been doing for 3 years now.And hopefully longer. The rest of my rig (mics,mixing) is done with the mac and the brand has been the best thing for it for years side by side with anything.

I would like to build a pc (guess I'll call it a rig) just for gaming, 1000 watt psu. Maybe try an Amd fx and overclock it since that is what they are known for and perhaps designed for, I suppose.

I don't know if I'll ever be able to get the wife to agree since she bought an xbox one for Christmas though..To her that's more than plenty good enough and she can't see why I just don't sit down and play on it and be happy..She's a bit pissed off about that.


Now if I could only hook up the PSU with confidence without carrying to the shop And a plate of spaghetti,, MMMM spaghetti

THX mate I will upload to my Blog Pictures of My RIG
Now im waiting for RMA delivery (the MkIII 1200 went down, dunno why cuz its runing on 30-40% lol)
So i will, some day, in the meantime you have link on blog to G2A and the Watch Dogs + SP is so cheap

 

[PainIs4ThaWeak]

Happy Randy found these forums. (Been lurking for years, but never registered.)

Thankfully, by way of Craigslist, he was able to find me and allow me to help him out with a 2x Molex to 8-pin PCIe adapter for his new 280x. Though I did send him with a 600W PSU that I wasn't using, just in case he experiences any sudden power-downs when using his new card. I hope all works well for him, and hope he can go ahead and kick some @$$ in his new gaming endeavors now.

Happy you fellas here helped give me a chance to help him.

- Mike

PS - Randy is one of the most "stand-up" guys I have met who is interested in PCs and their ins-and-outs. A truly genuine fellow. I hope everyone in this thread continues to assist him as long as he needs.

 

[ROKINRANDY]

It's time for a new case, Or snips LOL

 

[ROKINRANDY]

Happy Randy found these forums. (Been lurking for years, but never registered.)

Thankfully, by way of Craigslist, he was able to find me and allow me to help him out with a 2x Molex to 8-pin PCIe adapter for his new 280x. Though I did send him with a 600W PSU that I wasn't using, just in case he experiences any sudden power-downs when using his new card. I hope all works well for him, and hope he can go ahead and kick some @$$ in his new gaming endeavors now.

Happy you fellas here helped give me a chance to help him.

- Mike

PS - Randy is one of the most "stand-up" guys I have met who is interested in PCs and their ins-and-outs. A truly genuine fellow. I hope everyone in this thread continues to assist him as long as he needs.

Small world,Thanks Mike

 

[ROKINRANDY]

Hmmmm ????

 

[eton975]

Hmmmm ????

Photo of inside of case pls, so we can see if the setup is wrong.

No smoke came out of the graphics card... right???

 

[ROKINRANDY]

Photo of inside of case pls, so we can see if the setup is wrong.

No smoke came out of the graphics card... right???

If there was smoke then I wouldn't feel the need for a new post .
Unless if I was grabbing a new post out of the ground for flattening furniture !!


There are plenty of pics above so yes the set up is fine,.. I had another graphics card in here and it was just fine..The monitor is fine. The cables are fine. and nothing has changed albut an 8 pin gpu adapter where it used to be a 6 And I even got a pro to make sure that was fine..
I made sure everything was fine already. I always double check everything or take it to a tech if I'm not sure.

And the stuff you can't see in pics like the connections are fine.
I know the difference between cpu and gpu ,etc..I have multi meters. so It's something with this card.. Could be drivers but it's very unlikely I would think,, considering these symptoms...
And it's not my pci e slot because i have this old weak card in it now and it's just fine.....

It's a hard driven card,came in the mail wrapped in plastic and pop corn oozing in static electricity...Or could be the hdmi out but it's definitely that card..I just got a bad card here!!!

Not so much of an lesson of PC building,That was easy..But a hard and perfect example of Stay away from E-bay for video cards. Lesson learned

 

[EliteRetard]

Sorry I bailed on this thread...I got really busy and wasn't home for several days.
Reading what I missed I did have one comment to make even though the card might be whacked. It's about the power hookup.

See how the 6 pin adapter you had was on one string (the molex is daisy chained):

You shouldn't do that with the 8 pin adapter, it draws to much power for a single string (double the power of a 6pin PCIE). You would need to connect the 8 pin to one of the molex on that first string and then connect to another string like this one:

Which appears to be unused at the moment (unless you unplugged it from stuff).

Another possibility since you have 2x 6 pin PCIE is to use an adapter like this (2x 6 to 1x 8):

And keep your current 2x molex to 6 pin connection (not required to split it between strings, but you could).

The reason I bring this up now is because an improperly powered card could act up. If you simply swapped your current 6pin on the one string for the new 8 pin adapter still on the one string, it's possible that could be causing the corrupted screen issue.

As I explained in an earlier post, an 8 pin PCIE connector can draw more power than a line of molex is rated for. Also your PSU has multiple rails (internally), individually they don't provide enough power...you need to draw some from both. Problem is we don't know which line of connectors is on which rail, but it's likely they balanced the lines/rails. It's possible the PSU has a protection circuit that is cutting power if you draw to much from a single molex and/or pull to much from one of the 12v rails. That is why I suggested splitting up the power draw over multiple power strings, in an attempt to balance the load.

All that said, usually if a PSU has an overdraw protection circuit the PC wont boot. So it's possible the card itself is indeed at fault. I don't know where you're at with the card now, whether you got a return or what...but if you still have it you could try the various power hookups I've suggested to see if it corrects the issue.