build problem

[raiger]

Okay, so I finally got all my parts and was putting everything together. Finished getting everything together...and I can't get video from my video card it seems like. Parts list is:

CPU: Intel Core i7-3770K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor
Thermal Compound: Arctic Silver 5 High-Density Polysynthetic Silver 3.5g Thermal Paste
Motherboard: ASRock Z77 Extreme4 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard
Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory
Storage: Samsung 840 Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Disk
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7970 3GB Video Card ($402.38 @ Newegg)
Case: Fractal Design Define R4 w/Window (Black Pearl) ATX Mid Tower Case
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply
Optical Drive: Asus BC-12B1ST/BLK/B/AS Blu-Ray Reader, DVD/CD Writer
Other: Thermalright True Spirit 140

I don't know if i'm doing something stupid/overlooked anything? I'm trying to use displayport.

Now one thing I noticed, and this may either be something idiotic on my part (possible) or my PSU is somehow not good enough...I see two 8 pin connector spots on the card, but I only seemed to have one plug from the PSU that would fit in...but are both supposed to be used? Or is one used by crossfire if you use that?

Sorry if this is dumb, first build and i'm not sure whats up...

 

[Sleepingforest]

Plug in the 8-pin and the 6-pin.

 

[raiger]

Wow, I am a moron...thank you, sorry for such a stupid question!

 

[Sleepingforest]

No problem. I personally have a lot of trouble getting all the front-panel stuff hooked up correctly.

 

[bononos]

......
Now one thing I noticed, and this may either be something idiotic on my part (possible) or my PSU is somehow not good enough...I see two 8 pin connector spots on the card, but I only seemed to have one plug from the PSU that would fit in...but are both supposed to be used? Or is one used by crossfire if you use that?

Sorry if this is dumb, first build and i'm not sure whats up...

You didn't check to see whether the psu has 2 8pin plugs for the video card for which both are needed.
You'll have to get a molex to 8 pin converter like this one to plug into the 2nd 8 pin connector on the card.

 

[Sleepingforest]

Oooh, good catch actually. Is it really two 8-pin or is it an 8-pin and a 6-pin?

 

[raiger]

Two 8 pins but from what I saw online afterwards sounded like doing 8 and 6 would also work...i'll change it out to two 8-pin ones though to be safe. Curious, any idea on what effect it'd have running on 8+6 instead of 8+8?

 

[mfenn]

Two 8 pins but from what I saw online afterwards sounded like doing 8 and 6 would also work...i'll change it out to two 8-pin ones though to be safe. Curious, any idea on what effect it'd have running on 8+6 instead of 8+8?

You can use 8+6 no problem. The difference between a 6-pin and an 8-pin PCIe power connector is that the 8-pin has another +12V and another ground. There's no new voltages being introduced, so the extra pins just give it more current capacity.

 

[raiger]

Thanks for all the info guys. I dug back in and swapped in one of those molex to PCI-E connector adapters and have it with the 8+8 now. Sounds like I would've been fine, but I dug around and found that connector so figured I might as well.

Was fun getting this all setup, now to continue with stability testing & maybe do some minor OCing. Thanks guys!