PCI-E and Power Supplies...

[Caveman]

What does "PCI-E ready" mean? Almost sounds like other PSs aren't ready... Will I have to buy some adapters or something for the power hookups? I don't get it... Can someone turn the light on for me?

 

[UberL33tJarad]

if the PSU says PCI-Express ready, it means just that. you can use it in any rig it fits, ATX form factor, whether it be AGP or PCI-Express. you shouldn't need any adapters. i'm not too familiar with PCI-Express, so wait for other's feedback.

 

[ViRGE]

My best guess is that if it's PCIe ready, it will have the 24pin ATX power connector needed for Intel 9xx boards, and one of the new 6 pin video card power connectors that PCIe cards use(instead of multiple 4 pin molex connectors). See here for more details.

 

[flexy]

thats misleading and confusing. Because new boards (eg. the nforce 4 boards) WILL include the 2molex ---> pci-e power adapter [see the gigabyte nforce 4 review at pctstats, the board will come with such an adapter)....if NOT, you still can buy such an adapter for $7 everywhere, eg newegg.

The only difference is that there are two PSU connector-standards now, eg. 20pin (older) and 24Pin (newer)...while this is also (MOSTLY) irrelevant since the new boards should support BOTH standards. The pci-e cards will always have an extra power connector anyway.

Maybe they are referring to the amperes the PSU is able to put out...i dont know...so for the new boards with pci-e board its recommended that you get either a PSU with the new 24Pin standard AND two seperate 12V rails (eg one with 15A.ther rail with 16A or so,).....OR a decent PSU with only one 12V railbut with high ampers, (eg 30A ++).

"not pci-e ready" for me probably means "not enough amps on the 12V rail"...in other words: Its too weak

 

[Caveman]

So, what's the bottom line for folks that are gearing up for a PCI-E machine? Can I use an "older" PSU like an Enermaxk noisetaker in the 500-550W range and be fine? It appears from what the posts above are saying, the MBs will come with adapters if needed...

 

[ViRGE]

As long as you've got an adapter, the PCIe video card plug shouldn't be an issue(though it'll cost you 2 molexs). If you're getting a 9xx series mobo though, you'll have to look up the mobo issue.