Radeon 4850 without 6 pin connector ok for 2D?

[Barfo]

I'm building a desktop computer for my mom out of spare parts I have lying around and was wondering, since she won't be using any 3D apps whatsoever, if it would do any harm to use the card without connecting it to the PSU. I'm also thinking it will use less power this way.

Thoughts?

 

[Phynaz]

Most likely will not boot.

 

[Ventanni]

Probably won't boot. You can get a few molex to 6-pin adapters though for extremely cheap though to get around it. I know the whole point is to not spend any money, but if you can find the 4850 box, it might have the adapters in it already.

 

[Barfo]

Probably won't boot. You can get a few molex to 6-pin adapters though for extremely cheap though to get around it. I know the whole point is to not spend any money, but if you can find the 4850 box, it might have the adapters in it already.

Oh, the PSU has the connector, I was just looking for ways to reduce power consumption, thanks.

 

[Ventanni]

The 4850 will only draw the 110w if it starts churning 3D. In a 2D workload though, it's going to be sipping power, but it probably won't let you boot it though without the 6-pin.

 

[jacktesterson]

Oh, the PSU has the connector, I was just looking for ways to reduce power consumption, thanks.

The card is still going to ramp up in frequencies at times in 2D mode.

Not plugging it in will simply cause issues. Probably won't even boot as I'm fairly sure the cards boot at full frequencies until Drivers kick in on boot.

 

[Blue_Max]

It's smart enough to only draw as much power as it needs (quite low in desktop/2D) but what processor/mobo are you using that it has no IGP?

 

[Barfo]

It's smart enough to only draw as much power as it needs (quite low in desktop/2D) but what processor/mobo are you using that it has no IGP?

Asus P5Q PRO and a Core 2 E8400

 

[Insert_Nickname]

It's smart enough to only draw as much power as it needs (quite low in desktop/2D)

The 48xx series where always quite power hungry, even in 2D. You should expect in the region of 40-50W for the card when idle. AMD idle power management was significantly improved in the 5000 series.

 

[Blue_Max]

Asus P5Q PRO and a Core 2 E8400

Ah - very nice board! Overkill in this case. You could always try to trade that high-speed Radeon for a low-power non-gamer card instead... many people will jump at the chance for a gaming upgrade, while she would gain a fanless, silent card with newer features like an HDMI connector, etc.

 

[ElFenix]

The 48xx series where always quite power hungry, even in 2D. You should expect in the region of 40-50W for the card when idle. AMD idle power management was significantly improved in the 5000 series.

yep. my idle power dropped substantially going from a 4870 to a 7950. ~40 watts or so.

 

[Barfo]

The 48xx series where always quite power hungry, even in 2D. You should expect in the region of 40-50W for the card when idle. AMD idle power management was significantly improved in the 5000 series.

Yup, this is exactly what I was trying to avoid.

Ah - very nice board! Overkill in this case. You could always try to trade that high-speed Radeon for a low-power non-gamer card instead... many people will jump at the chance for a gaming upgrade, while she would gain a fanless, silent card with newer features like an HDMI connector, etc.

Thanks and good idea! I'll look for any takers.

 

[lyssword]

6pin makes no difference in power consumption, its just a backup if power usage goes above 75w

 

[wlee15]

The 48xx series where always quite power hungry, even in 2D. You should expect in the region of 40-50W for the card when idle. AMD idle power management was significantly improved in the 5000 series.

That was only true for 4870 cards because they didn't downclock the GDDR5 memory at idle because it would briefly cause on-screen corruption when the memory clock changed. That wasn't a problem with the 4850 because it used GDDR3 (and one card from Sapphire used GDDR4) which could downclock.

 

[VirtualLarry]

That was only true for 4870 cards because they didn't downclock the GDDR5 memory at idle because it would briefly cause on-screen corruption when the memory clock changed. That wasn't a problem with the 4850 because it used GDDR3 (and one card from Sapphire used GDDR4) which could downclock.

I have a VisionTek (reference) HD4850 512MB (I think GDDR3?) card in my other box, running DC. My understanding is that even the DDR3 cards still had pretty high idle power.

ZeroCore was a feature of newer AMD cards, and was not present on the older 4xxx series.

Try to pick up a cheap 5450 card, if it's just for display output. I think Newegg has one in their BF sale for $20 with a $10 rebate. That, or a cheap GT610 AR. Both cards are very entry-level, and are even eclipsed by newer APUs/IGPs.

Truth be told, repurposing older gear always seems to have a cost, as far as power-consumption goes. If you really care that much about it, a cheap FM2/FM2+ micro-ATX board, with SATA 6G and USB 3.0, can be had for $50 or so, and then drop in a dual-core AMD APU with a half-decent IGP on-die, and some cheap DDR3, and a cheap SSD (possibly refurbed if you go that way), and she would have a power-sipping rig, instead of a hand-me-down gaming rig outdated monster.

 

[Insert_Nickname]

That was only true for 4870 cards because they didn't downclock the GDDR5 memory at idle because it would briefly cause on-screen corruption when the memory clock changed. That wasn't a problem with the 4850 because it used GDDR3 (and one card from Sapphire used GDDR4) which could downclock.

I have a VisionTek (reference) HD4850 512MB (I think GDDR3?) card in my other box, running DC. My understanding is that even the DDR3 cards still had pretty high idle power.

I can only say from personal experience that my old reference 4850 consumed ~45W at idle. The 4870's where even worse.