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The 8pin adapter on the GTX 280 confuses me

W

Wag

Diamond Member
OK, I recently got a eVGA GTX 280 and I have a last generation OCW 1010W PS, with 48amps on the 12v rail, more than enough for it. What confuses me is the 6-8 Pin Y molex adapter (with the warning on the bag that tells you it's a temporary solution and to upgrade your PS) that comes with it. Do I even need to use it? You would think with my PS that something like THIS would be fine?

Would someone clear up exactly what I need?
 
The adapter is fine. You can even overclock with it. The warning is for people with Dells and other pre-built systems that may not have an adequate power supply to power the card.

You'll be ok.
 
Originally posted by: cmdrdredd
The adapter is fine. You can even overclock with it. The warning is for people with Dells and other pre-built systems that may not have an adequate power supply to power the card.

You'll be ok.
Click to expand...

So which is good? The Y one that comes with the board? I already ordered a single 6-8pin adapter (only $5) thinking that would be the one that would be that I needed.
 
Originally posted by: Wag
Originally posted by: cmdrdredd
The adapter is fine. You can even overclock with it. The warning is for people with Dells and other pre-built systems that may not have an adequate power supply to power the card.

You'll be ok.
Click to expand...

So which is good? The Y one that comes with the board? I already ordered a single 6-8pin adapter (only $5) thinking that would be the one that would be that I needed.
Click to expand...

Either way. The PSU you have has enough amps on the +12 rail that it doesn't matter.

Basically PSUs can work in 3 ways.

First they can have a single +12v rail that splits among all the devices connected regardless of the cable.

Second they can have a +12v rail for the PCI-E connections and another for everything else.

Some PSU manufacturers split them up even further. Some even allow you to swap devices onto a different rail and isolate them from the rest of the system. What I mean is you can have 2x PCI-E plugs and each one is on a rail and the other cables are on the 3rd rail. So you can isolate the PSU's rails to your video cards.

There is no better way to do it. Check this link out, great info about this if you're interested. I gave the quick and dirty explination and I know I'm not 100% accurate with everything I said. I'm no expert on how PSUs are setup. http://www.jonnyguru.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3990
 
You should use the Y adapter (with two 6-pins) regardless of your PSU rails. It covers the full 150W that the 8-pin specification allows for. A single 6-pin connector can only disperse 75W safely on its ground pins, in the (unlikely) event of a short.
 
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