280 - the 6 and 8 pin power requirement.

L

lewchenko

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jul 30, 2004
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My powersupply is a 600W Seasonic which comes with 2x 6pin power sockets for the GPU (currently an 8800GTX).

If I were to buy a BFG 280 which needs a 6 pin and an 8 pin PSU connector will the 280 come with an adapter ???

I would hate to order one and find it wasnt in the box ?.. or that it simply wouldnt work. The Anandtech review said (and I quote) : "You'll need a power supply that can deliver up to 236W for the card itself and you'll need both a 6-pin and an 8-pin PCIe power connector (the board won't work with two 6-pin connectors)"

Kinda worries me... (The 236 is fine...) but the statement about not working with 2 - 6pin connectors...He didnt even mention anything about an adapter ?
 
you can use an adapter for a pair of standard 4 pin molex (hd/fan power etc) to 8 pin but its probably hard on the power supply

my 650w antec had a 6pin and a 6+2 pin connector and it worked just fine.
 
My Corsair HX 520W handles it just fine with an 8-pin adapter on one of the 6-pin PCI-E connectors. I'm running a GTX 280, Q6600 Core 2 Quad @ 3.15ghz, 4GB RAM, 7 120mm case fans, an optical, two hard drives, etc. without issue off of it. So, seeing as how Seasonics are good PSU's, you should be fine with a 6-to-8-pin adapter for one of your PCI-E 6-pin plugs. Remember, most PSU's even with native 8-pin connectors just route the two extra grounds to two of the normal 6-pin grounds anyway internally, so it's not much different than that would be.
 
YOU USE THE 2 6 PIN PLUGS ON YOUR PS FOR THE 8 PIN AND 2 4PIN MOLEX PLUGS FOR THE 6 PIN ADAPTOR. THAT IS HOW EVGA UNIT WAS SUPPLIED
 
CHECKUP said:
YOU USE THE 2 6 PIN PLUGS ON YOUR PS FOR THE 8 PIN AND 2 4PIN MOLEX PLUGS FOR THE 6 PIN ADAPTOR. THAT IS HOW EVGA UNIT WAS SUPPLIED
Click to expand...

No need for capslock. But just so you guys know these adapters are not necessarily recommended as a permanent solution but rather a temporary one until you get a PSU with an 8pin connector.
 
the adapter is fine, the extra 2 pins are just grounds, it's not like your PS is being overtaxed using a 6 to 8 pin adapter.
 
My Corsir HX520 come with a PCI-E 6+2 wire (a 6-pin plug with 2 wires getting out of that plug to make 2 extra pins) and since it's ground, it doesn't matter.

 
RussianHAXOR said:
No need for capslock. But just so you guys know these adapters are not necessarily recommended as a permanent solution but rather a temporary one until you get a PSU with an 8pin connector.
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There is absolutely no difference. Those extra 2 grounds are from the 2 grounds already on the connector. If there were 2 completely new grounds I would agree that an adapter should not be used. You can just get two extra wires and splice them into two ground wires. That's exactly how the 8 pin power connector looks like. Both 6 pin and 8 pin have 3 power wires and 3 ground wires. The only reason I can see for this move would be to lower the connector impedence. I don't think I ever saw a clear explanation as to why they went to 8 pin. I expected 4 power and 4 seperate grounds when I first heard about it.

pcie-connectors.jpg
 
Don't forget however that the 8 pin plug is rated at 150W, the 6 pin plug only 75W. Adapters shouldn't be a problem for quality PSUs however.
 
DaNotoriousDOM said:
There is absolutely no difference. Those extra 2 grounds are from the 2 grounds already on the connector. If there were 2 completely new grounds I would agree that an adapter should not be used. You can just get two extra wires and splice them into two ground wires. That's exactly how the 8 pin power connector looks like. Both 6 pin and 8 pin have 3 power wires and 3 ground wires. The only reason I can see for this move would be to lower the connector impedence. I don't think I ever saw a clear explanation as to why they went to 8 pin. I expected 4 power and 4 seperate grounds when I first heard about it.

pcie-connectors.jpg
Click to expand...

Lots of the adapters being used arent necessarily UL ceritified to handle the jump in wattage and those that are, arent necessarily considered something that you would want to always have running.
 
My 280 came with an adaptor, two six go to one 8 with this adaptor an i use a 6 pin from my other pair for the 6 pin on the card. My quad came with four 6 piners. If you are not fortunate enough to have 4 6 piners the bfg that I got did not have the molex to 8 pin type just the two 6 to one 8 pin , I hope that helps
 
DaNotoriousDOM is most likely correct. There is no reason for the extra grounds except for impedence matching. This card draws a lot of power, which makes impedence matching important. Using a molex -> PCI-E adaptor is simply not a good idea, even if ndivia gives them to you in the box. A six-pin to 8-pin PCI adaptor will work fine though.
 
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