Modding 8-pin PCI-E?

[rls669]

I just bought a used 4870X2 and discovered that my psu only has 2 6-pin connectors and the card's original owner lost the 8-pin pci-e adapter. I can't find an adapter locally and it'll cost me over $20 -- and more importantly, take a week -- to get one shipped.

Now forgive me if this is stupid, but from what I've read the extra 2 pins on the 8-pin plug just go to ground anyway, so would it be retarded to use the 6-pin and mod a little 2-pin plug to run the other 2 pins to ground?

Alternatively, my modular psu can have either the 2nd pci-e or a 2nd cpu power cable in the same slot, so obviously the connections at the psu end are the same for both cables. Would it make more sense to rewire the extra 8-pin cpu plug to function as a pci-e?

 

[DTN107]

It should work. Corsair did a similar thing with the 620HX. Early models didn't have an 8-pin pci-e. Rather than re-make the whole PSU they re-made the modular cable.

 

[rls669]

Thanks, I gave it a try and whaddaya know, it worked. I cut off one of the 4-pin plugs from the extra cpu cable I'm not using, dremelled it in half to make a +2 plug, and spliced it into two of the ground wires from the 6 pin.