4-pin peripheral "molex" to two 6-pin supplementary power connectors?

E

Emton

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Hey I got this computer and I was gonna take the GTX 760 from this other computer and put it in, but there are no 6-pin supplementary power connectors and the 760 requires two of them. There is a free 4 pin molex connector, is there an adapter to give me the two 6-pin from the 4 pin molex? I think the power supply is 450w so I think there would be enough power but I need a way to connect it, would there be any other way like from the motherboard or do I just have to buy a power supply with the 6-pin connectors?
 
A single molex plug is not going to be able to provide an adequate amount of power.
 
hook as many 4 pins as you can to that

what is important is the current handling ability of the yellow wires, if you hook all 6 pins to one yellow wire you are going to have a wire fire
 
molex to 6 pin
http://www.amazon.com/StarTech-com-...qid=1412461699&sr=8-1&keywords=molex+to+6+pin

http://www.amazon.com/C2G-Cables-35...qid=1412461699&sr=8-3&keywords=molex+to+6+pin

http://www.amazon.com/4-Pin-Molex-F...qid=1412461699&sr=8-2&keywords=molex+to+6+pin

A sampling. The bad part is there can be fires if there is a bad pin connection. No more than one 6 pin connector an one SATA or 4 pin connector.

Work for most people.
What is your power supply, computer components, power supply 12volt specification?
 
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wtourist said:
molex to 6 pin
http://www.amazon.com/StarTech-com-...qid=1412461699&sr=8-1&keywords=molex+to+6+pin

http://www.amazon.com/C2G-Cables-35...qid=1412461699&sr=8-3&keywords=molex+to+6+pin

http://www.amazon.com/4-Pin-Molex-F...qid=1412461699&sr=8-2&keywords=molex+to+6+pin

A sampling. The bad part is there can be fires if there is a bad pin connection. No more than one 6 pin connector an one SATA or 4 pin connector.

Work for most people.
What is your power supply, computer components, power supply 12volt specification?
Click to expand...

It's a Lenovo K430 http://shop.lenovo.com/us/en/desktops/ideacentre/k-series/k430/index.html

It has a 450w power supply, i7 3770, nvidia GT 640 card I think (but I'm gonna put in the 760) 12 or 16gb ram not sure which. Well since it only has one molex connector free I think I'm gonna have to get a different power supply anyway, will probably stick with 450w because that should be enough for 3770 and 760 right?
 
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you may not have to

dig in to it and make sure you really don't have more molex hiding in there, also you could get an extender adapter to gang your other accessories up on one wire, they usually don't draw much current, and free some up for the GPU
 
I looked again it seems like that's the only one. The DVD drive, hard drive, and what I think is a slot for an SSD drive use SATA. Why couldn't these people just put in a supply with the two 6-pin connectors ehehehe. Lets say I have to buy a new power supply would this one be pretty good? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817182261

It seems like the only connections from the power supply to the mother board are a 24-pin with "P1" written on the side, and a 4-pin square looking connector with "P2" on it. So I would just need those two and the two 6-pin for the graphics card. I'd rather have a modular if it means no extra wires. Edit: Oh the PSU also has the sata power connectors.
 
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well, its a Lenovo, they are going to cheap out wherever they can

not sure about that PSU, personally I stick to Corsair, Antec, Seasonic
 
There is an electrical property known as current, measured in Amps (or Amperes in the UK). It is the actual number of electrons flowing in the wire. The other property is Voltage. You need both of them to get any work done, in fact Watts is defined as Amps x Volts.

The yellow wires that need to go to the GPU are connected to the PSUs 12 V rail, so Volts we know. Amps we don't really know because the GPU will get some of its current off the PCIe buss but we do know that nVidia saw fit to put 2@6pin connectors on there.

Now, there is one remaining electrical property we call impedance, measured in Ohms. The impedance of a circuit sets the ratio of potential to kinetic energy in a system. Volts are potential, Amps are kinetic. For a lower impedance more current will flow at a given voltage. Think of it like this, if you hook a long ass string of christmas lights to a car battery, that is a lot of resistance/impedance, so not too much current will flow, now drop a 1" copper bar across that same car battery and you are going to have some fireworks...low impedance=high current.

When you load up your GPU it will use more power, that is to say its impedance will drop, and more current WILL flow across those yellow wires to feed it.

Too much current across too small of wires and they get hot, possibly until the plastic insulation drips off and combusts. Believe me. I have done it.

As was stated by the other poster, it seems like people are in fact getting away with feeding those six pins split down to 2 wires from the PSU, but I can't really recommend it. While the wire may in fact take full load the molex pins are sort of notorious for having dodgy contact and melting.

People do get away with it, so its your call. This guy was trying to do it all over one wire, if you look they all hook together and the fire started right where it all pinched down to the one wire back to the PSU.


28hhb49.jpg


here is another instance showing a molex pin

Ljljtg5.jpg
 
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Allrighty thanks for that explanation. I think it's gonna need a new PSU just to be safe.
 
That is certainly the safest course, though in a pinch the 2 wire split will work if you get good solid connections between the splitters and the PSU connectors and do NOT overclock.
 
That Capstone is a solid little superflower based unit. Perfectly capable of handling your load.
 
thanks for stopping in Jorona, I was hoping one of you guys would, I can't keep all the OEMs straight

OP I defer to Jorona on that
 
Well, the 550 watt version of the Capstone is $70 AR, so I would probably pick that.
 
Hmm I'll probably never need 550w, wouldn't it be better to have enough for what I need in a gold rated PSU? So lets say a 450w is at least 100w more than I need wouldn't that be a better fit? GTX 760 is 170w, i7 3770 is 77w that's 247w with about 200w left over for DVD drive, HD and SSD.
 
It never hurts to have more power than you need, especially at the same price with the same quality.
 
I.... I... Just don't know, will 550w draw any more power than a 450w if they have the same efficiency rating?
 
Emton said:
I.... I... Just don't know, will 550w draw any more power than a 450w if they have the same efficiency rating?
Click to expand...

A power supply only outputs as much power as is being demanded from it. If the computer is demanding 200 watts, it will supply 200 watts, regardless of whether it's a 400 watt power supply or 1600 watt power supply. Obviously, they'll be on different spots on the efficiency curve, but a few percent isn't going to make that big of a difference. Besides, the efficiency curve of a 450 watt and 550 watt power supply are nearly identical.
 
Ok well, I've been through this question before but don't really remember what the conclusion was. In your own estimation would the draw difference between a 450w and 550w with the same efficiency be 0w, 0 - 5w, 5 - 10w or more? If it's getting up to something like 10w then I would take the lesser power supply because hey that's 10w wasted for stuff I'm not using. Uh yea I'd like to understand electrical stuff better but I'm kind of slow with it ehehehe
 
Between a 450 watt and 550 watt power supply of the same platform, the difference is going to be 1% or less, on average. I say on average because due to the nature of electrical products, there is going to be deviations from unit to unit. Now, in the context of a 550 watt power supply operating at 450 watts vs a 450 watt power supply operating at 450 watts, that 1% difference means 4.5 watts difference. Your computer won't be drawing anywhere near 450 watts. You're likely maxing out at 300-350 watts, meaning the difference will be on the order of 3.5 watts or less. And depending on where on the efficiency curve you are, the 550 watt power supply may be more efficient than the 450 watt, although I imagine that would probably take place somewhere in the 425 watt range where the 550 watt starts becoming more efficient.
 
Hey still trying to figure out what PSU to get and was wondering about the "output" numbers.
The 450w lists it's output as +3.3V@20A,+5V@20A,+12V@37A,[email protected],+5VSB@3A
And the 550w lists it's output as +3.3V@22A,+5V@22A,[email protected],[email protected],+5VSB@3A
So there is the differences in Amps for each "rail" (if I got that correct). I remember from the lesson Amps are the number of electrons flowing over the wire, but how does this affect how the system runs? Will the graphics card run a little faster with more amps available? Do the wires run hotter or cooler? Help me understand what's going on here.
 
no, the system will not run faster

you will however be able to connect larger loads without overloading the PSU. Put another way you will have more overhead (unused PSU capacity). Or another way your PSU will not be working as close to its limit.

I hope this helps.
 
Those amperage ratings are theoretically max ratings, though actual max is a bit higher on high quality PSUs. Amps is similar to watts. Actually, to get watts, you multiply amps times voltage. Since voltage is constant, wattage and amperage scale with each other. The power supply will only provide as many amps (watts) as the system is demanding.
 
Usually 550/650 watt power supplies go on sale and or have rebates more often then 450 watt ones.
You usually get more video card 6 pin and or 6/8 pin connectors.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...7182066&cm_re=capstone-_-17-182-066-_-Product

450 is $60, 550 is $70 just had a $10 rebate and $10 discount code, not today
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...7182068&cm_re=capstone-_-17-182-068-_-Product

550M (Modular) $80 before $10 rebate= $70
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...7182262&cm_re=capstone-_-17-182-262-_-Product

Rosewill Hive, 650 watt Bronze, not as good as Capstone but decent $80 before $20 rebate
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817182132&cm_re=hive-_-17-182-132-_-Product
 
Do the wires run hotter as you approach the maximum amp draw? Will the wires run any cooler with more overhead?
 
Your system is going to draw the same amount of power regardless of which power supply you use. The power supply doesn't determine power draw, your system components do. You are overthinking this purchase.

If you want to delve into the basics of electricity (which is essentially what you are doing by asking these questions), I suggest taking some sort of basic electrical engineering course. Or electric physics course.

To answer your question:

How hot the wires get is based on amperage and resistance of the wire. The more amps going through the wire, the hotter it will get. The thicker the wire, the less resistance it has, so the cooler it will be for the same amperage. For the purposes of your system, the wires will heat up the exact same amount regardless of the power supply, because your system is going to draw the exact same amount of amps.
 
I fear I may have led him down this path of overthinking with my earlier treatise.

OP, everything Tsumi has said is correct.

What makes the wires run cooler is more wires. All of the PSUs you are considering have the 12 wires to feed your card.

We still advise purchasing a bit extra PSU (within reason) so it is not operating near its limits, it will run cooler and last longer.
 
Allright allright I was just curious and I waited too long for the order to ship for the day so I figured I'd ask about it. I'm gonna get the 450w, I was thinking maybe the 550w would be better if I was gonna maybe run 2 videocards some day but then it would probably be better to have 650w or so for that and it's unlikely I'll be doing that anyway. Thanks for the suggestions.

Edit: Then again if 550w runs a little cooler and lasts longer I might get that. Ohh this is so difficult I know I'll flip a coin.
Edit 2: Ok the coin landed on heads so I got the 550w, seriously though I got the 550w cause I figure it'll be better for the psu to be operating around 50 - 60% rather than 65 - 75% Maybe it doesn't matter either way, I want to get one of those watt meter things.
 
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Emton said:
Allright allright I was just curious and I waited too long for the order to ship for the day so I figured I'd ask about it. I'm gonna get the 450w, I was thinking maybe the 550w would be better if I was gonna maybe run 2 videocards some day but then it would probably be better to have 650w or so for that and it's unlikely I'll be doing that anyway. Thanks for the suggestions.

Edit: Then again if 550w runs a little cooler and lasts longer I might get that. Ohh this is so difficult I know I'll flip a coin.
Edit 2: Ok the coin landed on heads so I got the 550w, seriously though I got the 550w cause I figure it'll be better for the psu to be operating around 50 - 60% rather than 65 - 75% Maybe it doesn't matter either way, I want to get one of those watt meter things.
Click to expand...

its not difficult at all.......always oversize the power supply if you have any possibility at all of adding more load, as in more cards....think of it this way id rather have my supply running at 50% max load than 90% max load any day......there more efficient (uses less power) and as such will be cooler as well and usually will last longer because of this

But hey do what you want...in my opinion for any pc enthusiast a 600 watt good name brand is bare min for any pc build since most all power supply's over state there actual load capacity with some exceptions of course.....in other words i would rather buy one supply to last me a good while instead of having to purchase another down the line since you take a chance of overloading it if you all a sudden decide to run sli or get a more powerful card one day
 
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