Run GPU with or without 8pin adapter?

[XeonKyle]

I purchased a MSI RX480 Armor Edition, which has a 8 pin socket. However, my power supply only has a free 6pin plug. I have been using the 6 pin plug for the past couple of weeks and can confirm that the card at least works, but will I gain any kind of stability or OC headroom by using a 6 to 8 pin adapter? I’m just wondering if the GPU detects the 6pin and puts on a current limit or something. Thanks.

[Jaxzzzzz]

1 minute ago, XeonKyle said:

I purchased a MSI RX480 Armor Edition, which has a 8 pin socket. However, my power supply only has a free 6pin plug. I have been using the 6 pin plug for the past couple of weeks and can confirm that the card at least works, but will I gain any kind of stability or OC headroom by using a 6 to 8 pin adapter? I’m just wondering if the GPU detects the 6pin and puts on a current limit or something. Thanks.

yes, what your doing rn is not going to be good long term and if your gpu draws more power than the connector or the psu can handle your system is going to crash, what is the wattage and raiting of your psu

[Mira Yurizaki]

Yes, the GPU knows it's a 6-pin connector because one of the 2 extra pins on the 8-pin connector is a sense pin. So it won't draw any more power than what the 6-pin was rated for.

 

You'll miss out is OC headroom, since the RX480 by default is a 150W card and PCIe + 6-pin offers 150W. There may be stability issues if the GPU has power spikes, but that's about it.

[Fasauceome]

Just now, Jaxzzzzz said:

what is the wattage and raiting of your psu

I would prioritize make and model over wattage and rating

[Jaxzzzzz]

Just now, fasauceome said:

I would prioritize make and model over wattage and rating

I think were getting at the same thing here which is get a solid psu thats not a fire waiting to happen, I was wondering the raiting to see if it had 80 plus anything, im not saying he needs a gold psu

[Fasauceome]

4 minutes ago, Jaxzzzzz said:

I think were getting at the same thing here which is get a solid psu thats not a fire waiting to happen, I was wondering the raiting to see if it had 80 plus anything, im not saying he needs a gold psu

Yeah but there are pretty bad 80+ rated power supplies, fire hazard bargain bin stuff

[Jaxzzzzz]

1 minute ago, fasauceome said:

Yeah but there are pretty bad 80+ rated power supplies, fire hazard bargain bin stuff

i know that but thats why you go with a reputabe company (not evga for their b series)

[XeonKyle]

@Jaxzzzzz

@fasauceome

 475W 80+ Bronze PSU that came with the computer. It is an older HP Z400 workstation that I’ve repurposed for light gaming.

 

Right now it has a Xeon W3690 at  ~160W, 6 sticks of 4GB DDR3 1333MHz, an m.2 SSD, and the aforementioned RX480. I assume I’ll be coming close to the limit of the PSU?

 

[Jaxzzzzz]

Just now, XeonKyle said:

@Jaxzzzzz

@fasauceome

 475W 80+ Bronze PSU that came with the computer. It is an older HP Z400 workstation that I’ve repurposed for light gaming.

 

Right now it has a Xeon W3690 at  ~160W, 6 sticks of 4GB DDR3 1333MHz, an m.2 SSD, and the aforementioned RX480. I assume I’ll be coming close to the limit of the PSU?

 

yea i would chuck that out asap, go for a master watt 550 or something 

[Fasauceome]

9 minutes ago, Jaxzzzzz said:

i know that but thats why you go with a reputabe company (not evga for their b series)

EVGA makes great power supplies, the G1 and G2 are excellent. It's best not to he brand loyal with power supplies, every company makes bad ones, like Corsair's green label CX units or VS series.

Check out the tier list, it'll help clarify things

 

As a rule of thumb @XeonKyle only use a PSU that has appropriate connectors for your device. Only having 6 PCIe power pins means the PSU is unsuitable for an 8 pin device