GTX 1650 Super - Sata to 6pin

[James V]

My Dad has been bugging me for a long time to get him different computer, his current DDR2 era one is terrible, the GPU is dying and just a few too many open Chrome browsers bring the tower to a crawl. Running anything besides Runescape at 720p/lowest settings is out of the question. So for his birthday this year I scored a great deal on a used HP Elitedesk 800 G2 TWR. It's got the standard 280w 80 Plus Platinum PSU, an i5 6500, 16GB of RAM, 120GB SSD for the OS, and a 1TB HDD. Runs great and looks pretty clean. It's just waiting for a graphics card. I've been reading all the forum posts about it and have watched far too many videos. As it stands the best that it will normally accommodate is the GTX 1650, however it's very tempting to order the best quality sata to 6pin adapter I can find and go with a 1650 Super. I know there's a lot of stigma and risk surrounding using adapters for GPUs (with due reason) and I know the sata is only rated at about 50w, but the card is only 100 TDP, just 25 more watts than it's older, slower brother. It seems that many people are trying to use the adapters for GPUs that have a much higher TDP (120-180w), and that trying to push it that far could certainly be a cause for concern. Is it asking too much for it to help run the Super? How much of the maximum 75W will the PCIE slot actually provide? It's hard to ignore the performance difference for only 10-20$ more, but is it worth the risk?

 

In case it matters, my sata power cables from the PSU are 20AWG. 

 

 

 

[AndreiArgeanu]

The 1650 super with the rest of the system combined can consume up to 280W basically meaning that you're putting a huge stress on the 280W power supply. You could potentially go with your method and use a sata to 6 pin but I highly suggest you undervolt both the cpu and gpu to stay withing safe limits if you don't plan to use a different power supply. You might also want to stress test it as well to check for stability regardles off whether you're undervolting or not.

[ewitte]

If  the wattage is sufficient I wouldn't worry about an adapter on that card it maxes out at 100W and the slot can provide up to 25W.  Its not overly difficult to power.  I have one of these in my server although I have a 650W one of the two Seasonics (the 850 died) I had way back when I was mining.

[mariushm]

I would encourage you to NOT use that adapter. 

 

The SATA connector is only rated for 4.5A ( 3 x 1.5A pins) ...so at most it can do 12v x 4.5A = 54 watts , while a 6 pin connector is supposed to give the video card up to 75 watts. 

 

Also, in reality, I wouldn't used a molded SATA connector for more than 3A of current, or around 40 watts, simply because the connector will heat up and a molded connector may deform and cause shorts or burn itself. 

A crimped connector (where each wire is crimped into a pin which then slides inside the connector housing, and you can pull out individual pins if needed) would be more suitable... and if you absolutely have to use an adapter with SATA connectors, use 2 x sata -> pci-e 6pin.

 

If you have molex connectors (old style hdd), use an adapter that converts 1 or 2 molex connectors to a pci-e 6 pin or 6+2 ... the molex connector is good for up to 5A (~60w) and can actually do that much, it's made of thicker plastic and bigger contacts inside the housing.

 

As for the video card, a 1650 will consume up to 90-100 watts, will take some power through the pci-e slot and some power from 6 pin connector.  It can work on a good 280w psu. 

 

[James V]

8 hours ago, AndreiArgeanu said:

The 1650 super with the rest of the system combined can consume up to 280W basically meaning that you're putting a huge stress on the 280W power supply. You could potentially go with your method and use a sata to 6 pin but I highly suggest you undervolt both the cpu and gpu to stay withing safe limits if you don't plan to use a different power supply. You might also want to stress test it as well to check for stability regardles off whether you're undervolting or not.

 

7 hours ago, mariushm said:

The SATA connector is only rated for 4.5A ( 3 x 1.5A pins) ...so at most it can do 12v x 4.5A = 54 watts , while a 6 pin connector is supposed to give the video card up to 75 watts. 

 

A crimped connector (where each wire is crimped into a pin which then slides inside the connector housing, and you can pull out individual pins if needed) would be more suitable... and if you absolutely have to use an adapter with SATA connectors, use 2 x sata -> pci-e 6pin.

 

If you have molex connectors (old style hdd), use an adapter that converts 1 or 2 molex connectors to a pci-e 6 pin or 6+2 ... the molex connector is good for up to 5A (~60w) and can actually do that much, it's made of thicker plastic and bigger contacts inside the housing.

 

As for the video card, a 1650 will consume up to 90-100 watts, will take some power through the pci-e slot and some power from 6 pin connector.  It can work on a good 280w psu. 

 

I wouldn’t mind undervolting and boost-limiting the GPU as a 1650 Super “limited” would still preform quite a bit better than a normal 1650. I’m not to worried about the CPU as it’s only 65 TDP. 
 

Unfortunately I have no molex lines and my 2 x Sata is already occupied (Which still only has the one 12v wire so I’m not sure how much better that would even be). 
 

Does anyone know how much energy the slot will actually take when the GPU is connected to the PSU as well. Obviously if it’s a normal 1650 75W, then all the power would come from the slot, but if it’s a 6-pin Super Card, then how does it usually split the difference? Do all cards vary greatly on this factor, or is there a norm to this?
 

And not to try to cop out, but a lot of people have used the adapter on these pre-configured work stations and I can’t find anyone saying/showing that they’ve melted something or ruined their system with a paltry 100w GPU. Not saying that makes it right, but does anyone on here have experience with doing this with this exact card in a home PC? 

[SMITHBEATZ]

I've had great experiences with using a Sapphire Radeon RX550 that does not require external power. I have SATA to 6 and 8 pins, but I wouldn't use them if I didn't have to. I've used them in Optiplex 390 builds with an i5-2400, 8GB DDR3 RAM 1333Mhz, and the stock 285 watt PSU. The GPU runs many games at well over 60Fps at 1080p. Fortnite, Cuisine Royale, Dauntless, etc. Some games I've dropped to 720p, but high qualities. Using RivaTuner CPU/GPU usage, it isn't a bottleneck for this level CPU. I've also been able to up the GPU speeds a bit (1,131Mhz) and the Memory speeds to 1950Mhz from 1071Mhz/1500Mhz.. Here's a link. https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000233881635.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.35ae4c4dag7RJn

[mariushm]

You could just get a regular ATX power supply and an adapter cable to convert the 24 pin atx plug to the one the motherboard wants.

It's around $10 :

https://www.ebay.com/itm/30cm-24-Pin-to-6-Pin-Power-Supply-Adapter-Cable-for-HP-Elite-8100-8200-8300-800G/273948899900

 

You can shove there a 400-500w power supply, maybe the psu from the old system if it has decent watts on the 12v output.  Then you can start worrying about adapter cables and what video card to get.

 

 

 

[James V]

I think biggest question I have is how much power will the slot actually pull??? If it does the full 75w, or something close. Then it’s that simple and the adapter should be fine, if it’s only 25-40 watts, then it could be a problem.