Powering a GPU externally for a Poweredge R710

[DudeAnon]

Hey guys,

 

I was considering attempting to put a graphics card into a server that I had sitting around.

 

Ignoring questions about why I would want to do such a thing, I had an issue come up that I was wondering if anyone had a solution to.

 

The PCI-E x16 slots in my server (A Dell Poweredge R710) appear to only be rated for a 25 Watt output. Meaning that even incredibly low powered cards would probably have a tough time running, much less the 1060 6 Gig I'm wanting to put in there. Additionally, I'm afraid that because of the age of the server (it came out in 2009) that any of the ports on the outside of the unit might not be fast enough for a traditional GPU enclosure, which tend to use things like USB Type C.

 

I've seen some products on amazon that look like external boards with only a PCI slot and some connectors coming off of it, including what I believe to be a PCI x1 male connector.

 

My questions are this : 

  *Because the GPU requires a six pin power connector anyways, would I be very heavily affected by this 25 Watt limit if the card isn't drawing power from the x16 slot anyways?

  *Is there an external dock that I could get for my graphics card, and instead of having it connect via a USB type C connector, does one exist that might instead connect to the x16 slot on my board? 

  *If I were to up plug this x1 connector from these aftermarket boards into the x16 slot, would I gain any graphics performance?

  *Am I really off base, and instead of the external PCI-E x16 boards from Amazon, should I instead look for a different solution? 

 

Thanks for your guy's help. I apologize if these seem like dumb questions, I've only really ever done basic rig building, and I don't consider myself too well versed in this type of thing. 

[emosun]

Whats the ultimate goal with the gpu? Id highly recommend not trying to run a card in a slot that is electrically only 25 watts but physically x16. Unless its actually missing those power pins and is only physically a x16 slot with only a 1x link capacity.

 

Id say without any info you could at least use a 1x riser off any pci-e slot safely as thatll force the gpu to only pull what its physically connected to and get the rest from the 6 pin.

[mr fobs]

https://superuser.com/questions/840068/do-graphics-cards-with-power-connectors-still-draw-75w-from-the-pciex16-slot

 

This should answer one of your questions.

 

I am unaware of anyway to wire this up to supply 75 watts.

[DudeAnon]

11 minutes ago, mr fobs said:

https://superuser.com/questions/840068/do-graphics-cards-with-power-connectors-still-draw-75w-from-the-pciex16-slot

 

This should answer one of your questions.

 

I am unaware of anyway to wire this up to supply 75 watts.

Thanks! I think that's actually really helpful, I think connecting the card directly to the x16 on the board is probably a bad call if it means that the card will try to pull the full 75 watts.

13 minutes ago, emosun said:

Whats the ultimate goal with the gpu? Id highly recommend not trying to run a card in a slot that is electrically only 25 watts but physically x16. Unless its actually missing those power pins and is only physically a x16 slot with only a 1x link capacity.

 

Id say without any info you could at least use a 1x riser off any pci-e slot safely as thatll force the gpu to only pull what its physically connected to and get the rest from the 6 pin.

I'm just trying to see if I could get the graphics card to work on the server and provided more graphics processing to the computer. I agree that connecting the card directly to the x16 slot is a bad idea, as it would try to pull 75 watts out of it.

 

According to some quick searches online, the 1060 6gb uses about 125 watts, and according to a different post above, that tends to get split between the 6 pin power connector and the PCI-E slot. If I managed to get the GPU a 6 pin power connector, but used the 1x riser, would it attempt to pull at 125 watts from the 6 pin?

 

Again, sorry for the dumb questions, lol.

[DudeAnon]

Oh, it would also probably be important to show the external adapter I'm talking about specifically : 

It's legit like, an x16 slot, a USB to x1 slot, and then what I believe to be 2 6 pin power connectors to power the thing, as well as another 4 pin? The connectors that this board seems to be powered with look like sata to 6 pin connectors? It seems really sketch. 

[emosun]

Yeah that adapter is for mining rigs and they tend to be cheapo.

 

You still only have a 1x link so I almost think it might be safer for the card to KNOW its only connected via a 1x slot vs using that adapter. Im sure the adapter works but the quality of it looks like a fire hazard

[DudeAnon]

17 hours ago, emosun said:

the quality of it looks like a fire hazard

I agree, lol.

 

When you say "I almost think it might be safer for the card to know its only connected via a 1x slot", what do you mean by that? Like, how would I go about connected it using a 1x, and letting it know that it is?

[emosun]

You use an open 1x riser