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Power Solution for a 290X Lightning

byalexandr
By byalexandr
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I couldn't resist that Hawaii sweetness so I bought a certain forumer's 290X Lightning (thanks man!), and the card has two 8-pin and a single 6-pin for power, the 6-pin IIRC is optional. Currently I have three power supplies, none of which can power the beast of a card on their own. The three power supplies are:

 

-My nice and reliable Silverstone SFX 450W. It has a single 8-pin and a single 6-pin for PCI-E.

 

-My kind of old and sketchy EVGA 400W (that I ran my old overclocked 290 on). It also has a single 8-pin and single 6-pin.

 

-And some weird branded 500W that has two 6-pin power connectors. I honestly don't trust it but it's been powering my dad's PC for a while so at least it works.

 

What route should I go of powering the card? I want to play it safe, but I know I will have to use one of the two sketchy PSUs, with the paperclip-bridge-in-the-24-pin trick. Right now I'm thinking of powering the my system with the Silverstone 450W, and one of the 8-pins along with the 6-pin, and then using the 8-pin on the EVGA unit to fill the remaining 8-pin on the card. Any ideas? This is temporary of course, I'll be buying a nice high wattage unit that will power the card sufficiently as I hate to run such a nice card with this garbage.

 

Thanks, @byalexandr

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2 minutes ago, byalexandr said:

I couldn't resist that Hawaii sweetness so I bought a certain forumer's 290X Lightning (thanks man!), and the card has two 8-pin and a single 6-pin for power, the 6-pin IIRC is optional. Currently I have three power supplies, none of which can power the beast of a card on their own. The three power supplies are:

 

-My nice and reliable Silverstone SFX 450W. It has a single 8-pin and a single 6-pin for PCI-E.

 

-My kind of old and sketchy EVGA 400W (that I ran my old overclocked 290 on). It also has a single 8-pin and single 6-pin.

 

-And some weird branded 500W that has two 6-pin power connectors. I honestly don't trust it but it's been powering my dad's PC for a while so at least it works.

 

What route should I go of powering the card? I want to play it safe, but I know I will have to use one of the two sketchy PSUs, with the paperclip-bridge-in-the-24-pin trick. Right now I'm thinking of powering the my system with the Silverstone 450W, and one of the 8-pins along with the 6-pin, and then using the 8-pin on the EVGA unit to fill the remaining 8-pin on the card. Any ideas? This is temporary of course, I'll be buying a nice high wattage unit that will power the card sufficiently as I hate to run such a nice card with this garbage.

 

Thanks, @byalexandr

The 290X Lightning is one of very few single GPU options that I would say is dangerous to put in a 450W system. I would get a used PSU that you can afford or something like that.

My account is almost entirely dormant. Hope you all are having a grand time. Many years of fun were had here.

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Just now, STRMfrmXMN said:

The 290X Lightning is one of very few single GPU options that I would say is dangerous to put in a 450W system. I would get a used PSU that you can afford or something like that.

Which is why I'm supplementing the power with another PSU, so they share the load. I won't be overclocking until I get a new unit, so I guess I wouldn't even need the last 6-pin on the card.

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I would use the silverstone and ghetto mod the evga one to power the 290x.

But that's quite risky... Or get a decent 2nd hand psu.

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2 minutes ago, byalexandr said:

Which is why I'm supplementing the power with another PSU, so they share the load. I won't be overclocking until I get a new unit, so I guess I wouldn't even need the last 6-pin on the card.

I would probably run the GPU undervolted to keep temps low and power draw easy for the Silverstone until you get another PSU.

My account is almost entirely dormant. Hope you all are having a grand time. Many years of fun were had here.

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Just now, samcool55 said:

I would use the silverstone and ghetto mod the evga one to power the 290x.

But that's quite risky... Or get a decent 2nd hand psu.

That's what I was thinking.

 

Basically have the Silverstone powering the rest of the system and part of the GPU, and then the EVGA one solely powering the other part of the GPU.

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Just now, STRMfrmXMN said:

I would probably run the GPU undervolted to keep temps low and power draw easy for the Silverstone until you get another PSU.

It still has two 8-pins, my Silverstone has an 8-pin and 6-pin. So even if I downclock the card, enough for it to be okay on the Silverstone alone, I'd need some sort of molex to PCI-E adapter or something.

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Just now, byalexandr said:

It still has two 8-pins, my Silverstone has an 8-pin and 6-pin. So even if I downclock the card, enough for it to be okay on the Silverstone alone, I'd need some sort of molex to PCI-E adapter or something.

Does the card not boot with a 6-pin and 8-pin only plugged in?

My account is almost entirely dormant. Hope you all are having a grand time. Many years of fun were had here.

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Just now, STRMfrmXMN said:

Does the card not boot with a 6-pin and 8-pin only plugged in?

It requires the two 8-pin connectors, and then the 6-pin is optional if you want to go hard on the OC. I don't know if you can just plug the 6-pin into the 8-pin socket or not, I know it will physically but I don't yet have the card to test if it boots with just the 6-pin on the second 8-pin connector.

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Just now, byalexandr said:

It requires the two 8-pin connectors, and then the 6-pin is optional if you want to go hard on the OC. I don't know if you can just plug the 6-pin into the 8-pin socket or not, I know it will physically but I don't yet have the card to test if it boots with just the 6-pin on the second 8-pin connector.

Hmm, best to jerry rig the thing with the EVGA for now. 

 

I can't believe I just said that, slap me silly.

 

Get an EVGA GS/G2/GQ/B2 that provides at least 650W to be nice and safe and you'll be good :)

My account is almost entirely dormant. Hope you all are having a grand time. Many years of fun were had here.

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1 minute ago, STRMfrmXMN said:

Hmm, best to jerry rig the thing with the EVGA for now. 

 

I can't believe I just said that, slap me silly.

 

Get an EVGA GS/G2/GQ/B2 that provides at least 650W to be nice and safe and you'll be good :)

It should be fine with it, the only thing I'm worried about is that the EVGA unit will sometimes be providing power even though the Silverstone unit may be off, because once I bridge the 24-pin it thinks it's on until I remove it.

 

Like if I shut down, the Silverstone unit turns off with the rest of the system but the EVGA unit keeps giving power until I remove that bridge thingy. I'm not sure if it can damage the card if it does that, maybe I should get those 24-pin things that are made for turning both PSUs on and off at the same time.

 

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1 minute ago, byalexandr said:

It should be fine with it, the only thing I'm worried about is that the EVGA unit will sometimes be providing power even though the Silverstone unit may be off, because once I bridge the 24-pin it thinks it's on until I remove it.

 

Like if I shut down, the Silverstone unit turns off with the rest of the system but the EVGA unit keeps giving power until I remove that bridge thingy. I'm not sure if it can damage the card if it does that, maybe I should get those 24-pin things that are made for turning both PSUs on and off at the same time.

 

Flip the switch on both at the same time to turn them off forcefully. It's not a great solution and will result in Windows hating you but it's all temporary, right?

My account is almost entirely dormant. Hope you all are having a grand time. Many years of fun were had here.

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Just now, STRMfrmXMN said:

Flip the switch on both at the same time to turn them off forcefully. It's not a great solution and will result in Windows hating you but it's all temporary, right?

Yeah, I suppose that will work. I could do that in the mean time, get one of these (or DIY it) to make it a little more elegant: http://www.ebay.com/itm/24-pin-To-Dual-24-pin-ATX-Power-Supply-Connector-Splitter-Dual-PSU-ATX-adapter-/231270348107

 

Until I get a new PSU, of course. xD

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1 minute ago, byalexandr said:

Yeah, I suppose that will work. I could do that in the mean time, get one of these (or DIY it) to make it a little more elegant: http://www.ebay.com/itm/24-pin-To-Dual-24-pin-ATX-Power-Supply-Connector-Splitter-Dual-PSU-ATX-adapter-/231270348107

 

Until I get a new PSU, of course. xD

Don't say I didn't say to not do it :P

My account is almost entirely dormant. Hope you all are having a grand time. Many years of fun were had here.

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2 minutes ago, byalexandr said:

Very confusing [way to put that], but okay :D

TL;DR get a new PSU pls

My account is almost entirely dormant. Hope you all are having a grand time. Many years of fun were had here.

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