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Need help connecting a Saphire R9 290x to a 1000 watt PSU

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  • PCI Express
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October 12, 2014 1:52:41 AM

I just got a Saphire Radeon R9 290x for my custom built rig (Built custom for me, I did not do it) and it has a non modular power supply, meaning it has limited sets of cables, mostly molex 1 by 4 connectors. I have one molex available that I can see for sure that is not plugged in to anything, except for a fan leeching off of it, and besides that everything else is used somewhere. I need to know where I can pull from to power the 2 by 6 PCI-E (With one molex adapter attached to it) and 2 by 8 PCI-E (With two molex addapters splitted) and still get the total of 75 watt minimum for the 2 by six and 150 minimum watt for the 2 by 8. Thanks in advance.

More about : connecting saphire 290x 1000 watt psu

October 12, 2014 2:01:00 AM

you probably can't. If it doesn't have PCI-E cables natively the real question that should be asked is why doesn't it. The answer is either because it can't provide that much power, or it was pre-PCI-E (and therefore probably can't provide enough power).

What is the make and model of your power supply.
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October 12, 2014 2:01:44 AM

a power supply that larger should have one or two sets of power plugs already for a sli set up. on newer power supply the power for video come for those 6 plus 2 cables on a power supply. use all 8 pins for the 8 pin on a video card.
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October 12, 2014 2:12:18 AM

Ark Technology, 500 to 1000 watt adjustable. I don't know the make. It was built maybe two months ago, and was no budget build. I've read other places that people are using cards with molexes, and it even came with adapters to turn molexs into the PCI-Es needed to plug into the card. Molex is 12 v, 36 watts.
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October 12, 2014 2:15:28 AM

I looked inside it, and I can't find anything except a 2 by 2 PCI-E connected to the mobo to give any hint there are PCI-E connectors in it. Everything else is molex and those cables that run from the mobo to the twin HDDs and dual disc drives
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October 12, 2014 2:27:30 AM

13thmonkey said:
you probably can't. If it doesn't have PCI-E cables natively the real question that should be asked is why doesn't it. The answer is either because it can't provide that much power, or it was pre-PCI-E (and therefore probably can't provide enough power).

What is the make and model of your power supply.


I can't find the model of the PSU, but I did find atleast 1 2 by 2 PCI-E cable in it, plus the very large PCI-E group of cables going into the main slot on the mobo, though there may be more I'm not seeing.
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October 12, 2014 2:33:00 AM

There's probably a sticker on the side of the psu,make a photo and place that here by uploading to the next site and copying the "IMG" code here,
http://imgur.com/
or give the info otherwise,there should be a partnr. there somewhere.
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Best solution

October 12, 2014 2:42:42 AM

I've never heard of a 'variable PSU' 500-1000W. It doesn't happen. A 1000W PSU without any PCI-E cables is not capable of doing 1000W in any useful way.

the 2x2 is not a PCI-E connector you might find an 2x4 that's also not PCI-E, and plugging those in would be a very bad idea. PCI-E will always be 2x3+2x1 so that it can connect to 6 or 8 pin.

You can buy molex to PCI-E, but the molex system inside the PSU is not designed for those power draws and you you can't guarentee that two different cables with molex connectors are not just pulling from the same 12V line, and hence going to overload it. Therefore molex to PCI-E is not a good idea.
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October 12, 2014 2:44:43 AM

Vic 40 said:
There's probably a sticker on the side of the psu,make a photo and place that here by uploading to the next site and copying the "IMG" code here,
http://imgur.com/
or give the info otherwise,there should be a partnr. there somewhere.


http://www.amazon.com/ARK500-500W-Computer-Power-Supply...

I believe that is it, and I'm pretty sure you're correct, I'll need a new one. It says on the sticker Ark Technologies ATX P4 power supply
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October 12, 2014 2:46:20 AM

on that label how many amps does it say are available for the 12V lines.

I'd suggest that whoever built that for you doesn't know what they are doing, or was actively trying to dump old stock on you.
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October 12, 2014 2:50:54 AM

I understand now. Now I'm even more so dissatisfied with the guy that built this PC, it was specifically for gaming, and he put 4 4gb corsair ram cards, 1250 GB of memory, i5 cpu, and got the case I asked for as well as the monitor, but skirted with a micro motherboard, shitty PSU and no GPU hence the r9 290x
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October 12, 2014 2:57:14 AM

14 amps from what it says. The dude didn't even put in a i7 4390 like I requested. Lol. I already planned to replace the mobo so I can crossfire two 290xs, but I guess I have to the PSU also.
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October 12, 2014 2:57:41 AM

Well providing the cost was appropriate for those parts then you've not been ripped off, the PSU is the only (and unfortunately common) sin. 16GB is ram is a little high, 1.25TB (not sure how he's done that) is ok for storage. The micro atx board should be fine, might limit sli (buts its a pain in the backside anyway). So replace the PSU and you're in an OK place.
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October 12, 2014 2:58:46 AM

SadisticMajor said:
14 amps from what it says. The dude didn't even put in a i7 4390 like I requested. Lol. I already planned to replace the mobo so I can crossfire two 290xs, but I guess I have to the PSU also.


You'll be needing close to 40amps for a 290X probably 70amps+ for SLI.
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October 12, 2014 3:27:51 AM

13thmonkey said:
SadisticMajor said:
14 amps from what it says. The dude didn't even put in a i7 4390 like I requested. Lol. I already planned to replace the mobo so I can crossfire two 290xs, but I guess I have to the PSU also.


You'll be needing close to 40amps for a 290X probably 70amps+ for SLI.


He did it with a 1 tb HDD and a 250 gig HDD, It seemed weird to me also but I can always upgrade if needed. Thanks alot for the info, you saved me from wrecking that 290x. I'll get a real 1000 watt PSU and be sure it's modular so I don't encouter this issue again.
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October 12, 2014 3:30:33 AM

A 1000W PSU is a waste. Go for a 750W or 850W GOOD PSU such as the Corsair AX760 or HX750. Should be enough to power two cards in SLI.
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October 12, 2014 3:47:33 AM

If you keep it as it is,is a good 550watt psu enough.
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October 12, 2014 3:52:49 AM

I know I'll need over 650, but they recomend 750. I lean toward 1000 because I plan to do alot more than crossfire the 290xs in the future, such as get a i7 4390, water cooling system, upgrade to 32 gigs of ram, and so on. That and my power bill is no big deal to me. But I do appreciate the answer, I may go with those for now, given I don't intend to upgrade to all that yet, not for about a year, after I've moved.
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October 12, 2014 3:57:11 AM

You don't need a 4930k CPU. It's immensely overkill for any system.
You should be fine with an i5, it's quite powerful.
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October 12, 2014 4:11:37 AM

I currently have an i5 3340, and it works amazingly well given my PC has no GPU. I can still run ArmA III on standard settings. But I still want the best PC I can reasonably build so it's relatively future proof. I.E. the 2 Saphire R9 290xs, even though I'm only running one for now.
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October 12, 2014 4:13:50 AM

A decent 550watt will be fine for now and just build an entire new pc when you're at that point in time.
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October 14, 2014 8:03:38 PM

Well, I hate to say you're wrong, Vic, but you are dead wrong. I put a 550 in my rig, and the screen remained black though it would power on. When I'd take the card out the PC would run fine. So again, a 550 watt PSU WILL NOT run a R9 290x that requires 300 watts of power.
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October 14, 2014 8:10:13 PM

13thmonkey said:
SadisticMajor said:
14 amps from what it says. The dude didn't even put in a i7 4390 like I requested. Lol. I already planned to replace the mobo so I can crossfire two 290xs, but I guess I have to the PSU also.


You'll be needing close to 40amps for a 290X probably 70amps+ for SLI.


So I took my PC to the guy that built it, and had him instal the card. He put the card onto the x4 slot, and tried to power it with one 6 pin that came with it. He didn't turn it on, but he sent me home with a 550 watt PSU, so I took my old PSU out, put the new one in, hooked it up, and tried running it but instead adding all power cables, and the screen remained black when I booted it up. No odd smells or smoke or anything, nothing odd, just the screen wouldn't turn on, so I took out the 290x, uninstalled the Intel Graphics, then tried again, nothing again. So I'm lost beyond getting a new PSU, which I am ordering a 850 watt PSU. Is it low power why it won't turn on?
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October 15, 2014 2:28:07 AM

After further inspection he kept my install disc also. Can I still install my GPU without it?
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October 15, 2014 3:15:45 AM

Sure, you could download drivers from NVIDIA's website. In fact you SHOULD install drivers from NVIDIA's website.
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October 15, 2014 10:27:52 AM

If it's the 290x, then it's amd's site you want to use.
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October 15, 2014 10:30:34 AM

Ah of course. Sorry about that.
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October 15, 2014 10:44:53 AM

SadisticMajor said:
I put a 550 in my rig, and the screen remained black though it would power on.

Which psu did you put in?
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October 15, 2014 2:57:58 PM

I forgot the name of the PSU, but it was a gold. And yeah, it's a Saphire AMD Radeon R9 290x. I heard I should get em from the site, so that's one problem out of the way, but just to clarify, the black screen should be due to lack of power and not damage to the card, right? Because he was not careful with the card - at all. It was like he had no idea that he was holding a top tier card, and rammed it around almost like he was jealous it wasn't his. If he didn't damage it, and it was due to lack of power which I am 99.9999% certain it was, I will not cause a fuss about way he mistreated my PC, but if so I will be sure he pays me for it.
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October 15, 2014 3:02:58 PM

I would just rather have a second opinion on it, so I don't worry about my 650 dollar card being damaged due to this guy not knowing what he's doing or know that he probably did do something to it and get it taken care of immidiately. I mean the card uses 400 watts on full load, I would see why it wouldn't turn on, especially using molex to PCI-E cables for the 8 pin, and it had one 6 pin that looked like a PCI-E and had the same wire locations and plug slots, and he ensured me it was, but those were not enough to power it. Because that's literally all he gave me.
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October 15, 2014 9:19:24 PM

Can't really say anything about the PSU till we have some information. Can you post the PSU sticker here?
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October 15, 2014 9:34:19 PM

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Logisys-PS550E12-550W-Power-Sup...

It was this PSU, same brand and specs, just different box. I told him it required a 750, but he insisted this would work. Well, it didn't. And my screen remained black even though my Pc would turn on, and sound as if it was starting up. I assumed and still believe the computer was trying to send video through a card that simply didn't have the power to turn on, therefore no video was produced, and it was once the card was removed. But I am uncertain, hence I am asking you guys. Thanks for the feedback thus far.
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October 15, 2014 9:45:24 PM

It's not the computer that tries to send video through the card - the card PRODUCES that video.

As for the power supply, it's no wonder the 290x is not turning on. The PSU you showed is a cheap low quality power supply that delivers only about half the advertised power.
The power supply does not have a PCI-E connector; and it's only capable of providing 300W of power on the +12V rail. The 290x itself needs 290W of power; over 96 % of that 300W.
That leaves no power for your fans, CPU, hard drives, LED's, etc.
Do yourself a favour and ditch that guy, go to someone else. If that's not an option, tell him to shut up and give you a proper Corsair/Antec/XFX/Seasonic 650W/750W PSU.
Otherwise, get the PSU online.
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October 15, 2014 10:19:14 PM

cst1992 said:
It's not the computer that tries to send video through the card - the card PRODUCES that video.

As for the power supply, it's no wonder the 290x is not turning on. The PSU you showed is a cheap low quality power supply that delivers only about half the advertised power.
The power supply does not have a PCI-E connector; and it's only capable of providing 300W of power on the +12V rail. The 290x itself needs 290W of power; over 96 % of that 300W.
That leaves no power for your fans, CPU, hard drives, LED's, etc.
Do yourself a favour and ditch that guy, go to someone else. If that's not an option, tell him to shut up and give you a proper Corsair/Antec/XFX/Seasonic 650W/750W PSU.
Otherwise, get the PSU online.


I already ordered this:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/181524003662

And have no intentions on bringing my PC back to the guy, till he gives me the 60 back for that PSU. I just hope the guy didn't damage my card by putting it in that x4 slot instead of the x16, or by giving my such a poor power supply, and it causing damage to the card in any way. It wasn't turned on while in the x4 slot, and the card looks fine to me, but I am always very careful with electonics, and this guy was like a bull in a china shop. He tore out the knock outs on the back where the card should be exposed in the wrong spots, and not only tore them out but the spacers that are not meant to be removed. The back of my case looks like shreded sheet metal where the GPU should be exposed, so I will end up needing a new case. If he cannot do that properly I have no idea how he puts these things together. But anyway, I guess all I can do is wait till the PSU gets here and see what happens, but I am certain it was lack of power at this point.
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October 15, 2014 11:14:44 PM

That PSU should even do for a Crossfire configuration of your 290x's.
Anyways, keep me posted :) 
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October 16, 2014 12:02:21 AM

cst1992 said:
That PSU should even do for a Crossfire configuration of your 290x's.
Anyways, keep me posted :) 


I certainly will, thanks alot for the help. I'll post when I get the PSU, and see how the card performs. I can't wait to max out the ArmA III settings. Lol
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October 16, 2014 11:48:20 AM

Glad to see you finally ordered a good psu.That one should last a long time.And i agree find another "guy" for your pc.
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October 16, 2014 12:05:47 PM

step well away from that guy, gives PC builders a bad name.
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October 16, 2014 2:54:37 PM

I am not going back to him. I got my 60 from him and he said he'll take my current PSU for 50 for a different build he has, and that's it. Plus I need to get my disc back. I'll also do anything else that needs to be done to this PC myself.
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October 16, 2014 11:32:24 PM

Great. Always better to do things yourself - that way you know better if anything goes wrong - and it's easier to fix as well.
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October 17, 2014 10:39:25 AM

Don't bother with the CD, they are out of date the moment they are shipped. Shout if you need help.
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