Card + PSU compatibility newb question.

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DMMag

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Hey there. I've been looking over cards, and posted a thread a few days ago. As I've been shopping I keep seeing a lot of opinions back and forth on a variety of different cards. Some scream for one, some scream for the other, some complain about a variety of issues no one else gets, etc, etc.

I wanted to get the following from you folks, if you don't mind.

1: Opinion on this card: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125793
2: Whether that will be compatible with my rig. Particularly, my ancient Mobo and PSU. Neither are sold anymore, and while I've been assured by Asus I shouldn't have issues with a PCI 3.0 in a PCI 2.0 slot. I have concerns my discontinued PSU might not connect to these cards?

I've got this PSU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817153116&cm_re=TR2_650w-_-17-153-116-_-Product

With this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813132513&cm_re=Asus_M5A97-_-13-132-513-_-Product Motherboard

Now, I'd be slotting the 3.0 card into the 2.0 slot. Was told this was covered.

What has me worried, is these are both ancient and discontinued. The PSU doesn't even show up on the Thermaltake website. >.< They work fine currently, but I am seeing "6 Pin", "8 Pin", "2x 6 pin" connection listed on all of these Graphics cards I am looking into. Being I've never used even a moderately decent card before, I've never had one that uses enough power that I had to hook one up to my power supply before.

My PSU has 1 black 8 pin and 2 Red 8 pin female connections open. The rest are taken up with cords leading to the various drives in my system. 3 HDD's and 2 DVD-Rom's to be exact, with the assortment of other things, including the main power cord to the MOBO.

So, will these 3 8 pin connections work for only 8 pin connectors from video cards?
Do I need to use a special one on my power supply?
Can I hook a 6 pin cord up to one of these 8 pin ports? Do I need a converter to do so?
Am I screwed in upgrading until I rip out my perfectly functional CPU and replace it with a more modern one?

Is there a 4gb 256 bit card out there you'd recommend for me other than this one given my setup if the above listed one is a bad fit for me?

I had this card suggesed to me 4 days ago: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131673&cm_re=r9_380_4gb-_-14-131-673-_-Product

In this thread: http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-2719000/pci-x16-video-card-advice-needed.html when looking for general advice. Which looks like a great card, but it requires 2 6 Pin connections, and I am only seeing 1 black 8, and 2 Red 8 pin's on my machine. Hence the coming back looking for answers. >.<

Thanks for your time for those who reply.
 
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ESPclipse

ESPclipse

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From what I have gathered, that power supply has two 6+2 pin power connectors and that 380 only requires one 8 pin connector, so that power supply should be adequate. That motherboard is also good enough for modern graphics cards as well
 
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Rogue Leader

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That card is fine with your motherboard, its not ancient. Heck I run an older motherboard than you and I crossfire 2 new cards, so really no worries there.

Now as for the connectors on your PSU are they truly 8 pin or are they 6+2, and by that I mean the two end pins can "pop off". If they cannot (and the card requires a 6 pin connector) then you really can't use those connectors (they won't fit right), also that PSU is fairly low rated, so you may want to consider replacing it anyway.

This will do the job for you, and its one of the best rated and only 55 bucks after rebate. Its made by Seasonic which is the best in the business.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817207034&cm_re=xfx_ts-_-17-207-034-_-Product

Now if the extra plugs do pop off (and you need 6 pin) it will work, and you're fine, however I'd still recommend replacing that PSU. If the card is 8 pin, just plug one in and go. It will be fine.

As for the Gigabyte vs Powercolor, they are basically the same thing, I'd probably get the Gigabyte myself, their QC is better, and its a smidgen faster stock.

EDIT: Looking closely at the Gigabyte it has an 8 pin while the Powercolor has 2 6 pins. If your only connectors are 8 pin for some reason, then your answer is right there.
 
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DMMag

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Thanks folks. I'm looking at just the female ports on the PSU, and both of them have slots for 8 pins. However, there are 4 black, and 2 red, 3 of the black are in use.

On the newegg spec's page for my PSU it has:
"QUAD PCI-E CONNECTORS
With two 6-pin and two 6+2-pin PCI-E connectors, the Thermaltake TRX-650M power supply is ideal for building an SLI or CrossFireX gaming system."

I think I'd need to pull my system apart to see which are which, honestly.

@Rogue Leader: My PSU hasn't give me one bit of trouble yet, but I have seen low reviews. If I do get another, it'd be to upgrade for the future. Is this a serious issue I should strongly consider? I've never had issues with this company before, but yeah, they've had issues with a lot of folks I see on the reviews. I hesitate to swap it out after just hooking up a new CPU. I believe I'd need to rip the 120mm cooling fan off the heat sink in order hook the power cord to the MoBo. Just a beast cooling fan, no other way to get the plug in there unfortunately. I'm tempted to just let it run till it goes, unless that is going to put my computer at risk for being fried. >.< If it's a risk of burning out my hardware, then worth it. If not, I might ride this for another year and see if I can't get a discount on a 750-1000w PSU next year.

Thanks for the input on the different cards. The gigabyte seems a safer bet, yes.
 
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Rogue Leader

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Its not going to burn your PC to the ground so go with it. Now I'm not understanding you totally here, are you telling me you have not hooked up all the power connections to the motherboard? The motherboard has the usual 24 pin connection as well as a 4 or 8 pin connection as well (Yours has a 4 pin i can see). Both must be connected, it won't run at all without the 24, and I was under the impression it wouldn't run without the 4/8 (never tried).

So you should definitely have the plug you need for the gigabyte card. looking at the pics on newegg I see a black 4 + 4 plug and I see a black 6+2, that 6+2 is the PCIe plug you need. I see the 2 red plugs on the PSU and red wires, one of those will work as well. I can't see what it says but if its 8 pins and fits you're set.
 
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DMMag

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I have what I need to hook up all hooked up. Cords going to my 3 HDD's, 2 DVD drives, and the main hooked to the Mobo up next to the CPU. The rest are linked to what should be my case fans, but the local repair shop fubar'd those about a month ago before I took my machine away from them and decided to learn to do this for myself. >.< Sad when I have to take a machine away from a 50 year old man who's been in the business for 20 years due to being incompetent with my machine. Left me with needing to do research on my own.

Ok, yeah, I had an issue years back with an electrical storm which knocked out my system and fried everything when the transformer near me was hit by lightning. Another, someone fired a piece of steel into my CPU while it was running and *boom* goes everything in the system. I've never had one just die on its own on me so was curious. If it will just go peacefully and I have to replace it, I'm fine with that. I've been through much with this thing and it's done me good despite the reviews so I'll be loyal to it. Lol.

It's more I just can't physically get my hand between the monster CPU fan I purchased to cool the CPU down and the case to hook up the main 24 pin cable to the Mobo. In order to plug it in and unplug it, I need to remove that fan and then use alcohol to clean off the thermal gel, reapply it, and hook it all back up again. Hence my hesitation to just rip out a functioning CPU and rebuild my CPU for a video card if I don't have to.

Ok so, Gigabyte is fine with my PCU and I am set on my Motherboard. I don't feel so bad hearing you've got an older one, heh. Thanks! That helps a lot.
 
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Rogue Leader

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No problem enjoy your new card!
 
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