Options for old power supply to R9 270x

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Horsem4n

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Feb 13, 2016
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I have a system I built in 2010 that I would like to update with a friends card as I save up for a whole new system.
The question involves an older cooler master 500w power supply and a newer graphics card, specifically the r9 270x.
My 270 needs two 6 pin connectors for power, but my power supply only has one pcie 6 pin cable coming out of it.
My options are to get a new power supply or possibly use a molex to 6 pin adapter.
Now, since this is only temporary, would using a molex adapter be OK? Important bit, my power supply also only has one molex cable with 3 molex connectors on it. Should I get a 2xmolex to pcie 6 pin adapter or a 1xmolex to 6 pin?
I'm asking mainly because I'm going to make the adapter. My soldering supplies are always at the ready. And if anyone can point me at a wiring diagram for the adapter, that would be appreciated. Otherwise, I'd have to figure it out from pictures of the adapters and hope I don't screw it up.
 
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hst101rox

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Aug 28, 2014
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The card takes about 150 watts at full load, maybe a tad more peak (http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-r9-280x-r9-270x-r7-260x,3635-18.html). If the rest of your system isn't too hungry, and the power supply has 1 12V rail and 1 5V rail instead of multiple and did well with the reviews when it was new, it ought to have plenty of capacity & quality for the job.
I don't really understand your adapter scenario that well. But I'd leave the stock 6-pin alone, use that for 1 connection to the GPU. Crimp together from 2 separate molex connector channels (not both on the same parallel split) to make the 2nd 6-pin wiring?
Sounds fine.
 
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Horsem4n

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Feb 13, 2016
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Thank you guys for the quick replies. Here's a little more info.
I have to check the rails on my psu, but it was the highest rated budget psu at the time. I am powering one port on the card with the 6pin connector coming off my psu and I want to power the other port with the only available cable left coming off the psu, which has 3 molex connectors. There are no other molex cables on my psu. Just cables to power my mobo(the 16 pin and 4 pin cables that plug into the mobo), 1 HDD, and 1 disk drive.
 
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hst101rox

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Aug 28, 2014
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As long as that branch will only be used for a 6-pin connector, should be fine. If your card is unstable at Furmark then you'll know what the probable cause is. I don't know if the VRMs are smart enough to grab more power from the 6-pin header that doesn't have as much voltage sag than the one that does, but that would be cool tech.
Have fun
--edit; wiki says a molex connector can handle 11 amps, so sounds fine.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molex_connector#Disk_drive
 
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mlga91

mlga91

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Jul 8, 2014
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It lasted much more than the usual cheap 400W unit, most of them cant handle the load and:

a)They shut themveslves (when they use a OCP circuit or somehing) or
b)They burst into flames, which is what happens more often.
 
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Horsem4n

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Feb 13, 2016
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Thanks guys, I really wanted to just use an adapter, but I was talking about it with my girlfriend (who actually owns the card) and she convinced me to buy a new psu as CTurbo suggested. So that's what I did. Now i have a 750w psu and I upgraded my ram. Was long overdue for an upgrade, so I'm going to also use my tax return to get a new cpu and upgrade my cooling.
I didn't want to spend money, but I guess it's unavoidable at this point.
 
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