AGP & PCI-e Graphics upgrade

Lanshane

Hi Folks,

Just a quick few questions about a particular graphics card I am thinking of getting to update my system.
Here it is on the Sapphire site.
http://www.sapphiretech.com/presentation/product/?leg=&psn=000101&pid=288

Question I have is, it mentions on the system requirements at the bottom of the page that I will need a 6 pin power connector. Is this a mistake as I thought the 6 pin connector was for PCI-Express cards which use over 75 Watts of power. This is an AGP card. Anyway, my Mobo has an AGP slot only, with nowhere to plug a 6 pin power connector. From the pictures on the website I don't see anywhere on the card to plug a 6-pin power connector either!Will this card work in my AGP slot without the 6-pin?
Thanks all.

Solitaire

I'm not sure whether its a typo. I can see the connector placement on the PCB but its not soldered in. Its possible that it might need one as all modern GPUs are designed to run off 12V power supplied by the PCIe slot and PCIe power connectors from the PSU, but an AGP slot can only supply 10-12W of 12V power so even low-power cards need a PCIe power connector as its a cheaper solution to the problem than completely redesigning the card to add VRMs to run off AGP's 3.3V-and-5V-heavy power delivery.

If you have even one PCIe cable on your PSU you're well set. But odds are most low-end budget cards like this tend to supply their own Molex>PCIe adaptors so users can use the cards straight off the bat even with old PSUs.

Lanshane

Solitaire wrote: »

I'm not sure whether its a typo. I can see the connector placement on the PCB but its not soldered in. Its possible that it might need one as all modern GPUs are designed to run off 12V power supplied by the PCIe slot and PCIe power connectors from the PSU, but an AGP slot can only supply 10-12W of 12V power so even low-power cards need a PCIe power connector as its a cheaper solution to the problem than completely redesigning the card to add VRMs to run off AGP's 3.3V-and-5V-heavy power delivery.

If you have even one PCIe cable on your PSU you're well set. But odds are most low-end budget cards like this tend to supply their own Molex>PCIe adaptors so users can use the cards straight off the bat even with old PSUs.

I'm assuming then that since a PCIe connector is required, then there has to be a connector on the card to plug it into? They hardly expect me to solder a 6 pin connector on!
I do have a 500 Watt power supply with a molex to PCIe adapter. Is it worth the risk in purchasing I wonder? Has to be a typo in the picture surely. It's hardly a double sided PCB with the connector soldered on the back! What to do

Solitaire

Lanshane wrote: »

I'm assuming then that since a PCIe connector is required, then there has to be a connector on the card to plug it into? They hardly expect me to solder a 6 pin connector on!

Don't be silly!!

I do have a 500 Watt power supply with a molex to PCIe adapter. Is it worth the risk in purchasing I wonder?

Its just a typo. Get it, if it does have a PCIe connector you've already got the adaptor to feed it but I'm pretty sure it won't even be an issue

Lanshane

Thanks for the help, much appreciated:)

flyingsnail

I had the sapphire hd3850 AGP, it came with a 2x molex connector to pci-e adapter.

Solitaire

That's a much hungrier card though

flyingsnail

Quite so, and more power hungry. I was just pointing out ( I just read what I posted and its not very clear:o) that they do seem to ship their agp cards with the necessary power adapters and it requires 2 x 4 pin molex connector to power the 1 six pin pci-e.

Solitaire

AFAIK that's a safety measure if its being hooked up to a PCIe connector that's going to really need the bulk of the 75W; I don't think anyone really trusts a single Molex to carry more than 40-50W. If the PCIe is expected to draw less than that they ship a single Molex version.