nvidia cards and power

Current situation

I have a 700w OCZ gameXstream psu and a 9800gtx
I'm currently looking around for a 2nd 9800gtx to sli them once I go over to socket 1156
The question is how to go about powering the beasties.

My psu has 4x 12v 18amp rails
the break up is like this

12v1 = 6pin pci-e1
12v2 = 6pin pci-e2
12v3 = 4+4pin eps & molex leads
12v4 = 20+4pin motherboard lead & sata leads
(ok the molex and sata might be around the other way)

main point is the there is only 2 pci-e leads and each is on a seperate rail
the 9800gtx doesn't need 18amps, it only around 10amp at 12v the reason for two pci-e is for added stability/incase of bad psu's

so how should I go about powering 2nd card?
I was thinking about some form of pci-e splitters.
Also considering the idea of selling my 9800gtx and buying a pair of 4850's

Card 1: 12v1 + 12v3 (molex->PCI-e adaptor)
Card 2: 12v2 + 12v3 (molex->PCI-e adaptor)

(Replace 12v3 with whichever one your molex is on basically.) Good luck finding a sata->PCI-e adaptor.

The cards will draw most from the dedicated rails (no matter which socket they are plugged into), sipping only from the molex rail if they have to.

The issue with that is molex to pci-e adaptors, are 2 molex to 1 pci-e, so that would need 4 molex's which would be a total mess to try to cable.
Have to double check the total number of connectors, but I think it's 2 cables with 3 molex on each, one currently used for ide hard drive one for fan controller

why I was thinking pci-e splitters and cross load them,
ie
card 1
port1 = 12v1
port2 = 12v2

card 2
port 1 = 12v2
port 2 = 12v1

^^ that means you will be runing 2 cards from 2 12v in stead of 4,12v lines what you could do is get a 6pin exstension cable and then use the 4-6 pin conver behind the motherboard tray or somthing

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Pob255

The issue with that is molex to pci-e adaptors, are 2 molex to 1 pci-e

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They needn't be. Mine is a 1 molex to 1 pci-e - it doesn't make any difference if you were going to take it from the same rail anyway.

Quote:

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I was thinking pci-e splitters and cross load them,
ie
card 1
port1 = 12v1
port2 = 12v2

card 2
port 1 = 12v2
port 2 = 12v1

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And you were saying about a mess? :p I wouldn't do it myself, looks like it's asking for trouble.