Graphics card - molex converter

Going to be buying a new graphics soon, thinking of this one:
http://www.box.co.uk/Gigabyte_GV-R78...36.html#Images

Was reading up on it and found this:
http://www.guru3d.com/article/gigaby...70-oc-review/7

"converting them from a Molex Peripheral connector anno 2012 we feel is a no-go"

Are they kidding about suggesting only using a power supply with two native 6 pin connectors? Mine only has one, is there a downside to using a molex converter? Gigabyte do include one right?

The other downside is no free Sleeping Dogs like with Scan, but it is £50 cheaper!

What PSU do you have?? I would say give it a few days for the recent price cuts to filter down to retailers. I remember running an HD5850 off a SFF 450W PSU in a Shuttle SD37P2, with one PCI-E power connector and a two molex to PCI-E power adaptor.

One of these:
http://www.ocztechnology.com/ocz-500...upply-eol.html

Curiously it says that they do a version with 2x 6pins if you contact customer support, betting it's too late now!

TPU does test actually graphics card power consumption and not system wide loads:

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/A..._Cu_II/25.html

That puts both the HD7870 and GTX660 at under 130W or around GTX460 1GB level power consumption.

What CPU do you have??

Yeah I know it has very similar power consumption to the 660, but why in that case does it need an extra 6pin connector? Is it just for over-clocking headroom?
I was pretty surprised at what Guru3D said, I always assumed a molex converter was standard practice.

Have an i3-530, might apply some overclocking to that mind. Will be replacing it when Haswell comes out.

It could be for that TBH. Even the HD5850 1GB and HD6870 1GB technically could have used a single PCI-E power connector AFAIK,but it seems the extra one is there for more stable power delivery.

7870s usually have only 1 x 6-pin PCI-E connector (which your PSU already has).

Your PSU can supply 36A on the +12V rails (so thats 432W), so you wont have a problem there.

Finally, I use a molex to PCI-E converter, its not an ideal solution but does the job.

So saying a molex converter is a "no-go" is bollocks?

Have they just completely made it up or are there some slight issues?

Maybe for higher end cards it is more of an issue as they draw more power?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Willzzz

So saying a molex converter is a "no-go" is bollocks?

Have they just completely made it up or are there some slight issues?

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For your case, yeah, it's BS. There's pretty much nothing wrong with using a converter to power up a card that draws 121W. A PCI-E connector can deliver 150W, Molex is, IIRC, good for 133-150W and there's also an extra 75W that can be pulled from the slot. So you have way more than the required power available.

The thing with using a converter is that it results in voltage drops when you try to pull a lot of power through it (only significant when using converters to power up a card like the 480).

Though, the SteathXStream is a weak unit based on the disappointing FSP Epsilon platform so I'd just ditch it and get a better PSU.