Graphics card - molex converter

[Willzzz]

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!

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

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.

[Willzzz]

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!

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

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??

[Willzzz]

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.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

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.

[Samwood]

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.

[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?

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

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

[WillRock]

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

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

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.