ATI 3870 x2 installation

[GI Joel]

HI guys
Need abit of help setting up my ati 3870 x2.
1. do I need power to both sockets? theres a six and an 8 pin.
2. will a jeantech 600w artic power supply do the job ?

thanks

[Webby]

1. Yes
2. No Idea! If it actually puts out 600W and enough juice on the 12v rails then it should be fine as long as your other components are not hugely power hungry. My only concern would be the quality of the PSU don't know much about Jeantech so cant comment.

[s_kinton]

Jeantech, whilst not being great still have decent specs. Check on the side of the power supply and see how many amps it lists under the various lines i.e. 5v 12v etc

[GI Joel]

OK ta guys so I might need a new power supply as it my 10 pin socket doesnt fit in the card . the plugs dont match.

[Webby]

10 pin???

If you have spare molex (4 pin) connectors you can buy adapters to PCIe 6 and 8 pin
If your looking for a new PSU it will all depend on budget Corsair are well liked as are Enermax I would go for 550w+ as thats the suggested PSU for crossfired 3870s make sure the PSU has both 6 and 8 pin PCIe connectors (the corsair have 6+2 pin connectors so cater for both types on the same cable).

[staffsMike]

You should actually only need 2 x 6pin you just wont be able to overclock it very well without the extra 2 pins.

[GI Joel]

thanks 4 help guys..

[rOBvAN]

I won't start a new thread as this one is still relevant.

I too have purchased a 3870 X2 and to my dismay the new PSU that I bought does not have the 8 pin PCIe connector. What's very odd is that bundled with the 3870 are two 6 pin adapters! Why they have not thought to include an 8 pin is beyond me.

Now from what I've been able to gather this should work fine using two 6 pin PCIe connectors?? The 8 pin is to ensure stability on a PCIe 16x v2? (I am running of the original v1 for now).

I actually did manage to get it working using just the 2 6 pin (removing one would cause the fan to speed up and slow down every few seconds). However after powering up this morning the card became very unstable with a distorted screen, pixels everywhere at POST and crashed windows after it tried to load.

Replacing the card with my older card removed all these problems so I do think it must be to do with the lack of an 8 pin?

ATI support is terrible as usual. Same old generic response. I think I'll get a lot more help from you guys! I have just purchased an adapter online that LOOKS like it fits the card but I'm not certain. They seem to be very hard to find here in the UK.

[dfour]

The 8 pin is only needed if you want to use the ATI overdrive overclocking utility. Mine runs fine with just 2*6 pin connectors.

Not sure about using other tools to overclock with 2*6 as I havent bothered trying .