All-Aircraft-Simulations
Video Card install question - Printable Version

+- All-Aircraft-Simulations (https://allaircraftsimulations.com)
+-- Forum: Help Desk (https://allaircraftsimulations.com/forumdisplay.php?fid=270)
+--- Forum: PC Technical Help (https://allaircraftsimulations.com/forumdisplay.php?fid=305)
+--- Thread: Video Card install question (/showthread.php?tid=54064)

Pages: 1 2 3 4

Video Card install question - nearmiss - 10.05.2008

I'm installing a new EVGA GF9800 512MB GTX VideoCard.

The card has two plugs on the top at the back of the VC for power.

Do I need to plug power into each of those plugs?

The box came with two plugs with double hookups to powersupply 4 plug legacy power. If it is necessary to have power to each of those plugs on the VC I can do it, but if I don't need to... well I'd prefer not. I do have some issues with my power supply cables being loaded down with 5 fans, HDDs, etc.

The box says the VC works with PCI-E 1.0/2.0. My Mobo has a PCI-E 1.0 slot. I was thinking maybe the 2.0 requires the double power connection.

The box says the Two 6 pin supplementary power connectors, which is further confusing. If the power is supplementary is it even needed.

I realize two power plugs it would make sense to use both, but it also has two DVI connectors, a 3 plug pigtail and I'll only use one of the DVI connections.

The install instructions only mention :
Quote:If your card is equipped with a supplemental power adapter, we strongly advise that it be connected at time of installation. This supplemental power adapter insures that your video card receives a clean and strong power signal that will allow it to function at optimal performance levels.

LOL = Clean and strong power signal , sounds like Mary Poppins wrote it.

- SVHAK - 10.05.2008

What power supply do you have??

that thing probly needs loads, & its reccomended that yo plug in the connectors. You need to have a good power suply :wink:

- nearmiss - 10.05.2008

SHVAK Wrote:What power supply do you have??

that thing probly needs loads, & its reccomended that yo plug in the connectors. You need to have a good power suply :wink:

700 Watt Tagan PSU

- Morbit - 10.05.2008

Over the years graphics cards have become more and more powerful,and in turn require more
and more power. Earlier cards got enough power through the pci slot. The next generation of
cards required external power directly from the power supply Via a six pin plug. In order to achieve this on old power supplies, graphic card manufacturers included adaptors that allowed
you to combine two molex(4 prong)connectors to make one 6 prong connector. The latest cards
are now using two 6 prong connectors to get enough power to run them. Chances are that If
your power supply doesn't have any 6 prong connectors,It's too small to power that video card.

When buying a new power supply remember the amount of amps it can put out is more important than how many watts it's rated at. :wink:

- nearmiss - 10.05.2008

Morbit Wrote:Over the years graphics cards have become more and more powerful,and in turn require more
and more power. Earlier cards got enough power through the pci slot. The next generation of
cards required external power directly from the power supply Via a six pin plug. In order to achieve this on old power supplies, graphic card manufacturers included adaptors that allowed
you to combine two molex(4 prong)connectors to make one 6 prong connector. The latest cards
are now using two 6 prong connectors to get enough power to run them. Chances are that If
your power supply doesn't have any 6 prong connectors,It's too small to power that video card.

When buying a new power supply remember the amount of amps it can put out is more important than how many watts it's rated at. :wink:

The PSU I have has two PCI-E power cords with 6 pin connector on each cord.

http://www.pro-clockers.com/review.php?id=293

The last card I had was an X800 ATI and it got all power from the PCI-E SLot.

Now I've up to a lot more than I realized Power supply wise.

The box/case Altec 900 I put the new system in has 5 auxiliary fans as well. I've never used more than a Processor, VC and one aux fan.

I ordered the Vista 64Bit Ultra OS to address the 4 GIG of ram.

I'm almost afraid to fire the puppy up. It might friggin' explode or something.

- BigSilverHotdog - 10.05.2008

The 9800 was a huge mistake, and yes, you need both power plugs.

And Vista ultra 64 an even bigger mistake. Enjoy your mess.

- Hellzone - 11.05.2008

9800 is not a mess... the 8800 Series has 2 power plugs too. GTX and Ultras.

Vista x64 is also not a mess... take a look at XP way back...

a 700watt is enough to power the 9800 and what ever CPU u have, along with the 4gb of ram.
and you want to use both power connecters. DONT worry.. the computer will not explode.

- Morbit - 11.05.2008

Your power supply is more then enough to run your system and then some Smile

It has four 12V rails that have a total of 56 amps

WARNING..... Do not try to run that video card without pluging in those two 6 prong
connectors

- GentleKiller - 11.05.2008

BigSilverHotdog Wrote:The 9800 was a huge mistake, and yes, you need both power plugs.

And Vista ultra 64 an even bigger mistake. Enjoy your mess.

well, guess what, i totally disagree with you on everything you just said :wink:

- nearmiss - 12.05.2008

BigSilverHotdog Wrote:The 9800 was a huge mistake, and yes, you need both power plugs.

And Vista ultra 64 an even bigger mistake. Enjoy your mess.

I was in the Microcenter and the clerk make abig adoo about the price on the 9800 GTX being so much better card for a little more money.

Also, I was reading where with 4GIG of memory XP cannot address it. The clerk advised the Ultimate Vista.

I have taken the VC out of the box, but I can still return it. ALso, having the Vista is not a big dea. I'm sure I can use it at a later date.

-------------------------

I originally got the 8800 GT, then someone advised teh 8800 GTS, being better. I just assumed the 9800 GTX would improve further.

- SVHAK - 12.05.2008

hi,

All I can say is i installed a 8800gt & it goes like a rocket, everything goes liKe a rocket :lol:

It's a great card 160 euros, it cost me.

Now, I could have got a 9800 for a bit more, but even the guy in the shop advised me against it saying that it was new technology (whilst the 8800 was a tried & tested piece of good gear), needed vista & when compared against benchmarks with the 8800gt it was in fact inferior in some things & slightly better in some others.

Now, this is my opinion & i'm no one to give advice because i don't know....:wink:

But there are guys here with loads of good tech expirience willing to give advice, do not be disshearted I

- nearmiss - 12.05.2008

[quote="SHVAK"]hi,

All I can say is i installed a 8800gt & it goes like a rocket, everything goes liKe a rocket :lol:

It's a great card 160 euros, it cost me.

Now, I could have got a 9800 for a bit more, but even the guy in the shop advised me against it saying that it was new technology (whilst the 8800 was a tried & tested piece of good gear), needed vista & when compared against benchmarks with the 8800gt it was in fact inferior in some things & slightly better in some others.

Now, this is my opinion & i'm no one to give advice because i don't know....:wink:

But there are guys here with loads of good tech expirience willing to give advice, do not be disshearted I

- SVHAK - 12.05.2008

Don't worry, they like a good healthy argument :lol:

anyway i'll see if i can find a good benchmark that compares the 2 cards, if someone else has 1 pls post to help this chap.

about the memory its true, i have 4 gigs but xp will only recognise 3 gis of memory :evil:

i am using 600 power supply so you should be ok with 700, although i cannot guarantee this, i also have lots of fans, big one included :wink:

- BigSilverHotdog - 12.05.2008

Just so you know, the clerk either lied to you or was merely an ignorant clerk who believes marketing hype. All that advice I gave you about avoiding SLI was totally destroyed by buying one of the only single card SLI solutions available. Amazing. In case you haven't figured this out yet, the 9800 is an "SLI in 1 card" solution with 2 8800 cores and, while faster than a 8800 for some games, is -identical- in speed with most (including il2) because SLI is not supported by most games out there, and 4 of every 5 games that do support it do not benefit from it in any meaningful way. There is little nvidia can do at this point to make the 9800 GX2 a better card, either, because games must be coded to specifically take advantage of multiple cores. Do some more research if you really value your money. There were many choices you could have made, and this was rather near the bottom of the list.

In fact, the 9800 series was such a ponderous market slog (similar to that video of the Saddam statue falling in Iraq that just sort of slowly, ever so slowly crumbled to the ground) that nvidia is planning to phase it out by summer. It will completely disappear leaving only that vaguely salty taste some of you may remember from the previous GX2 fiasco (the 7900GX2). Don't remember? I didn't think so. That's how little of a splash it made and how quickly it was forgotten. At the time it was hyped as the second coming of jesus, just like the 9800 GX2 was this time around. I had a 9800 GX2 to play with, ok? I have used it, I played with it for a while, and I know exactly why it was a failure. I don't suppose you noticed that you could have bought 2 SLI 8800s, saved yourself a lot of money, and gotten identical or better performance, performance that, as I said above, is not significantly better than a single 8800 (and WORSE, in some cases!).

Sorry to be a killjoy, but the technical world is still one of the few places left in the world where hype alone is not easily spun into success.

- BigSilverHotdog - 12.05.2008

And the memory thing re:Vista -- Somewhat true, XP actually addresses up to 4gb of physical memory, but because your system must cut into this (and it starts at 4gb and works down) the limit of physical ram is determined by your motherboard, video card, and a few other things. I had 4gb of ram on my XP Pro rig until a month ago and I got rid of 2gb of it because, literally, I did not need it. Because I run a single 8800GT card (512) and not much else that cuts into the physical memory load, I was able to get 3.25gb of memory addressable by XP Pro. Not bad at all, but I took myself down to 2gb and did not notice a single difference in any program or game. I benched crysis and played it through on 2gb of ram maxed out (dx9 mode, all high), no difference. I've got Oblivion modded up with 40-50 mods, totally maxed out graphics, 8xAA/16xAF, and a tweaked ini file that bumps to max or beyond every single game setting (even shadowmapresolution, no tree clones, gigantic grass fade distance, etc) and there was no difference between 2 and 3.25gb. In vista of course you'll get about 2/3 or 1/2 of the FPS rate you will get in XP for most of your games, but thats the price you pay for seeing all that extra useful memory. Smile

PS: The reason people need more than 2gb of ram these days IS vista. Vista itself will engorge itself on your memory, using 4gb FAR less efficiently than XP will use 2gb. I did mention at least a dozen times that Vista is bloatware, right?

I'm really not trying to crap on your fun, I'm trying to help you. If you don't want my help, tell me to shut the hell up and I will promptly disappear into the ether. Believe me, I've got no time to help people that don't want my help.