Power Supply and Cables?! - Noob Help needed.

J

JamesMLB

Enthusiast
I am thinking of adding new fans and possibly a 680 or 690 into my current rig, but I'm not sure how the cabling and stuff works. Yes, I've never actually installed anything before :)

the power supply is only 750w, so i'll try and briefly sum up my current spec

i7 2700k 3.5GHZ Quad Core
16gb Corsair Vengeance 1600mhz
Nvidia GTX 580 3gb
Asus P8Z68 V-Pro Motherboard
120GB Kingston Hyper X SSD
2TB Caviar Black HDD


Do i need a bigger power supply if i were to possibly run both cards? ie my 580 and a 680 or 690.

Also I dont know how you connect stuff from the power supply and I'm not sure if PCS have left any extra cables for power and that...

Any help is appreciated!

- James :p
 
steaky360

steaky360

Moderator
Moderator
JamesMLB said:
I am thinking of adding new fans and possibly a 680 or 690 into my current rig, but I'm not sure how the cabling and stuff works. Yes, I've never actually installed anything before :)

the power supply is only 750w, so i'll try and briefly sum up my current spec

i7 2700k 3.5GHZ Quad Core
16gb Corsair Vengeance 1600mhz
Nvidia GTX 580 3gb
Asus P8Z68 V-Pro Motherboard
120GB Kingston Hyper X SSD
2TB Caviar Black HDD


Do i need a bigger power supply if i were to possibly run both cards? ie my 580 and a 680 or 690.

Also I dont know how you connect stuff from the power supply and I'm not sure if PCS have left any extra cables for power and that...

Any help is appreciated!

- James :p
Click to expand...

You wont be able to run a 580 with a 680 or a 690.
A 750W PSU should be able to manage a single 680 or 690 I think, although if you ever wanted to upgrade further (a second 680 for example) you might need to upgrade the PSU then!
If your PSU is modular (you can remove cables from the back of the PSU) then PCS will have included all of the extra cables that were not installed with your PC when you purchased it originally (they will be in the welcome pack). If it is not modular (all the cables are attached to the PSU) then they will probably be tucked away inside your case somewhere close to the PSU.
 
J

JamesMLB

Enthusiast
whoops my ram is actually

Memory (RAM)
16GB KINGSTON HYPER-X GENESIS DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz, X.M.P (4 x 4GB KIT)
 
steaky360

steaky360

Moderator
Moderator
JamesMLB said:
yup i have a 750w corsair modular :) I have the cables in the box, but how would I use them :S
Click to expand...

Ah right, sorry.

You basically get the cable and plug it into the rear of the PSU - I would guess there are labels for which slots are for what sort of device (there is on mine), you'll want a PCI slot. Wire the cable through the case (cable management :)) and plug it into your graphics card.

Depends what graphics card as to what the cable requirements are.

The GTX 680/690's require 2x 8 pin PCI cables for example. The end you plug into the graphics card will look similar to this - K-8PIN-pci-exp-MM-40CM.jpg

The cards will probably come with some kind of adapter if you only have 6pin PCI cables (but I would guess you'll have the 8 pin ones somewhere)
 
Last edited:
steaky360

steaky360

Moderator
Moderator
JamesMLB said:
Thanks a ton mate :) How would you power up a few new fans in my HAF X at the top?
Click to expand...

Depending on your motherboard you can plug them into the Fan headers on the mobo. If that is not an option then there is basically either molex to the PSU (fans will be on 100% all the time) or using a fan controller.

EDIT: Sorry, forgot you posted your specs. Your motherboard has 2x chassis fan connectors on the motherboard. So unless these are already used, I'd probably plug my fans in there (if you have not got a fan controller already)
 
J

JamesMLB

Enthusiast
kk :) what fan controller would you recommend as I haven't really looked much into them? What is their purpose *n00b*
 
steaky360

steaky360

Moderator
Moderator
JamesMLB said:
kk :) what fan controller would you recommend as I haven't really looked much into them? What is their purpose *n00b*
Click to expand...

NZXT do some pretty cool fan controllers : http://www.nzxt.com/new/product.php?series_name=Fan+Control&series=11
as do Bit Fenix : http://www.bitfenix.com/global/en/products/accessories/recon
There are tons on the market though : http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=fan+controller

I cant advise on which one to get as I just use the one that is built into my case.

As for what they do - they do what they say on the tin, they are fan controllers. You plug them into your PSU and you can manually control the speed at which your fans spin.
 
J

JamesMLB

Enthusiast
oh thats a sick idea :p thanks. ive heard a lot about NZXT :) i'll check em out... where abouts do the gpu's install then on the mobo?
 
keynes

keynes

Multiverse Poster
JamesMLB said:
Also, if I install a fan controller, how do i attach the fans to the controller??
Click to expand...

There should be connectors from the fan controller that you will use for each fan. If you are unsure on how to install a fan controller or a gpu you could check videos on youtube or you could also consider the upgrade service from PCS, they could do it for you.
 
J

JamesMLB

Enthusiast
thanks man, also how do i change the power supply? :D I will probs upgrade to a 1000w or so for led's, fans, controllers, gpu or don't they take up much wattage?
 
steaky360

steaky360

Moderator
Moderator
JamesMLB said:
Also, if I install a fan controller, how do i attach the fans to the controller??
Click to expand...

Same way you'd attach them to your motherboard. Easy as plugging the fan into the fan controller.

Your fans will have either a 3 pin connector cpufanpinoutlabeled.jpg or a 4 pin connector 94c41971_4pin_connector_002.jpeg.

That will just plug into the back of the fan controller :) 5865990721_58d2f2b1b9_z.jpg (Obviously where will depend on the fan controller - it will be detailed in the instructions you get with the controller you choose)
 
steaky360

steaky360

Moderator
Moderator
JamesMLB said:
thanks man, also how do i change the power supply? :D I will probs upgrade to a 1000w or so for led's, fans, controllers, gpu or don't they take up much wattage?
Click to expand...

You would probably need to unplug all of the PSU cables, swap them with the new ones (from your new PSU) and remove the old PSU and swap it with your new one.

You probably will be fine with the 750W powersupply. Fans/LED's/Fan controllers etc. do not use up much power at all.
 
J

JamesMLB

Enthusiast
ok ok... im thinking of getting 4 200mm led fans, and will replace 2 of the current fans with these and stick the other 2 on the top of my case...
 
J

JamesMLB

Enthusiast
I opened up the case earlier to look at the wiring and I accidently unplugged my SSD :( I thought it was dead. Luckily I noticed the problem and got it back running!

Anyway, now I know what the cabling looks like in my pc + i know how to open the case and that..
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top