Resolved Video Card Power Connector

Hi folks, I have a Dell XPS Gen 2 desktop that I bought in 2004. It ran well until 2009 when the video card started acting up putting weird blue squares on the startup screen and making my mouse pointer invisible. Since I had two other machines at the time I just unplugged it and put it away.

Now that I'm trying to get it going again, I wanted to replace the video card. I looked up the specs for the original video card in my computer:

(ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 128 MB AGP 8X)

So, being the smart guy that I am (HA!) I went shopping around for a card with the same specs. I found one on eBay with the same specs but more memory (512). I figured a memory upgrade couldn't hurt and bought it.

Well, now that I have the new card in hand, I have a problem. The AGP part of the card (the flat golden part that goes into the motherboard) is fine, but the power connector on the card is not compatible with what I have on my machine. My machine has a white connector with four connections, but the new card has a black connector with 6 connections (see photos in links below).

So, what did I miss in the specs? I thought I was buying the right card. What do I need to know so that I can buy the correct video card?

Thanks for the help!

Rich


Old Connector


New Connector

 

You could buy an adaptor. That would be the cheapest & most logical solution.

 

the old one is Molex your new one is 6 Pin the Adapter you need is Molex to 6 pin. Normally it is 2 Molex to 1 six pin. About $3.- on ebay.
hawk22

 

Thanks guys! I had no idea adapters even existed for this type of thing.

One last question: On that 2 Molex to one 6-pin adapter, will it work OK for me if I just leave the second Molex unused?

 

Yes. The second Molex is for daisy chaining.

 

No you do need the 2 molex to the one six pin.
See here:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812887001

I did make this rather costly mistake, of using only one molex, and my video display would not work properly, so I had assumed the video card was dying and went and bought a new video card. Only when I replaced the card I thought maybe I should try the 2 molex and bingo, the card is still working brilliantly six month down the track.
You live and learn.
hawk22

 

Thanks guys. I'm calling this one resolved...