11-11-2017 12:37 PM
Back in the early
Seventies, I bought myself a “Trash Eighty” , the loving
nickname for Tandy/Radio Shack's “TRS-80” aimed at domestic users
and marketed to rival the more expensive Apple.
I EPROM'd my
way through the Eighties, writing my own operating system for what
was, otherwise, a 'brick' which did nothing. I eventually could write
stuff in COBOL and PASCAL as well as Basic and, apart from the
limitations of the Science of the time, could make the thing “Sit
up and Beg” all for the low, low cost of about £2k for printer,
dedicated screen etc. (or six months' pay in today's money.
Now, 40 years later, I
have a system that could, back then, have run the US and Russian
Nuclear programs by itself, and at a fraction of the price.
UNFORTUNATELY, this has been at the cost of an understanding of just
HOW the bloody thing works.
So, I rely on Manufacturer's
Support sites to set me in the right direction when adding to or
upgrading my system. This has been a regular event since my becoming
a computer person.
Here is my sad story.
I recently purchased an
Oculus Rift VR Headset with sensors and touch pads. The numpty who
sold it to me didn't tell me, (despite the question being asked) that
my current system wasn't suitable for the Oculus but would only run
the cheaper VR that had a headset into which you plugged your
Smartphone.
SO – a new PC it was. I
wasn't TOO annoyed at the thought of upgrading to a new Gaming
Monster (I still haven't sold my last THREE PCs). So, well aware of
my limitations, I did my due diligence and was assured that an ASUS
G11CD with a GTX1050 Graphics board was the kiddie for me …....
(this was GOOD news, I'd had three ASUS machine and two ASUS Monitors
in the past and all were excellent quality and brilliant performers,
so ASUS it was) ...........and, if I'd had the OLD version of the
Oculus Rift, then it certainly WOULD have been. Unfortunately, my
Brand New Oculus Rift wouldn't be happy with that and the VR refresh
rates etc wouldn't be good enough so I now needed an upgraded Card,
the GTX1070.
So,after fruitlessly combing through Google
links and watching Youtube videos, I decided to buy a new Graphics
card, a GTX1070 – but, hold on a bit, here, THIS TIME there was
going to be NO mistake about it.
SO, to the MANUFACTURER
this time, no messing about.
Found NIVIDIA's support site
quite easily, clicked on Live Chat, and was soon talking with an
expert (this was about a week ago)
My questions were quite
simple and, initially required a “Yes” or “No” response only
:-
“I have an ASUS G11CD with a GTX1050 card in it. I want
to upgrade it to one of your “GTX 1070” Graphics cards. Is
swapping the Cards over something that someone who has never done
this before can do with success ?”
(these cards, BTW, are
upwards of £400 each brand new, so this is an important
question.)
So, a few tips about static electricity aside, the
answer was loudly affirmative.
Question Two, equally vital to
the success of the whole operation, followed quickly :-
“Are
the two cards completely interchangeable and will the 1070 card work
as it is, in the G11CD”
Answer was “Yes sir, they are Plug
and Play”.
I think my last response before the Live Chat
finished was “That's great news, I'm off to Ebay to pick one up.”.
Which is what, on his advice, I immediately did.
Yesterday the
Card arrived and, as promised, I changed it out very easily using
the small items of tools I had to hand (having said that, it still
took about two hours, some of the screws needing three hands – two
normal ones and a “Donald Trump” hand for the tighter
spaces).
Rebooted the machine and prepared to reinstall the
Oculus software.
EXCEPT – My OS can't 'see' my new graphics
card.
Swopped the old 1050 card back in and it ran perfectly
as it always had.
Went through the swapping out process again
(as said, it was about two hours of fiddly stuff to achieve every
time and I'd now done this THREE times).
BACK to my friends at
Support.
“SHOULD be working fine, sir. You'll have hooked up
your extra PS, of course”
“PS ?”
“power supply, sir.
The 1070 needs a lot more power than the 1050 so you'll need to give
it more. How much power are you giving it at the
moment?”
“Wha,.......?”
“Power, how much is it
getting now, sir It will be in Watts”
“Power comes from a
three pin UK plug in a wall socket, a big thick black flex takes
electric to the three pin power socket in back of the machine. THAT's
how much power I'm giving it !!!”
“Oh, dear” said the
Customer Service guy.
There is now NO-ONE invloved that I trust any longer to tell me black is black.
Solved! Go to Solution.
11-11-2017 01:48 PM
As a similarly aged former enthusiast I can sympathise. My programming skills only went as far as Sinclair Basic (and BBC) then some assembly at collage which didn't go well.
Anyway, yes, you need to check the connections from the power supply unit inside your PC. Different cards require different amounts of power and that means different connections from the PSU.
Your PSU should have leads with connectors with either 6 pins or 8 pins or 8 pin connectors that can be split into 6+2 and they should all have PCI-E printed on the connectors.
So my card needs a 6 pin and an 8 pin connector. I believe your 1070 needs just an 8 pin (or a 6+2 pin). If you don't have a spare 8 pin (or a 6+2) but you have 2 x 6 pin connectors spare, you can use an adaptor that combines the 2 x 6 pins into a single 8 pin, those adaptors often come with the card but not always.
Hope that helps and good luck!
11-12-2017 07:32 AM
11-12-2017 01:20 PM
Star-lizard said:
Looks like if you purchase a power supply it should come equipped with the proper connections . To answer your question , if your old power supply was powerful enough you could have used an adapter like the one I posted. The white end 4-pin molex connector plugs into the other 4-pin molex connectors from your power supply and also mentioned by a few others. I know this is a lot to take in but one you get up to speed you'll be fine , good luck
11-11-2017 01:43 PM
11-11-2017 01:44 PM
11-11-2017 01:48 PM
As a similarly aged former enthusiast I can sympathise. My programming skills only went as far as Sinclair Basic (and BBC) then some assembly at collage which didn't go well.
Anyway, yes, you need to check the connections from the power supply unit inside your PC. Different cards require different amounts of power and that means different connections from the PSU.
Your PSU should have leads with connectors with either 6 pins or 8 pins or 8 pin connectors that can be split into 6+2 and they should all have PCI-E printed on the connectors.
So my card needs a 6 pin and an 8 pin connector. I believe your 1070 needs just an 8 pin (or a 6+2 pin). If you don't have a spare 8 pin (or a 6+2) but you have 2 x 6 pin connectors spare, you can use an adaptor that combines the 2 x 6 pins into a single 8 pin, those adaptors often come with the card but not always.
Hope that helps and good luck!
11-11-2017 02:15 PM
11-11-2017 02:16 PM
11-11-2017 02:47 PM
2beor02bmerlin said:
EXCEPT – My OS can't 'see' my new graphics
card.
11-11-2017 03:19 PM
11-11-2017 03:29 PM
11-11-2017 03:34 PM
Protocol7 said:
What power supply unit are you using? The three pin power socket in the back of your machine is where power goes in, then inside the computer you can see those smaller wires leading out from the power supply unit going to various parts of the computer. Somewhere on the power supply unit it should say how many watts it supplies in total.
Nvidia recommends a 500W power supply unit.
If your power supply unit is suitable then plug the 8-pin power connector from the power supply unit into your graphics card
Plug looks like this
https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/G/01/aplusautomation/vendorimages/893d23ad-4302-468a-...
The socket is on the right of this photo
https://www.techpowerup.com/img/16-06-03/59c.jpg