[RndTbl] HW question

[Alberto Abrao]

On January 27, 2021 5:18:56 a.m. CST, Trevor Cordes <trevor at tecnopolis.ca> wrote:
>1. Newer cards have much higher slot power draw requirements and many
>old boards (esp PCIe v1) won't provide that much power.  It was a big
>problem for using v2 cards on v1 boards.  Symptom: no display, system
>dead or beeping.

Did happen back on PCIe v1 days. So far I have not experienced that with PCIe v2. A good point nevertheless.

>
>2. Even worse is older cards often had the 6 pin PCIe supplemental power
>connector to make up for lackluster slot power.  Most new cards that
>aren't crazy high-end solely use slot power, making the power situation
>in #1 more of a problem.

Not sure, but I don't think that's the case for the 1660, as it should have its own power connector. Don't quote me on that, though.

AM2/AM3 boards such as the one he linked have beefy power everything because, well, that's Phenom II-era AMD. It was not yet on "bring-your-own-power-plant" territory like Bulldozer, but getting there. 

>As for the (if it does work) it'll be overkill argument already put
>forth: depends.  If you're just trying to get 2D / desktop (no games)
>and you're mostly interested in the massive-multi-monitor capability,
>do like I did and get the lowest-end card that does the newer DP spec
>and daisy-chaining.  Then you only need 2 digital-out ports on the card
>to get 3 (maybe 4) monitors.  1 DP can drive 2 monitors daisychained.

All true. 

Then again, if that's the case, I would throw a gazillion (read: 3) older GPUs with two video outs each and call it a day. Six monitors! POWAH!

He does have plenty of PCIe slots on that board. 

Speaking of which... is that the case, Kevin? If yes, let me know, because I may be able to help you here.

>
>If it's gaming, then better/faster vid card will help, but like they
>said, you'll start seeing diminishing returns as your CPU/RAM become
>the bottleneck, not the VC.  But I wouldn't say it's completely
>useless, assuming it works.  Getting a $700 card for an old box is
>probably silly, but $200-$300 doesn't sound horrible, especially if
>you're getting other features you want.

Not completely useless, but still... If it were me, I would try to find an used GPU to get by and purchase the new one when the time for a whole new machine came.
>
>And make sure your PS is a good one (Japanese caps) with enough juice
>leftover.

That's always a good thing to do, no matter what. 
-- 
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