Original Tutorial by : Shamino, VR-Zone's
Original guide is posted here : VR-Zone's PCI Express Current Booster Mod
Images courtesy : VR-Zone
This is not my guide, Please use your own discretion before attempting the mod.
Your m/c's warranty is void after performing the mod.
________________________
Today's Graphics Display Cards come in several variants. There are the power-hungry ones which usually belong to the high-end category of cards. These require a power connector directly from the power supply to supply enough current on the +12v line to the card.
For the mid-range cards, however, many of them do not come with power connectors, since the current they draw are within the specifications of the capability of the modern-day . This takes away the hassle of plugging in the power connectors for the user.
However, this convenience comes at a price: There is a limit to the amount of current supplied to the card. When we overclock these cards, especially for the heavy-duty overclockers who modifies their cards and bioses for higher voltages, this limit can be easily hit. And this draws up a wall for the enthusiast, so no matter what cooling and voltages they apply, they find that their cards go no further.
The following modification is a current booster mod for the PCI Express slots on your motherboards. This will potentially increase the current that the PCI Express slot can supply for your display cards, thereby allevating the power barrier for the cards that do not come with power connectors. Do Take Note that this mod will void the warranty of your motherboard!
There are 2 ways to perform this mod.
First way is to directly connect the +12v and +3.3v lines from behind the ATX power supply connector. Let's take a look at the PCI Express slot from behind the motherboard.
As seen above, this is how the PCI Express slot looks like from behind, with the motherboard upright. You can see the 3 pins, +12v, +3.3v and the ground pin which is connected via the motherboard trace. The trace cannot carry as high a current as what a nice thick wire can do. So, what we can do is to solder a thick wire to each of these pins. Be very careful and take precautions, such as masking up the surrounding pins with tape, so that you don't short out the pins.
Now run these wires to the flip side of the ATX power connector of the motherboard.
Depending on how it is orientated on the motherboard, check which pin corresponds to which line of the ATX power connector. You are only interested in 3 colors, yellow for +12v, orange for +3.3v and black for ground.
Solder the +12v wire from the slot to a pin behind any yellow lines on the ATX power connector.
Solder the +3.3v wire from the slot to a pin behind any orange lines on the ATX power connector.
Solder the ground wire from the slot to a pin behind any black lines on the ATX power connector.
That's it, you're done!
Alternative Way of Modding
The second way is to splice a molex connector to connect to these wires. I actually prefer this method as I don't like the idea of the slots pulling power from the board but prefer them to pull directly from the power supply. Take Note that this method may void the warranty of your power supply as well.
Same as the first step of method 1, solder thick wires to each of the pin.
Make sure your wires are of a certain length so that they can run out from the board like this:
Above you see both PCI Express slots being modded, on the DFI nF4 SLI Expert
I would suggest using the color codes of orange for the +3.3v wire, yellow for the +12v wire and black for the ground wire. Next, find a spare unused SATA power connector of your power supply.
As seen above, the orange wire supplies +3.3v, the yellow wire +12v and the black is a ground wire. You can use a SATA connector to extend this cable from your power supply and mod the extension itself, so that the warranty on the power supply is not void. However, I simply cut off this head off to access the wires.
Now, the obvious final step is to connect the orange wire to the +3.3v wire from the board, the yellow to the +12v, and any of the black to the ground wire. I purchased a pack of bare molex set to complete the connection.
I spliced the wires into the molex and hook them up:
This mod may or may not help you in overclocking your video cards, depending on what bottleneck you may be facing, heat, voltage, etc. But once done, you have one less issue to worry about.
Original guide is posted here : VR-Zone's PCI Express Current Booster Mod
Images courtesy : VR-Zone
This is not my guide, Please use your own discretion before attempting the mod.
Your m/c's warranty is void after performing the mod.
________________________
Today's Graphics Display Cards come in several variants. There are the power-hungry ones which usually belong to the high-end category of cards. These require a power connector directly from the power supply to supply enough current on the +12v line to the card.
For the mid-range cards, however, many of them do not come with power connectors, since the current they draw are within the specifications of the capability of the modern-day . This takes away the hassle of plugging in the power connectors for the user.
However, this convenience comes at a price: There is a limit to the amount of current supplied to the card. When we overclock these cards, especially for the heavy-duty overclockers who modifies their cards and bioses for higher voltages, this limit can be easily hit. And this draws up a wall for the enthusiast, so no matter what cooling and voltages they apply, they find that their cards go no further.
The following modification is a current booster mod for the PCI Express slots on your motherboards. This will potentially increase the current that the PCI Express slot can supply for your display cards, thereby allevating the power barrier for the cards that do not come with power connectors. Do Take Note that this mod will void the warranty of your motherboard!
There are 2 ways to perform this mod.
First way is to directly connect the +12v and +3.3v lines from behind the ATX power supply connector. Let's take a look at the PCI Express slot from behind the motherboard.
As seen above, this is how the PCI Express slot looks like from behind, with the motherboard upright. You can see the 3 pins, +12v, +3.3v and the ground pin which is connected via the motherboard trace. The trace cannot carry as high a current as what a nice thick wire can do. So, what we can do is to solder a thick wire to each of these pins. Be very careful and take precautions, such as masking up the surrounding pins with tape, so that you don't short out the pins.
Now run these wires to the flip side of the ATX power connector of the motherboard.
Depending on how it is orientated on the motherboard, check which pin corresponds to which line of the ATX power connector. You are only interested in 3 colors, yellow for +12v, orange for +3.3v and black for ground.
Solder the +12v wire from the slot to a pin behind any yellow lines on the ATX power connector.
Solder the +3.3v wire from the slot to a pin behind any orange lines on the ATX power connector.
Solder the ground wire from the slot to a pin behind any black lines on the ATX power connector.
That's it, you're done!
Alternative Way of Modding
The second way is to splice a molex connector to connect to these wires. I actually prefer this method as I don't like the idea of the slots pulling power from the board but prefer them to pull directly from the power supply. Take Note that this method may void the warranty of your power supply as well.
Same as the first step of method 1, solder thick wires to each of the pin.
Make sure your wires are of a certain length so that they can run out from the board like this:
Above you see both PCI Express slots being modded, on the DFI nF4 SLI Expert
I would suggest using the color codes of orange for the +3.3v wire, yellow for the +12v wire and black for the ground wire. Next, find a spare unused SATA power connector of your power supply.
As seen above, the orange wire supplies +3.3v, the yellow wire +12v and the black is a ground wire. You can use a SATA connector to extend this cable from your power supply and mod the extension itself, so that the warranty on the power supply is not void. However, I simply cut off this head off to access the wires.
Now, the obvious final step is to connect the orange wire to the +3.3v wire from the board, the yellow to the +12v, and any of the black to the ground wire. I purchased a pack of bare molex set to complete the connection.
I spliced the wires into the molex and hook them up:
This mod may or may not help you in overclocking your video cards, depending on what bottleneck you may be facing, heat, voltage, etc. But once done, you have one less issue to worry about.
