Can i use an external power supply to power second graphics card?

hello. i currently have an ATI 5870 in my 2010 Mac Pro. I want to throw a Quadro 4000 in there as well, but i need one more 6-pin power cable. can i plop the quadro into the second PCI slot, buy a PC desktop power supply and just let it sit on the outside next to my Mac Pro, and then just run a 6-pin power cable from the power supply into the Quadro? i realize that the Mac Pro door would could not be placed back on...but i could figure out some way to cover up the opening so that dust doesn't enter.
would this work? anyone tried?

Hi,
Just want to ask a question that is not clear on everything that I have read. If you don't switch off the external power what do you take the risk for? Could you burn something or the card will just continue to work (spin the fan) after you turn off the Mac Pro? Where is the dangerous part?
Thanks!

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Need Help with power supply reccomendations for my graphics card

hi
i have a MSI GeForce GTX 780 Graphics card... i built my own system, i also got a rosewill rx750 power supply in it which i think is causing me problems, the computer works great until i get into games like titan fall and try and get into a game then it restarts the computer on its own.. has done this with a few games, but it works fine when surfing the net and so forth, i have read its to do with the power supply being week and also read my chosen power supply isnt that good... anyone got any recommendations for me that i should look at or am i looking in the wrong direction with whats wrong with my pc... any help would be great thanks

yes the PSU is the most important choice out there and corsair and seasonic are the best out there! (never buy cheap PSU's as like abvolt said a cheap one can easily kill your more expensive parts)
Cheap PSU = made of the most cheap parts they could get "think cheap shanghai parts are used that may be of any quality good or awful as its just what they could get for the lowest price" (ever bought anything that was super cheap they break very easily)
Quality PSU = the use of good quality well made parts and will have very good testing done on them to make sure they are stable and pass very tight regulations and conform to specs for 10-30 different factors each.
a cheap low quality PSU I class as a paper weight as it will never go near a computer (maybe i would use one as a basic bench PSU for things i do not care if they die or just for testing a fan or something that rubbish dirty power is not really a major problem but silicon is not tolerant to dirty power and will kill parts)

Auxillary power supply for high-end graphics cards

Dear All,
I have an ATI Firepro card that needs 450W and of course the MacPro motherboard is not suited for the purpose. However there are a few auxillary power supplies advertised to supply extra power. Has anyone got any experience with using them?
Is it safe to expand the power range of your motherboard?
I'd really love to make use of this card (the FirePro V8750) as apparently it is the fastest for 3D graphics applications.
Regards
el

I remember someone in macrumors installing a power booster in the lower optical bay, in order to power dual 4870s. I was trying to look for the thread, but couldn't find it
I don't see a problem with using that to supply aux power, as long as it fits.
Another option: You probably shouldn't though just cause I don't know the long term effects (if any), but you can get aux power from the lower optical bay molex... I can't say I recommend it, just because half of the people say its fine to do, while the other half says not to.
I do know that people were using this option to run 4870s in crossfire; not sure how long it lasted though..
I'm assuming you want to use this card under bootcamp correct?

POWER SUPPLY info needed for GRAPHICS CARD UPGRADE!!!

I have a HP PAVILION p6631p and ide like to add a graphics card, but I was told I had to upgrade my power supply.
The card I purchased is the SAPPHIRE RADEON R7 260X 2GB and I was told I need a 500watt or higher power supply.
I was looking at the CORSAIR BRAND power supplies and tried emailing them to help me find the right power supply, but they said they needed to know what type of power supplies HP use in this model PC.
I didnt know what to do so im hoping someone can help me out with this information CORSAIR is asking for so they can help select me the right power supply for my PC.
I been searching for answers for weeks. Hopefully someone can help. Thanks.
This question was solved.
View Solution.

KJonline, welcome to the forum.
You were told correctly. You will have to upgrade the power supply unit (PSU) for the video card to work properly.
The PSU in the computer is a standard ATX. I suggest measuring the existing PSU and comparing the measurements to the one you choose.
I normally suggest at least 500W, but 600W is better for future upgrades. Here is a PSU that should work for you. It is 650W and is an Enthusiast series. This means that it has all of the power that you will need. It is 5.9" (W) x 3.4" (H) x 6.3" (L).
Please click the "Thumbs Up+ button" if I have helped you and click "Accept as Solution" if your problem is solved.
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I have a HP Pavilion a6603w. I want to upgrade power supply to run powerful graphic card. Suggest

I have a HP pavilion a6603w desktop model number FK555AA-ABA a6603w. I have a low to mid level graphics card, which is the most that my power supply will handle.
I want to get a stronger power supply to run a high end graphics card with a self cooling fan. Can anyone suggest an excellent, reliable power supply brand and model that will fit into my desktop case with minimum fuss? I am not tech savy but I have replaced my video card and hard drives with no problem.
Thanks,
Lugnut

lugnut1204 wrote: I have a HP pavilion a6603w desktop model number FK555AA-ABA a6603w. I have a low to mid level graphics card, which is the most that my power supply will handle. I want to get a stronger power supply to run a high end graphics card with a self cooling fan. Can anyone suggest an excellent, reliable power supply brand and model that will fit into my desktop case with minimum fuss? I am not tech savy but I have replaced my video card and hard drives with no problem. Thanks, Lugnut
Hello lugnut1204, I checked the specifications for your system and is appears the system shipped with a 250 power supply. The dimensions for this power supply are 5 15/16 inches wide, 5.5 inches long, and 3 3/8 inches tall. Since your system is a MicroATX version, you would be slightly limited to a power supply of the same size as the original power supply.
Here is a link to Newegg where a Corsair 600 watt power supply can be found with almost the exact same physical size as you original 250 watt version. The Corsair power supply dimensions are 5.9 inches wide, 5.5 inches long, and 3.4 inches tall.
If you get a power supply too long, it may interfer with the back of the CD\DVD drives.
You would need to locate a video card that you wanted and make sure the power supply requirements were less than the 600 watt Corsair model. Most of the mid to higher end cards require at leaset a 400 to 500 watt or greater power supply.
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Please mark Accept As Solution if it solves your problem.

Can I use an external hard drive instead of replacing a defective one?

I'm almost certain I need another hard drive; the current one has been installed less than a year. I'm experiencing regular kernel panics; i've done a clean reinstall.
Can I use an external HD as my main drive? Other than the kernel issues, everything else works fine
Message was edited by: joell109

Has using information on 'resolving kernel panics' helped to
define or troubleshoot the list of potential causes of these;
or has the process been partly a guess?
resolving kernel panics - troubleshooting the issue:
http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/kernelpanics.html
Poor or under-qualification RAM, failed or unable to work
in a later system than a computer was first shipped with,
can lead to kernel panic issues. So can a combination of
software that is incompatible. And if there is a problem in
how the computer reads and writes data to and from the
hard disk drive, it may be putting corrupted data on the HD.
{And the logic board or hardware data flow controller (ATA)
may be defective in such a way as to cause kernel panics..}
An over-full hard disk drive could be damaging the content
of the drive in such a manner (due to over-writing content
and the system being cannibalized) as to cause failures.
What brand of hard disk drive have you installed into there?
An external hard disk drive within a FireWire enclosure, one
that is self-powered so it is on before the computer (and you
have to consider carefully how you detach or attach it to the
Mac, since these have to be unmounted a certain way, etc)
and perhaps large enough in capacity to have it partitioned
so as to give you a backup location for items or utilities that
can run from the computer to help you maintain it, etc.
The externally enclosed FireWire hard disk drive, with AC
power adapter, and cables, should be able to boot the Mac.
Not all can do that... ones with a chipset similar to those
known as 'oxford chipsets' can do this. That is the first test
to do when you get a FW external HD drive, is to see if it
can do this primary task with a boot volume installed.
You can make nice clones, too, if you have a healthy FW
externally enclosed HDD, a bootable one, & self-powered.
Mine are full-computer clones; not just the OS, and not
just the file changes such as a simple backup may provide.
Carbon Copy Cloner by Bombich is a good tool to have.
And there are others.
If your computer is essentially eating hard disk drives and
there are kernel panics within a relatively short period of
operational time, there may be something else involved.
A vintage Disk Warrior may be helpful, if you can find one
that will work with the current OS on the computer and
also on the hardware you have, to look into the HDD.
And the original Mac OS software set included with that
computer shipped with an Apple Hardware Test... also,
system logs should indicate the chain of failure; but those
are often cryptic and few people grasp their messages.
Good luck & happy computing!

I would like to know if you have to back up a macbook hard drive, can I use a external hard drive that has been previously used to back up several pc 's, or is it best to have a separate external drive for the Mac?

I would like to know if you have to back up a macbook hard drive, can I use a external hard drive that has been previously used to back up several pc 's, or is it best to have a separate external drive for the Mac?

In the Mac side of things, backups usually come in two flavors: clones or incrementals.
A bootable clone is a bit-for-bit copy of all essential files in the startup volume. If using the Lions, clones can be made using CarbonCopyCloner or just plain old Disk Utility. These backups represent the safest protection of your info, but take the longest to do. Recovery is an inverse process: you copy the clone back into the internal drive.
Incremental backups start with a complete backup of the startup volume and only copy whatever changed from the previous run. OS X includes the fully integrated Time Machine backup utility to do this. It is extremely easy to do and takes the least amount of time. Recovery is another matter altogether since you have to start with a freshly installed instance of the OS and have to apply all intervening backups to bring the result to the latest saved version.
As for where the backup takes place, the recommended media is an external dedicated drive or drives connected via the fastest interface available on your Mac: Thunderbolt, USB3, Firewire, or USB2. Network-based backups, wired or wireless, are attractive but may not offer the same performance and hence take longer. Also important to note that the entire drive need not be completely dedicated to a single backup. The Mac's EFI firmware infrastructure allows for an unlimited number of partitions on a hard drive and each can be used for either type of backups.
Holler if you need specifics on how to do each. This was just an executive summary.

Can i use an external hard drive in windows to add additional storage after my initial partition is set up. i want to add a 500 GB hard drive to use with my windows. I set windows up in boot camp with a 50 GB partition?

can i use an external hard drive in windows to add additional storage after my initial partition is set up. i want to add a 500 GB external hard drive to use with my windows. I set windows up in boot camp with a 50 GB partition? I now want to add another 500 GB?

Yes. Windows supports external USB drives.

Can I use one external hard drive for 3 of my Macs?

I have a 2007 white MacBook, a 2011 MacBook Pro, and a 2013 MacBook Air.
I want to be able to transfer all of my precious family photos off of my MacBook and Macbook Pro onto an external hard drive and then wipe those computers clean, and then I want to be able to backup and wipe clean my Macbook Air so that I can update it to Mavericks.
Can I use one external hard drive to do this for three of my Macs? Will it be compatible with all of them? And will I still be able to use the hard drive with my Air once it is updated to Mavericks?
Which hard drive do you recommend?

1. Yes. Note that anything you want to keep should be on at least two drives in case one of them fails.
2. Yes.
3. Yes.
(110959)

How can I use my external hard drive for my iphoto instead of my mac book pro memory?

i don't know if this question has been asked before: how can I use my external hard drive for my iphoto instead of my mac book pro memory? just like itunes all my song are save on my external hard drive. make sense?

Moving the iPhoto library is safe and simple - quit iPhoto and drag the iPhoto library intact as a single entity to the external drive - depress the option key and launch iPhoto using the "select library" option to point to the new location on the external drive - fully test it and then trash the old library on the internal drive (test one more time prior to emptying the trash)
And be sure that the External drive is formatted Mac OS extended (journaled) (iPhoto does not work with drives with other formats) and that it is always available prior to launching iPhoto
And backup soon and often - having your iPhoto library on an external drive is not a backup and if you are using Time Machine you need to check and be sure that TM is backing up your external drive
LN

Can i use ANY external CD/DVD drive with the NEW mac mini?

We just got the newest Mac Mini and want to get an external drive for importing and burning CD's and DVD's.
Can we use ANY external CD/DVD drive or do we NEED to use the "Apple MacBook Air SuperDrive."
Thanks
Eliot

Maybe.
I've had some situations where a non-Apple DVD drive would not do a particular job. When I tried the same project with the Apple SuperDrive everything worked perfectly.
This is an area where I would not try to save money.
http://store.apple.com/us/product/MC684ZM/A

I wonder how pro photographers use aperture?I shoot raw and my harddrive is alreay full.I'm not able to import new pictures.Is it ok if i create a vault and delete all my projects in the HD.Can I use an external HD use aperture through the vault??

I wonder how pro photographers use aperture?I shoot raw and my harddrive is alreay full.I'm not able to import new pictures. I don't know what to do. I created a vault. My plan was to create a vault(put all my master files into an external harddrive) and then delete all my projects in my mac pro's harddrive. Is it the correct way to do it ? What should I do if I have thousands of raw files ? How should my workflow be? Can I use an external HD and use aperture through the vault,without keeping the master files on my computer's hard drive?? Or should I shoot raw+jpeg and store raw files in an external backup harddrive and import only jpegs into my aperture library?

There's a bit to learn. It will slowly make sense.
Aperture is an empty field. You're given a tractor and a whole bunch of attachments. What you grow, how, and where, is entirely up to you.
Vaults are for back-up and only for back-up. They have nothing to do with storing your working files.
When your Library outgrows your system drive (and for good performance, you should leave c. 20% of every drive empty), it's time to convert some of your image's Masters from Managed to Referenced. ("Managed" and "Referenced" refer to Masters, not to Libraries.)
There are hundreds of posts in the forum, and several pages in the User Manual on using Masters.
Many people run Aperture with the Library on their system disk, and most (or all) of their images' Masters on external FW drives. This is a good set-up. Note that you will likely have to take steps to back-up the data on your external drives.
If you do the above, there should be no reason to delete any Projects.
The choice of RAW or RAW+JPEG or JPEG depends on the kind of work you are doing. I capture RAW only -- but I don't do any commercial shoots. Pros on deadlines report that the RAW+JPEG works well for them. Capture JPEG if it saves you time. IMHO, there is not a good reason to shoot JPEG to save space (space is cheap; time expensive).
Short-term solution: buy and use a FW800 external 1 TB drive, formatted "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)", and using Aperture relocate the Masters of all images older than 30 days to that drive. (Be sure to change your back-up strategy to include this new drive; you may need a second new drive.)
This general post of mine might help you understand more about Aperture.

Can I use an external usb super drive on my iMac 10.6.8 ?

Can I use an external USB SuperDrive on my 10.6.8 iMac the internal drive is not working at all? Thank you.

DrGerega wrote:
Can I use an external USB SuperDrive on my 10.6.8 iMac the internal drive is not working at all? Thank you.
The answer is no unless you are willing to modify a system file. See this article. Read the entire thing and the comments before deciding if it is the route for you.
If it were me I'd go with Shootist's advice and get another brand--for the reasons he stated.
I have a SuperDrive that I use with my 2012 MBA but with my late-2012 27" iMac, which does not have an internal CD/DVD drive and therefore will work with the SuperDrive, I use a 3rd party that is both faster and cheaper than the SuperDrive.

Can you use a external hard drive to keep all your iTunes info on it

Can you use a external hard drive to keep all your iTunes info on it

Yes.
The easiest way is to copy the whole iTunes folder out to the external drive, then press and hold down shift as you click the icon to start iTunes. Keep holding shift until asked to "Create or choose a library". Choose the library on the external drive.
tt2

My HD is almost full. I need to add space. Can I use an external HD to continue using my startup disc as it is?

My HD is almost full. I need to add space. Can I use an external HD to continue using my startup disc as it is?
I create music and have run out of space. the message says 'your startup disc is almost full', and i just thought maybe buying an external hard drive and using it as the startup disc or whatever would do the trick. Does anyone know? Thanks!

External hard drives are relatively inexpensive...see some of those on OWC, www.macsales.com
You can use a large external drive to provide additional space by simply saving material to that volume instead of the startup disk. You can also partition the external drive to use part for Time Machine backups, and another partition for extended space. Or a third partition for a clone of the boot system made by Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper, both free downloads, so should the internal drive have problems you could always boot from the external partition.
All of that can be done from Disk Utility.
Keep in mind that Mac OS X gets very unhappy when there is less than 15% of the startup disk space free.

HT1766 Can you use an external hard drive to back up my movies in iTunes but still be able to access them or is there a device so I don't have to use a pc ??

Can you use an external hard drive to back up my movies in iTunes but still be able to access them or is there a device so I don't have to use a pc ??

You can store them on a separate hard drive, you don't need to keep them on your laptop's hard drive. On your computer's iTunes on the Advanced tab in Edit > Preferences there is a 'copy files to iTunes media file when adding to library' tickbox - if you untick that, you should be able to copy the films to a separate drive and add them back to your iTunes library (File > Add To Library) and it should then point to them on that separate drive and not copy them to your hard drive. When you are happy that it is what is happening and that they are safely on your external drive you can delete the films from your laptop's hard drive.
If you plug the external drive into a different USB port next time (assuming that your laptop has more than one) then it might get a different drive letter, so you might need to always use it with the same port.

Can i use an external power supply to power second graphics card?

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