I would like to introduce my new video card, a Sapphire Radeon 4870 with 1GB. I wish I could tell you that it was running in my machine, but it isn’t. Not for lack of trying; I did manage to wedge it into my case last night (a tight fit), but then discovered the Achilles’ Heel of the Dell XPS 435. The card takes two 6-pin power inputs. My power supply provides one.
So I stared at the card for a few minutes, cursed under my breath, and reluctantly RMA-ed the card and ordered a slightly less beefy card that only requires one power plug. Problem solved, even if I wasn’t quite as happy about it.
But then I came in this morning and talked to Matt Funk about it, and he suggested using a power cable splitter. After some investigation, I discovered several different types of splitter and converter cables that are available. Since I have several SATA- and IDE-type cables free, I’ll just convert one of those over to 6-pin and I should be good to go.
So the RMA is ignored, the new order cancelled, and my mood is substantially improved. I’ll let you know if a successful installation makes that more permanent or not.
