Examkin

Question

Difficulty: EasyExpansion Cards and Power Supplies

A technician is upgrading a desktop workstation by installing a dedicated high-performance graphics card. Which of the following hardware interfaces and power supply connections are required to physically install and power this card? (Select TWO.)

  1. A PCIe x16 expansion slot on the motherboardAnswer
  2. A 6-pin or 8-pin PCIe auxiliary power cable from the power supplyAnswer
  3. C
    A 4-pin Molex peripheral connector
  4. D
    An 8-pin EPS12V power cable

Answer

Installing a dedicated high-performance graphics card requires a PCIe x16 expansion slot on the motherboard and a 6-pin or 8-pin PCIe auxiliary power cable from the power supply.
Modern high-performance graphics expansion cards demand high throughput and high power. The PCIe x16 expansion slot supplies the necessary bandwidth and up to 75 Watts of motherboard power. Because high-end cards draw significantly more power than 75 Watts, they also require supplemental 6-pin or 8-pin PCIe power cables connected directly from the power supply.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the physical interface required on the motherboard for high-bandwidth video cards.
Determine that a PCIe x16 slot is necessary to accommodate the mechanical form factor and throughput requirements.
PCIe x16 provides the longest slot physical dimension and highest data transfer rate for graphics processing.
2
Determine additional power requirements beyond the 75W provided by the PCIe slot.
Select a dedicated 6-pin or 8-pin PCIe power cable from the power supply unit (PSU).
High-performance discrete GPUs consume more power than the motherboard slot can deliver alone.

Key Concept

PCIe Expansion Card Interfaces and Auxiliary Power Connectors
Rate this question

Topics

Expansion Cards and Power Supplies

More questions from this topic