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10199
June 4th, 2013 00:00
Alienware Area-51 ALX - trying to find extra internal power connectors
I purchased an ASUS Xonar Essence STX sound card (nice card!) to upgrade from the audio on the motherboard. This sound card requires an additional power connector which looks like the old style IDE 4 pin white connectors. I never thought to look inside the case to see if there were additional power connectors before making the purchase, thinking, this is a high end PC- it has to have extra connectors available. My old Dell XPS has extra connectors all over the place. To my amazement, I saw one additional extra video card connector set but nothing like what this sound card requires. I did see a short one near the top of the case that looked like it was reserved for an extra drive that could fit in the front bay area of the PC, but nothing down in the lower section near the back where the card resides. I need guidance in locating extra power if there is any.
Tesla1856
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June 4th, 2013 13:00
I doubt there is anything like that down there. Power is being routed/used in other ways. Traditionally, PCIe cards get the power they need from PCIe slot (but that is changing, like with add-in USB 3.0 cards).
That old-school 4-pin Molex carries +12 and +5 volts. You can NOT adapt a video card power plug because it only has 12 volts. You CAN adapt a SATA power if you must because it carries 3, 5, and 12.
But better to just use that existing optical bay Molex and run an extension cable down to the lower slots.
If you ever install USB 3.0 PCIe card, you will be ready. You can split it again with a Molex splitter/adapter.
morblore
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June 5th, 2013 04:00
1) It's a standard molex with 5v on the red & 12v on the yellow with two grounds.
2) The black power cables that power the CD/DVD bays are also standard 4-pin molex connectors so you really have more then 1 option.
Depending on the location that you install the sound card you may be able to do it without an extension. The power cable harness for the drive bays is pretty long and can be taken out of the big plastic clip. You could run it to the sound card first and then up to each DVD drive or whatever you have in your drive bays. Open the case and take a good close look at it to see what I mean.
Alienware-L_Por
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June 4th, 2013 09:00
Can you upload a picture of the port so that I can check if there is anything along those lines inside your chassis?
frank479
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June 4th, 2013 11:00
Yes. Here you go.
1 Attachment
Power_Connector.jpg
frank479
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June 5th, 2013 02:00
> But better to just use that existing optical bay Molex and run an extension cable down to the lower slots.
I will do that. Thanks. Two questions: (1) Is the power from that molex +5V? (2) Had that Molex not been there, what other options would I have had?
frank479
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June 5th, 2013 11:00
Thanks so much Tesla & morblore for all your helpful info!