Auxiliary Power Connections in z620?

[BambiBoomZ]

Good Afternoon,

This is a silly and trivial problem that is monumentally solution-resistant.

I have on order an ASUS Essence STX PCie sound card that requires 20W auxuliary power to run  the headphone amplifier.

The connector on the card looks like this:

Which connoisseurs of connectors will recognize as 4-pin Molex male.

The thing is, the only auxiliary power connectors I can find in the z620 are two 6-pin PCI female for power to GPU's.  I'd like to have those available for GPU's- the system will have a Tesla M2090 that can run off a single 8-pin but is specified to run on one 6 pin + one 8-pin.

I've looked through hundreds of cables from several sources and can not find a 4-pin molex fem to 6-pin PCI male cable OR 4-pin Molex fem to 4-molex fem > Molex male to 6-pin PCI. 

Are there any other power sources to which I can connect?  SATA power ? Anything?  I suppose I could eventually contrive a two cable solution, e.g, PCI power to SATA power  to> gender change SATA power to 4-pin Molex Female,  but my head is spinning already,...

It surprises me that a sophisticated, high performance, and expensive workstation such as the z620 with up to 80 PCIe lanes for peripherals is so sparse of power connections.   The Dell Precision T5500 has two 6-pin PCI, two empty Molex 4-pins, connectors for a second optical drive, and etc.

This is a small detail that is disproportionately difficult.

Thanks!

Cheers,

BambiBoom

[SDH · Accepted solution]

Bambi,

 I must be missing a complexity, but I think all you need is below, and the published wattage sure seems more than enough.  Let me know if you want references on a 4-pin-molex max wattage.  Plug the SATA power male end into an unused SATA power female up near your DVD R/W's SATA power cable.  The power cable has the female ends, and the back of the DVD R/W has a male end.  My Z620 has spare females on the cable up there.  There also are "2x SATA power 15-pin male to dual female Y splitter" adapter cables, but I don't think you need one of those to tap in. 

or:   StarTech.com LP4SATAFM12 12-Inch SATA to Molex LP4 Power Cable Adapter.

[BambiBoomZ]

SDH,

Yes, well done.  Your mention of the spare power cable near the optical drive  is the key to the solution.  There is a cable that disappears into a slot under the DVD drive bottom.  I'd fussed with it earlier,  but it appeared to be attached.  When I turned the z620 onto the faceplate and could see into the slot a bit, it was then possible to see that it was an SATA power plus Molex 4-pin female that was reluctant to pull through the narrow slot.  Possibly that pairing is to facilitate adding either a second optical drive, hot swap drive, or a card reader in the lower 5.25" drive bay.  The narrow slot helps to prevent the loose cable moving about in the case.

I think I shall have a Molex  male to Molex female.

Thanks very much!

Cheers,

BambiBoomZ

[SDH]

Wait Bambi.... there's more.... the famous male floppy power to molex female adapter!    That will handle about 50 watts total, from  HERE.  You can find less fancy ones....    I used this to feed a plasmaholographic projector card in a xw6600 when I was running short.  You do have to forever sacrifice use of your floppy drive, however.

[BambiBoomZ]

SDH,

That is interesting.  I saw the tiny connector that branches off the supply for the optical drive and was trying to remember where I'd last seen one of those- of course- in the 2007 Dell Dimension E520 that runs the television machine.

I didn't realize that connector can carry so many W's.  That would be a way to connect the sound card and leave the other two aux power connections available.

From no extra power connections to more than necessary!  I shall start looking for a "plasmaholographic projector card" for my ongoing confuse-a-cat program.

Thanks again,

BambiBoomZ