Firewire card need power source

[Per_Manus]

I am going to add a Firewire PCIe card to transfer handycam video to my new Envy TE01-0034 desktop. Most cards I've seen require power via a molex connector. I have read that cards do not require additional power if the device you are connecting them to have their own power supply. Or, if they do not, the card will take power from the GPU but this might damage the GPU. I would like to provide power to the card, but the PSU does not have any molex power cables, nevermind a spare I could unplug from another component and and to grab power from the existing PSU.

So my questions are, will not providing power jto a firewire card, damage the GPU? And,

What would I need for a new PSU to power a firewire card? The stock PSU is model PCH023, 180 watt.

Thanks for any suggestions.

[wb2001 · Accepted solution]

@Per_Manus,

The PSU in all these series models ie HP590, 595, 690, 790, 795, and the newest models like your TE01 all share the same power units from what I have determined. All have two 2x2 power leads, and an inline 7 pin plug. The higher end PSU's in the  (400W and 500W) configuration must have a PCIEx16 power plug, but NO ONE has ever reported back.  Really harsh.

Now about your problem in detail:

The motherboard of these units supply the power for all drives. Follow the power lead from the hard drive to the motherboard.  Is that a 2x2 SATA power header?  I see a white header above,  is that the DVD power header?

The only way would be to add a SATA power splitter and have a SATA to Molex adapter.

[Per_Manus]

Wb2001, thanks for your help with this. My Envy does have a spare SATA cable presumably for another drive, so I got a Molex to SATA adapter and the card is working just fine.