PCI-Express card receiving no power on Dell Precision T1600

[Elliot B.]

I have a Dell Precision T1600 (2012 model) running the latest A16 BIOS (2013), which I use it as a Windows 10-based Plex server.

 

I bought a Dynamode USB-4PCI-3.0, which is a 4-Port USB 3.0 PCI-Express card.

 

I can't get Windows to detect it, and connected devices do nothing when plugged into it.

 

I've tried the USB 3.0 card in all four PCI slots (which I know work).

 

It appears it's getting no power.

 

There is a molex female connector on the back of the card but the box states: "Integral ‘Molex’ Power Boost adapter for increased length", so I don't think it's needed for the device to work?

 

The power supply doesn't seem to have any male molex connectors coming from it.

 

I'm using all four of the power supply's SATA male connectors and all four of the motherboard's female SATA connectors with the four drives that are in the machine.

 

Any ideas?

[n_K]

Sounds like the molex is needed. Easiest would be to get a sata power duplicator and then get a sata power to molex power converter and plug it in. If you have a spare floppy power cable then you could get a converter for that to molex.

[Elliot B.]

8 minutes ago, n_K said:

Sounds like the molex is needed. Easiest would be to get a sata power duplicator and then get a sata power to molex power converter and plug it in. If you have a spare floppy power cable then you could get a converter for that to molex.

All that comes from the power supply is 4x SATA power male and the 2x connectors for motherboard (24-pin and 4-pin, I believe).

 

I'm struggling to find a SATA power splitter. At the moment, all that comes from the PSU is a SATA power male, so the splitter would be to be male to 2x male. Do you think you could help?

 

The server has a 265W PSU in it. With 3x HDD, 1x SDD and a basic GPU, do you think adding this card and it powering 2x external 2.5" hard drives will strain it a bit?

[Jason S. Global Moderator]

i dont have an answer for you, but i also think the molex connector is needed.

[Elliot B.]

13 minutes ago, Jason S. said:

i dont have an answer for you, but i also think the molex connector is needed.

I believe you are correct.

 

Probably easier to buy a new PSU.

 

As it's a Dell workstation, I presume there may be restrictions on the type of PSU that can be installed?

[Jason S. Global Moderator]

1 hour ago, Elliot B. said:

I believe you are correct.

 

Probably easier to buy a new PSU.

 

As it's a Dell workstation, I presume there may be restrictions on the type of PSU that can be installed?

maybe or maybe not. you'll have to see what it's using currently. Dell might be using some non-standard form factor. Otherwise, a standard PSU should work just fine.

[Jim K Global Moderator]

Surely it doesn't use that much power? You could probably just get a SATA --> 2x SATA power adapter (for your drives) which would leave one SATA power free for a SATA --> Molex adapter.  

 

Unless you just want to replace the PSU ... Which I believe (in this model) is just a standard ATX.  You should be able to tell by looking at it.

[Elliot B.]

40 minutes ago, Jim K said:

Surely it doesn't use that much power? You could probably just get a SATA --> 2x SATA power adapter (for your drives) which would leave one SATA power free for a SATA --> Molex adapter.  

 

Unless you just want to replace the PSU ... Which I believe (in this model) is just a standard ATX.  You should be able to tell by looking at it.

I'm struggling to find said 2x SATA power adapter.

It would need to be 1x female (to plug into one of the existing males) to 2x male, I guess.

[Jim K Global Moderator]

21 minutes ago, Elliot B. said:

I'm struggling to find said 2x SATA power adapter.

It would need to be 1x female (to plug into one of the existing males) to 2x male, I guess.

UK has NewEgg right? Amazon? Just search for SATA to 2x SATA and you should get some hits.

 

Something like this would work...

https://www.newegg.com/p/N82E16812119914

 

Course, with all the adapters ... you might be able to just buy a cheap Corsair PSU for a few bucks more.

[Mindovermaster Global Moderator]

30 minutes ago, Elliot B. said:

I'm struggling to find said 2x SATA power adapter.

It would need to be 1x female (to plug into one of the existing males) to 2x male, I guess.

https://www.scan.co.uk/products/15cm-scan-88rb-415-4-pin-molex-to-2x-sata-power-connectors-males-to-female-18-awg-for-hdd-ssd

[Jim K Global Moderator]

7 minutes ago, Mindovermaster said:

https://www.scan.co.uk/products/15cm-scan-88rb-415-4-pin-molex-to-2x-sata-power-connectors-males-to-female-18-awg-for-hdd-ssd

That would be Molex to SATA power ...

 

So something like...

 

https://www.scan.co.uk/products/6-xclio-sata-power-y-splitter-cable-adapter

(SATA --> 2x SATA)

 

and...

 

https://www.scan.co.uk/products/10cm-akasa-ak-cbpw03-15-15-pin-sata-to-4-pin-molex-adapter-cable

(SATA --> Molex)

 

Should get the job done.

[Elliot B.]

8 minutes ago, Mindovermaster said:

https://www.scan.co.uk/products/15cm-scan-88rb-415-4-pin-molex-to-2x-sata-power-connectors-males-to-female-18-awg-for-hdd-ssd

Scan, Newegg, Amazon etc. all charge delivery on something that only cost £2, so I'm better off with eBay.

 

The SATA splitter I think I need: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/172709481192 (£2.09 with free delivery)

 

So that would leave me with a spare male SATA power.

 

Now I'm just looking for a SATA female to Molex adapter on eBay UK.

 

I think this would do it? https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/172573933402 (£2 with free delivery)

[Jim K Global Moderator]

9 minutes ago, Elliot B. said:

Scan, Newegg, Amazon etc. all charge delivery on something that only cost £2, so I'm better off with eBay.

 

The SATA splitter I think I need: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/172709481192 (£2.09 with free delivery)

 

So that would leave me with a spare male SATA power.

 

Now I'm just looking for a SATA female to Molex adapter on eBay UK.

 

I think this would do it? https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/172573933402 (£2 with free delivery)

I do not see any issue with those selections. 

[Mindovermaster Global Moderator]

10 minutes ago, Jim K said:

That would be Molex to SATA power ...

 

So something like...

 

https://www.scan.co.uk/products/6-xclio-sata-power-y-splitter-cable-adapter

(SATA --> 2x SATA)

 

and...

 

https://www.scan.co.uk/products/10cm-akasa-ak-cbpw03-15-15-pin-sata-to-4-pin-molex-adapter-cable

(SATA --> Molex)

 

Should get the job done.

Oh, wrong way, sorry...

[n_K]

4 hours ago, Elliot B. said:

All that comes from the power supply is 4x SATA power male and the 2x connectors for motherboard (24-pin and 4-pin, I believe).

 

I'm struggling to find a SATA power splitter. At the moment, all that comes from the PSU is a SATA power male, so the splitter would be to be male to 2x male. Do you think you could help?

 

The server has a 265W PSU in it. With 3x HDD, 1x SDD and a basic GPU, do you think adding this card and it powering 2x external 2.5" hard drives will strain it a bit?

265w sounds a bit low, ideally a power supply should use up to 80% of it's maximum output (this is to reduce heating/strain and so that as components get older and lose tolerance, the 'lesser' power supply does not overstrain itself). Personally I would change the PSU for another one, and get one that has enough SATA ports with a spare one for the USB card.

I have a random seagate HDD here and it uses 0.72A at 5v and 0.52A at 12v which is 0.72*5 + 0.52*12 = 3.6 + 6.24 = ~10w, so for 5 HDDs that would be about 50w (this ignores that the 5v and 12v rails are separate and have different current limits on the PSU). 80% of your PSU is 212w so your system, GPU and SSD should not be using more than 162w.

[helpifIcan]

If you buy from Ebay good chance the item is coming from China and will be on a boat that may take 15 to 25 days before delivery. Make sure you check on that.

[Elliot B.]

1 hour ago, n_K said:

265w sounds a bit low, ideally a power supply should use up to 80% of it's maximum output (this is to reduce heating/strain and so that as components get older and lose tolerance, the 'lesser' power supply does not overstrain itself). Personally I would change the PSU for another one, and get one that has enough SATA ports with a spare one for the USB card.

I have a random seagate HDD here and it uses 0.72A at 5v and 0.52A at 12v which is 0.72*5 + 0.52*12 = 3.6 + 6.24 = ~10w, so for 5 HDDs that would be about 50w (this ignores that the 5v and 12v rails are separate and have different current limits on the PSU). 80% of your PSU is 212w so your system, GPU and SSD should not be using more than 162w.

These guys say a regular PSU should work fine in the T1600.

 

I don't want to spend a lot on the system as it's only a basic Plex server (hardly even transcodes). No more than £50.

 

Here's my initial research:

 

 

 

I'll bulk it out over the next day or two.

[n_K]

1 hour ago, Elliot B. said:

These guys say a regular PSU should work fine in the T1600.

 

I don't want to spend a lot on the system as it's only a basic Plex server (hardly even transcodes). No more than £50.

 

Here's my initial research:

 

 

 

I'll bulk it out over the next day or two.

If you want to stick to well-known brands is up to you. I have a corsair, not sure if it's the £35 cp-9020095-uk one on your list but it's similar styled and can recommend that. It has white 80+ certification so it's roughly 80% efficient compared to the 65% one you have now. It has 4 SATA power plugs and 1 floppy, so you will need a floppy power cable to molex, should be pretty easy and cheap to find.

[Elliot B.]

34 minutes ago, n_K said:

If you want to stick to well-known brands is up to you. I have a corsair, not sure if it's the £35 cp-9020095-uk one on your list but it's similar styled and can recommend that. It has white 80+ certification so it's roughly 80% efficient compared to the 65% one you have now.

Thank you for your advice 🙂

 

Updated table:

 

Edited March 25, 2020 by Elliot B.

[Jim K Global Moderator]

Probably just the cheapest Corsair (the 450w on Amazon for weird-symbol 35)

 

Though I still think you'd do fine with what you have....especially if you're not wanting to spend a lot of money.  The add on card isn't really using that much more power ... probably just drawing 10w off the motherboard (if at all) and using the molex to sip another few watts off of (or being powered solely from the molex).  USB 3.0 2.5 HDD drives use what... 2.5-5watts or somewhere around there.

 

Anyway...I doubt that card ... fully maxed out with 4 2.5 HDDs ... would use more than 15 watts (I couldn't find technical specifications on this card to confirm).

 

Granted ... with the age of the system ... it probably wouldn't hurt anyway to get a new PSU if you can budget for it.  Just my opinion.  🙂 

[Mindovermaster Global Moderator]

26 minutes ago, Jim K said:

Probably just the cheapest Corsair (the 450w on Amazon for weird-symbol 35)

 

Though I still think you'd do fine with what you have....especially if you're not wanting to spend a lot of money.  The add on card isn't really using that much more power ... probably just drawing 10w off the motherboard (if at all) and using the molex to sip another few watts off of (or being powered solely from the molex).  USB 3.0 2.5 HDD drives use what... 2.5-5watts or somewhere around there.

 

Anyway...I doubt that card ... fully maxed out with 4 2.5 HDDs ... would use more than 15 watts (I couldn't find technical specifications on this card to confirm).

 

Granted ... with the age of the system ... it probably wouldn't hurt anyway to get a new PSU if you can budget for it.  Just my opinion.  🙂 

Well, in the US, at least, Amazon isn't shipping computer stuff. Unsure about the UK, though.

[Jim K Global Moderator]

7 minutes ago, Mindovermaster said:

Well, in the US, at least, Amazon isn't shipping computer stuff. Unsure about the UK, though.

Cool