Splitter for Molex A to Power USB 3.0 Card

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Level 1

9 points

Splitter for Molex A to Power USB 3.0 Card

I have this USB 3.0 card for my 2012 Mac Pro 5,1:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA1DS0P43154

The card needs to be powered but all my drive bays and optical bays are full. I noticed the two Molex plugs on the motherboard (See photo). Are those actual power connectors and can they be split?

Thanks!

Here is the info from the NewEgg site:

Installation

•4PIN Power Supply is Required to Attach to Power the ORICO Turbo USB3.0 Card

•5V Power in the 4PIN Power Supply is Required . 6PIN PCIE AUX Power Supply from Mac Pro for Graphic Card DO NOT have 5V Power and can't Power the ORICO Turbo Card Even if Transformed to 4PIN . The 15PIN SATA Power from Hard Drive Bay of Mac Pro with 5V Power and can power the ORICO Turbo USB3.0 Card when Transformed to 4PIN . Therefore an Available Hard Drive Bay with a 15PIN SATA Power Connector is Required for the Power Supply of ORICO Turbo USB3.0 Card . A 15PIN Male to 4PIN Female Power Cable ( NOT Included in the Box ) will be needed (15PIN Female Connector Attach to 15PIN Power Connector in Hard Drive Bay and 4PIN Connector Attach to the ORICO Turbo USB3.0 Card) .

Mac Pro, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.5), Dual 6 core 2.4 GHz - 2012

Posted on Jan 10, 2014 3:36 PM

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Answer 1

The hatter

Level 9

60,980 points

Jan 10, 2014 3:49 PM in response to FutureX

Mine looks similar but is Sonnet Allegro USB 3 and it gets power from the PCIe slot itself.

I also never use anything but disk drives with their own power, nothing is bus-powered.

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Answer 2

FutureX Author

Level 1

9 points

Jan 11, 2014 9:14 PM in response to The hatter

We have no choice on using only drives that have their own external power source. I also saw a user report on that Allegro card which said you have to have the power plugged into the card to get USB 3 speeds. It works at USB 2 speed unpowered where the drives are self powered.

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Answer 3

Apr 12, 2014 9:46 AM in response to FutureX

I have the same problem, all my drive slots are full and both optical bays. I did a little poking around inside my Mac Pro and found that those two cables that say Molex are actually the data cables for the SATA optical drives, that's not the power cable.

What I think IS the power cable is that 4 pin boxy looking cable right above them. Can anyone confirm this? If so, is there a way to split that cable off to Molex to power the USB 3.0 PCIe card?

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