MP 1,1-5,1 Power for USB3 PCIe Card in A1289

[MFaklis]

Power for USB3 PCIe Card in A1289

I needed power to enable a USB3 PCIe card in my MacPro 5,1 2010 A1289. The only suitable power connectors were for the disks mounted on one of four disk sleds, and another available for the second optical drive. Using the available power for a second optical drive would require cutting a channel to pass the power connector from the optical drive mount to the PCIe slot. Using the disk sled power connector would make it impossible to insert an actual disk there. I opted to sacrifice sled four, realizing I could mount another disk in the optical drive chassis when I needed a fourth drive. I connected a power cable to the sled 4 power connector and ran a jumper to the USB3 card.

Does anyone see a better way to get power to the USB3 PCIe card?

 

[Macschrauber]

if you use a ssd you can use a power splitter cable in bay 4 and not lose that bay. You need to fiddle a bit with mounting the drive.

If you are able, you can solder a power cable to a 2,5" adapter if you use one with a PCB.

Or, if you don't mind solder a power cable directly to a spinner, that's the worst but most nerdish variant

The lower DVD is usable but a spinner runs hot in that place, also vibrations makes it a little loud.