PSU won't fit Alienware R6? Please help

[shopez]

Hi All,

Unfortunately I purchased a mid range prebuilt dell gaming PC (Alienware) for my first gaming PC with a 460w PSU. I am looking to upgrade the PSU so that I can upgrade my graphics card to something more substantial (currently running 1050ti).

Having checked youtube and various forums etc it seemed fairly straight forward to do. I purchased a fully modular EVGA 750 G3(to fit the cage arm). Once I began to fit the new PSU I noticed that my GPU_PWR on the motherboard will not fit the 6+2 (the 6 pin fits but not the +2) Pin provided with the PSU.

Current System:
Alienware Aurora R6 (AWR603)
I7-7700, 16 GB DDR4 2400MHZ, 1TB Sata HDD, GTX1050 TI, Windows 10

Any help will be much appreciated as not sure what to do next

Thanks

 

[ElectrO_90]

Can you upload photos?

 

[shopez]

Hi Electr0,

Please see below;

https://www.flickr.com/photos/158066522@N05/

Thanks

 

[Calvin7]

The black 8pin GPU Power does not use anything other than a CPU / EPS cable connector, due to its unique plastic keys - in otherwords - a PCI-E Grfx cable connector is keyed different, it can not fit, is not intended to fit and is also wired differently and therefore is the wrong cable to use or try to use.

Best to buy a power supply that has two CPU 8-pin power cables.

 

[Karadjgne]

Here's what I would do, but it's an advanced procedure. Notate exactly what wires are used in the old connector, their exact placement, pin setting. You do not need all 8 wires, just 4. Use a pinset tool and remove the corresponding wires from the 6+2 and swap them to the old connector in exactly the same spot. More than likely its 2x yellow and 2x black wires. Leave the remaining 4 wires in the 6+2. Reuse old connector in the mobo. Do not swap all the wires over as there's no actual placement notated for the remaining 4, juzt empty holes, so there's no clue as to what the remaining pins would line upto on the mobo

 

[shopez]

Hi Calvin,

The PSU came with 2x CPU cables with it (4+4) - does this mean I would be able to use this cable? Would this cause any damage to the machine as would be going from CPU slot in PSU to GPU_PWR on MOBO?

This is the first time I have attempted to upgrade a system so am unsure if this would be an option

Thanks

 

[Karadjgne]

Both the EPS (4+4) and pcie (6+2) are 12v and grounds. That's it. Same source, same voltage, only difference being the pin settings inside the connector. Being as the Dell mobo has a proprietary connector you have 2 options. Use an adapter to change the 4+4 (you'd only need the 4 not the +4) or to change the 6 into 4.

The other option being as I suggested and repinning the original connector, making it a permanent part of the new psu. The only way that would not work is if there are multiple voltages on that connector, not just 12v, in which case you'd use a molex chain instead that does have multiple voltages present.

As you can see from your picture, even though it's an 8 pin connector, there's only 4 wires present, so there's only a physical need for a 4pin. The connector itself is probably used for multiple motherboards using the same port, but with expansion possibilities.

Without absolutely knowing exactly what pins are used on the 'spare' 4, I'd not use a full 8 pin connection, if you add a 12v to a ground, you'll fry the mobo, so you'd only want to copy exactly what's there now, either adapter or repin.

 

[shopez]

Hi Karadjgne,

I am a little apprehensive to start re-pinning connections as I think would be a bit out of my skill set....

Would you be able to recommend an adapter that would work?

Cheers for the help

 

[Karadjgne]

After much digging, and trust me when I say this was irking me somewhat, it seems that 8 pin connector is entirely Dell proprietary. From what I found out, it's a 12v/3.3v mix that was used on motherboards prior to the pcie 2.0 standard to power certain rectifiers on the mobo. You probably can see a yellow, orange and 2x black wires.

Now Dell are pretty arrogant, and entirely self serving, they do not want you to replace their stuff with aftermarket parts, they want you to buy their replacements. The reason for the proprietary mobo connector.

Since nobody I could find has adapters for that connection, you are stuck with 2 choices. Repin or replace with a Dell psu made for that mobo that'll have the right factory connector.

If in fact that does have orange, yellow and black wires, you are stuck in the mud as there is no connector other than the 20+4 mains connector that uses 3.3v, all the other cables mix 12v with 5v to make 7v or 9v as needed.

Welcome to Dell.

 

[shopez]

After much digging, and trust me when I say this was irking me somewhat, it seems that 8 pin connector is entirely Dell proprietary. From what I found out, it's a 12v/3.3v mix that was used on motherboards prior to the pcie 2.0 standard to power certain rectifiers on the mobo. You probably can see a yellow, orange and 2x black wires.

Now Dell are pretty arrogant, and entirely self serving, they do not want you to replace their stuff with aftermarket parts, they want you to buy their replacements. The reason for the proprietary mobo connector.

Since nobody I could find has adapters for that connection, you are stuck with 2 choices. Repin or replace with a Dell psu made for that mobo that'll have the right factory connector.

If in fact that does have orange, yellow and black wires, you are stuck in the mud as there is no connector other than the 20+4 mains connector that uses 3.3v, all the other cables mix 12v with 5v to make 7v or 9v as needed.

Welcome to Dell.

Thanks Karadjgne for the heads up

I resent Dell trying to lock you in with their products (especially on a tower marketed towards being easily upgradable)

I will be moving on and do a custom build (when I have the money) and take out what I can from the prebuilt

One thing is for sure I won't be making the mistake of purchasing a Dell pre-built again

Cheers

 

[Karadjgne]

Don't get me wrong, Dell makes a really good pc, the mobo's are asus, msi or gigabyte, psus by Seasonic or Delta, ram is usually SkHynix etc, so they are decent parts. They are just made to be Dell pc's is all, not custom builds, unless it's Dell doing the customization. Can't blame them for that, even if it is a little inconvenient for the end-user at times.

 

[ElectrO_90]

You may get more money selling the system as a whole and then doing a custom build. Not many people will buy "spares" of a Dell.
Sell it all, and start again.