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$299 OWC Mercury Helios (16Gbps TB2) Discussion


mnrc

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oh, i hope i'm not misunderstood. i've meant: it's not advisable to use a pigtail 4P JST - 6P/2x6P PCIe because the JST housing is risky to melt.

@Dschijn: A standard table i couldn't find right now. As far as i know these jacks / plugs can handle 12V / 5A.

In forward you should know, i do many things by t&e, so my experiences shows, however they may also handle up to 12V/7A w/o any problems for ~10h(then the print job was finished). As i pull ~4h 12V/10A on my 3D printer the insulation between inner and outer contact surface was melted

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oh, i hope i'm not misunderstood. i've meant: it's not advisable to use a pigtail 4P JST - 6P/2x6P PCIe because the JST housing is risky to melt.

@Dschijn: A standard table i couldn't find right now. As far as i know these jacks / plugs can handle 12V / 5A.

In forward you should know, i do many things by t&e, so my experiences shows, however they may also handle up to 12V/7A w/o any problems for ~10h(then the print job was finished). As i pull ~4h 12V/10A on my 3D printer the insulation between inner and outer contact surface was melted

So 120W would be too much through the DC jack? Regarding the other TB enclosure DC jack (barrel) the support said about 80W theoretical max wattage. What do you think about that x16 slot? 75W for the x16 slot may be risky?

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120W are 10A at 12V.

Maybe it works, maybe not.

On my Printer it dragged 10A the whole time.

I don't know the load consumption of the Akitio w GPU, is it always at 120W?

Maybe if you can get high quality jack & plug it works. Times ago i've found these but Instead of plastic they had ceramic insulation. Much expensive... about 30 Bucks per jack and the same per plug.

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120W are 10A at 12V.

Maybe it works, maybe not.

On my Printer it dragged 10A the whole time.

I don't know the load consumption of the Akitio w GPU, is it always at 120W?

Maybe if you can get high quality jack & plug it works. Times ago i've found these but Instead of plastic they had ceramic insulation. Much expensive... about 30 Bucks per jack and the same per plug.

Yep, I know. Your JST plug information was very interesting, since earlier we did not find any by googling. The technical documents clearly indicate 3A.

I’m inclined to doubt if the statement is contradictory. I don’t know how the question was formulated, but AKiTiO’s engineer answer didn’t convince me - we can interpret it meaning the total power (the PCIe card + additional JST connector for extra power). If they meant that it would be safe to pull 75W from the x16 slot with just more bigger power adapter, that would mean also that it’s safe to pull the same amount from the 4P JST, through the TB card and x4 slot. Doesn’t sound logical. I have done the 75W bypass mod just in case.

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@goalque:

as you say:

I have done the 75W bypass mod just in case.

you meant this:

....... +12V spots are connected as shown with red circles, the yellow is not connected and blacks are ground.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]14452[/ATTACH]

The three +12V corner spots is the easiest area, that's my latest mod with a single thick cable.

right?

You have also connectet the 4P JST between the PCBs and no contacts on the x4PCIe have elecrical tape?

Greetings

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You have also connectet the 4P JST between the PCBs and no contacts on the x4PCIe have elecrical tape?

Greetings

The 4P JST cable is completely detached in my latest variation of "AKiTiO 75W bypass", the TB card gets those few watts from the x4. I tried Nando’s suggested method and taping tricks, they worked well too.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 3 months later...

I would like to try and connect the J4 connector to a PCIe 6 pin (I'm willing to take a risk on the melting part) - does a converter cable like this actually exist? I've search high and low but have come up empty handed. Searching for JST or any of the aforementioned acronyms mentioned in this thread doe snot yield much. Does anyone know the exact name of the 4 pin connector on the PCB? How would one go about hooking it up to the 6pin PCIe connector? Thanks for the help.

Thanks,

Maciej

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Ive been studying this forum and other sites for a good 6 hours now, but still havent reached a conclusion. If I'm missing a thread that covers my question(s), I apologize in advance.

This thread seems to be the closest thing I can find to a means of having a completely self contained eGPU with no external power supply, but it doesnt seem conclusive yet. This forum seems to be geared almost 100% to folks who want extremely powerful video cards for gaming, my application is much less demanding - I just want to run 4k video @ 30hz to my cheap Seiki 4k display. I do digital audio recording and don't need massive power or refresh rates, just 4k over HDMI @ 30hz.

That said, could I use the OWC box and a low wattage graphics card along with the included 120W AC adapter to achieve my desired outcome? I've spotted the cheapest EVGA card (GT 730) that does the resolution I need at 30hz here.

1. Since this card doesn't have any additional power sockets, can I safely assume that it requires less than 75W to operate?

2. Is the 4 pin to 6 pin cable/modification (that may or my not be unsafe) required to get 75w on the PCI slot in order for this card to work at all?

Thanks!

Chaz

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Why not getting:

- AKiTiO Thunder2

- GTX 750 (not Ti) from EVGA with one fan

- 90W or 120W external PSU with 12V and 2.5x5.5mm LEICKE ULL ITX Pico PSU Power Supply 120W 12V 10A 5.5*2.5 mm | Compatible with LED Strips, TFTs & LDC Displays: Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Accessories

That should work instantly.

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Just got the GT730 and dropped it in my design machine to see if it will do 4k@30Hz and it does with no issues. Didnt even have to fiddle with config at all.

I know this card will fit in the akitio enclosure, so we're checking all but one of the boxes here, and the only way to know for sure if the slot will have enough power for the card is to just buy one and try it I guess.

Wish it was easier to find actual wattage draw on newer cards rather than just PSU wattage recommendations.

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Just got the GT730 and dropped it in my design machine to see if it will do 4k@30Hz and it does with no issues. Didnt even have to fiddle with config at all.

I know this card will fit in the akitio enclosure, so we're checking all but one of the boxes here, and the only way to know for sure if the slot will have enough power for the card is to just buy one and try it I guess.

Wish it was easier to find actual wattage draw on newer cards rather than just PSU wattage recommendations.

The GT 730 doesn't even need one 6 pin PCIe power connector, so you only need to plug it into the slot and power it with a PSU that delivers more than 75W. The PSU delivered with the Helios delivers 120W, so you can simply plug that in and use your card with it.

You can always estimate the maximum needed power by looking at the extra power plugs.

The PCIe slot itself can draw up to 75W.

A 6 pin PCIe plug can also draw up to 75W.

An 8 pin PCIe plug can draw up to 150W.

So with this you can calculate the estimated needed power yourself.

As the GT 730 doesn't have any additional plugs it can only draw power over the slot which is limited to 75W as written above.

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