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January 22nd, 2026 20:47
Power Supply Upgrade With No Cables
Hello, everyone!
I recently bought a 1000 W Power Supply Unit for my Alienware Aurora R12 from here on the Dell website on 1/5/26 as a necessity for upgrading my originally included GPU from a GeForce RTX 3060 Ti to a RTX 5070. The RTX 5070 that I bought requires at least 850 W of power to work properly. My Aurora R12 came with a 550 W PSU, which would not be enough to power the new GPU.
To my surprise, I received the PSU as just a box with no hardware cables or cable harness. This is important because I cannot use the 550 W cables with a 1000 W PSU, or my PC will short circuit. Additionally, those cables on the 550 W PSU are attached inside the box, making them unusable for another PSU.
I was starting to think that this was no mistake, considering the cover pictures for the 1000 W PSU's listing had just the box, but both the instruction manual and the installation video that Dell has uploaded to YouTube mention the use of the cables that should already be pre-attached to the PSU box. There is also a similar listing on Dell that DOES seem to come with cables, but is for the newer Aurora PC models. This listing had the exact same description as the one that I bought, making me think the cables WERE meant to come with the order. It is also important to note that these cables are proprietary to Alienware due to the shape of the chassis, meaning I cannot get them from ANYWHERE else on the internet. (If I am wrong about this, PLEASE let me know.)
So knowing my PSU is useless without the cables, I called up Dell Support. Over the course of roughly two weeks (still going), I have been redirected multiple times on a seemingly endless loop via phone and email to different support teams within Dell (technical, customer care, account services). I ended up speaking with three agents that were able to give me valuable information, but still not fix my issue of finding a way to obtain the cables I need. The first agent, over the phone, told me that my order WAS supposed to come with cables, which I made him repeat 3 times to me to be absolutely sure he wasn't lying. And to my shock, the second and third agents over email gave me conflicting responses!
And this brings me to now. I have been ghosted for a couple of days up to this point by Dell's email support and I cannot seem to penetrate this frontline support wall. I am also still stuck with this useless PSU that will not work without the necessary cables, which I can't seem to find anywhere else on the internet. If anyone is able to help me out on where to find the cables I'm looking for or how to get Dell to give me the cables effectively, I would be greatly appreciative! Thanks in advance!
redxps630
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January 22nd, 2026 23:01
R12 1000w and 850w Dell ATX oem psu are modular with separate cable set. They are not cheap. If you can’t buy them from Dell try look for a third party seller
Mahidrian
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January 22nd, 2026 23:22
@redxps630 I don't necessarily have an issue with finding a 3rd party modular PSU that comes with cables and returning the one I have now, but finding one that perfectly fits the awkward Aurora power supply chassis is the problem -- I have no way to secure it unless it fits. If you know of a set that works with my PC, I would love to look into it further. I just don't understand why the cables for the one I bought are separate and extremely difficult, if not impossible, to find.
Cass-Ole
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January 23rd, 2026 00:27
Though admittedly confusing, in their minds the original customer who bought Aurora 1000w & who now needs a direct replacement, they intend to sell just the chassis box & the owner is expected to reuse the original cables. This is a problem that dates back 10yrs to the original R5 & continues to R12, where Dell Spare Parts "doesn't sell the entire cable set as one kit at one price", instead, each cable type has its own part# & its own price tag, & they expect you to in a sense "place each individual cable type into your cart (or order)" making for an expensive purchase (IF each cable type needed is in stock). Having watched year-by-year how some original owners (& those who bought a used desktop) go to upgrade from the 550s to an 850 or 1000w, there were times when SOME of them were (unknowingly) buying just the chassis box without cables, & like you came here puzzled to ask "what now?", & the hard answer is to either buy each individual cable new from Dell in a long sales process that involves them looking up all of the part #'s & checking to see if in stock, or not, & survey the damage = "pricey that way". The only other (& easiest best) option in my experience is to check eBay & either:
If so, what Red was trying to say is that the 850w & 1000w PSU used in the R5-R12 "are all the same", meaning they all look the same & in the end all share the same modular cables, ie share cable sets, so when shopping u can / should include the 850s in your search results along w/ the 1000w
Basic search "Alienware 1000w" = $50
Basic search "Alienware 850w" = $65 OBO
(edited)
Mahidrian
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January 23rd, 2026 00:44
@Cass-Ole Wow! That ebay listing seems to be exactly what I'm looking for, and 75% cheaper than Dell. I don't know where you found that, but I think I will just purchase this and send the other back. Thank you so much for the info! Do you have any idea why it's so cheap?
Cass-Ole
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January 23rd, 2026 00:59
@Mahidrian (see my bottom edits re: # of SATA needed)
When you see a seller w/ multiple or even numerous amounts of an item it usually means Dell has wholesaled a batch of surplus spare parts (new or used, as in a full system return where they strip still-working parts from) to "spare parts vendors" for cheap who in turn can sell for cheap (a beautiful thing indeed). When a non-new, so "used" PSU goes for cheap u consider buying two & have a spare, for obvious reasons
redxps630
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January 23rd, 2026 01:18
Cass-ole is very knowledgeable of these Dell oem modular psu. Typical or reasonable eBay price often seem much lower than Dell price which is the norm. The benefit of buying from Dell is certain warranty replacement period ? 1 year with possible refurbished unit? while eBay typically at most offer 30 day return protection if seller willing to pay for return shipping cost. I bought two 850w locally on FBMP both from A51 R2 with most cables included at low price as a part of package deal so not sure exactly how much I paid for the psu/cable individually (actually the second one was a trade for a EVGA gpu GTX750Ti)
redxps630
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January 23rd, 2026 01:23
Cass-ole is very knowledgeable of these Dell oem modular psu.
(edited)