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February 12th, 2025 20:45
XPS 730x, MCB 10pin power cable, another way of making it
there are quite a few ways to make a custom 10 pin power cable
I did some original research on the 10 pin
I have a dead old Dell dimension psu that has a the original 20 pin ATX, this can be cut off inside psu to have as much cable length as possible
the left 10 pin of the 20 pin ATX connector has identical bevel to Dell 10 pin
there is just enough room next to the 10 pin power socket of MCB to stick the 20 pin connector in it, the right half outside socket
I then connected the cut end of 10 cable to ten paper clip pins and test the original Dell 10 cable.
Result: 
| 1=12v | 3=gnd | 5=3.3v | 7=gnd | 9=5v |
| 2=12v | 4=gnd | 6=12v | 8=gnd | 10=5vSB |
There are 3 x 12V pins. My research aims at whether all three are all needed to drive the LED and fans.
result:
pin#1 12V pin can be skipped
by connecting the rest of 9 pins, all LED lit and fan works connecting to all three fan header
Great. my speculation is that pin#1 was designed for H2C liquid pump and Peltier plate. It is not necessary to wire pin 1 for the LED and fans
this entails I can use two 15 pin male sata power connectors to obtain 2x12V, 2x5V, 1X3.3V, and 4x Gnd to make a simple custom 10-1 pin power cable
it cost < 10 USD. cut the cable and connect the cut end to the 20 pin ATX connector from a dead old ATX psu.
connect the male sata power to two sata power connectors of new psu
research pic to follow
redxps630
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February 13th, 2025 03:02
yet another way utilizing the research result is to use two sata male to 10 pin power cable for poweredege C1100
C1100 power distribution board uses a same bevel 10 pin socket.
C1100 (pinout needs to be verified)
to mod this cable,
divide the wire of pin 1 and pin 9, connect proximal pin 1 wire to distal pin 9 wire;
divide pin 6 wire, connect proximal pin 9 wire to distal pin 6 wire
result pinout
(edited)
redxps630
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February 19th, 2025 02:08
further update:
I removed pin #3 and 4
all RGB LEDs still light up
result: to drive all the LEDs and one PCI fan, I only need 5 pins wired out of 10
it is therefore feasible that a single SATA connector is sufficient to supply one 3.3v, one 5v, one 12v and two Gnd to the 10 pin and drive all the RGB leds and one PCI fan.
this is great. it greatly simplifies custom 10 pin cable, for which only 5 pin are essential for RGB LED and PCI fan.
note the front cpu fan is not essential. Often a cpu fan on the cpu heatsink is good enough.
for this experiment I have removed the small HDD fan too. It is not necessary at all and its presence only introduces more noise.
(edited)
redxps630
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February 21st, 2025 07:21
ok I have done the investigative experiment and deduced each 12v and 5v of the 10 pin functions. I found out two of the 12v and one of the 5v can be skipped if I only need power to RGB led (and single PCI fan)
now I present the final real proof.
I could buy a male sata 15 pin cable (with all 5 wires) and cut it to connect with the 10 pin connector. but I cannot wait to run to the finish line.
just now my other research project bear fruit on the "mysterious Dell 5/6 pin" which is a Dell proprietary sata 5 pin connector in a strange 2x3 socket connector with large female molex pins.
I found two 4 pin molex connectors without wires which are source of 8 male molex pins (I only need 5). molex pin are so big that a fine needle tweezer is an easy tool to retract the naked pin from molex plastic housing. I use a wire strip and crimp tool (5.99 USD) to connect 5 molex pins to the 5 essential wires of the 10 pin.
first I test whether an old Dell Optiplex psu with 20/4 pin can power up a 24/8 ATX motherboard. Yes it does. This old psu has the Dell proprietary 5 pin socket connector,
Next I carefully insert the 5 molex pins connected to 5 wires into the Dell proprietary 5 pin socket according to wire color and double check Dell manual pinout.
now take a breath and make a final leap. power up the old Dell psu.
It works. All the leds turn on beautifully. It follows logic and does work.
so it is really true that one only needs 5 pins of sata power to turn on 730(X) RGB led.
(edited)
redxps630
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February 12th, 2025 20:51
each sata supplies 1x12V, 1x5V, 2xGnd. I only need one sata for the single 3.3V. total 9 wires needed to make a custom cable, and it is neat. not "kinda hokey". no messy wiring.
use 9x 18G molex butt splice (p/n 192020013) and a strip/crimp tool for better quality work.
Note must confirm new psu sata power has all 5 pin wired. modern hdd/ssd do not require the 3.3v so it is possible that some psu sata connector has 4 pin only, which disqualifies for the custom made 10 pin cable.
color code of sata 5 pin power
color code of old ATX 10 pin (left half of 20 pin)
additional research result:
pin #6 12V is needed for LED. without it none lit
pin #5 3.3V is needed for motherboard. it is the daughterboard logic backbone or soul. without POST gets into issue.
(edited)
redxps630
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February 13th, 2025 01:03
here are research experiment pictures
(edited)
redxps630
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February 13th, 2025 02:07
another good way which requires professional work (no longer on sale)
these cables used to cost less than 20 USD years ago.
(edited)
redxps630
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February 13th, 2025 11:33
You can also cut off the original 10 pin connector of stock psu uni-modular cable harness and connect that to two male sata. The old psu can still be used for other purposes.
redxps630
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February 13th, 2025 11:44
Power consumption
LED negligible
two 120mm Dell stock Nidec fan, 12V, 1.40A
A standard SATA cable can provide a maximum 12V current of around 4.5 A per cable, with each of the three 12V pins supplying up to 1.5 A each,
(edited)
redxps630
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February 18th, 2025 20:29
update:
I disconnected both pin #1 and 2 (12v), connecting the rest of 8 pins of 10, all LEDs still light up.
now, the PCI fan header (#5) of MCB still has power, but the cpu fan header (#16) has lost power.
therefore pin#2 is needed to send power to the cpu fan header.
redxps630
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February 18th, 2025 20:46
more interesting update:
I removed pin #10 (5v SB), all the chassis RGB leds still all light up.
but if I remove pin #9 (5v) and keep pin#10 plugged in, none of the RGB lit up.
this confirms our knowledge that that pin #10 (5v SB) supplies power to power button for power LED and HDD LED activity. It does not supply power to chassis RGB LED.
Pin #9 is the essential 5v I must keep to drive all the RGB led.
this means to drive all the LEDs and one PCI fan, I only need 7 pins connected out of 10 (could be even fewer)
(edited)
redxps630
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February 19th, 2025 02:12
note my experiment to reach the conclusion is very similar to bioengineer knocking out gene segments of a biological system and see what behavior change results.
by knocking out pin# 1, 2, 3, 4, 10, I find out the MCB can still supply power to RGB LEDs and one PCI fan. perfect.
redxps630
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February 21st, 2025 08:09
The Dell 10 pin socket follows standard 10 pin bevel, also used in modular psu side port for motherboard
only the 5 pins in red are essential to power the led
(edited)
redxps630
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February 21st, 2025 17:30
10 pin connector bevel
(edited)
redxps630
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February 22nd, 2025 13:36
more test: using a 5 pin Dell proprietary SATA to power to MCB, I am able to run both AlienFx and Dell thermal monitor apps without any error. terrific.