Using an internal soundcard via USB?

[Mr Latte]

Bit of a tricky one here guys.....

So I have this soundcard still in my older PC not being used.

Is it possible with both card elements it has to be used externally with perhaps a PCI-USB based connector?

Like this

As its possible with GPUs....
Could I make some form of external box with power supply to make this operate like a portable USB based soundcard?

 

[Neilski]

Is it possible with both card elements it has to be used externally with perhaps a PCI-USB based connector?

I think not.

Not come across that card before, but the web page mentions "SATA power" - perhaps it won't work without that... Do you have a SATA power cable hooked up to it?

 

[Mr Latte]

I think not.

Not come across that card before, but the web page mentions "SATA power" - perhaps it won't work without that... Do you have a SATA power cable hooked up to it?

Ahh but doesnt the adapter I linked have a SATA cable connection as well as USB?

 

[Neilski]

Ahh but doesnt the adapter I linked have a SATA cable connection as well as USB?

It sure looks like it (though it's not mentioned in the item description), but I think you're missing my point.
The adapter has a power connector on it, presumably to power the PCIe slots.
The sound card you linked above appears to need power from a SATA power connector (which makes no sense to me, frankly, since it should be able to get all the power it would need from the PCIe slot, but maybe it takes a LOT of power). If no SATA power connector is connected to the sound card, that might explain why it doesn't work.

...aha: https://www.evga.com/support/faq/FAQdetails.aspx?faqid=59760 ("Why is a molex to SATA adapter insufficient to power the EVGA NU Audio card?")

 

[Neilski]

Is it possible with both card elements it has to be used externally with perhaps a PCI-USB based connector?

Hang on, I think I misunderstood you!
You asked if it "has to be used externally". Did you actually mean to ask if it "can be used externally"?

 

[Mr Latte]

Not worded the best by me sorry, yes you are correct I was wanting to be able to use the soundcard within its own box and possible power supply as a USB card to be able to connect to small mini PC.

I might have to rethink things

 

[Neilski]

Not worded the best by me sorry, yes you are correct I was wanting to be able to use the soundcard within its own box and possible power supply as a USB card to be able to connect to small mini PC.

OK I have never seen a product quite like that USB-PCI adapter before but I can't think of a reason why it wouldn't work. You'd just need a pair of SATA power connectors (One for the extender board with the PCIe slots on it, one for the sound card.)

 

[Mr Latte]

OK I have never seen a product quite like that USB-PCI adapter before but I can't think of a reason why it wouldn't work. You'd just need a pair of SATA power connectors (One for the extender board with the PCIe slots on it, one for the sound card.)

Okay thanks, so possibly back on track then....
I suppose the next thing is finding a small power supply suitable with SATA connectors?

Just was curious if anyone had come across a similar scenario but seems this is an odd circumstance or use case. Still not fully confident it will work properly via the USB, so have mixed feelings that maybe its better to consider...

1. Larger micro ATX based system/case but still portable.
2. Sell the card and make do with a different USB based audio option with tiny micro PC
3. Install a rack mountable micro ATX based/sized PC to house it all in that

The primary role for this as a 2nd PC would be for the processing and connecting all my audio/rack hardware to a DAW. I want to separate this from the primary PC

 

[Neilski]

Since the USB adapter thingy is pretty cheap, in your shoes I'd probably just buy it and test it - borrow a couple of SATA power feeds from the main system PSU (unless you have none spare) to see if it works, and if so, then think about an external power supply and housing. Depends on your preferred solution though.