How to connect a PCI or PCIe card to a laptop?
I'd like to be able to connect a PCI or PCIe to FireWire expansion card to my laptop on the outside in order to be able to connect six pin IEEE 1394a connectors to it. I'm digitizing Mini DV cassettes. Is this even feasible?
15 replies
That's not a PCI enclosure, it's a PCIE enclosure. It would not work for an older PCI card.
Thanks for the headsup! 🙏
Second the others’ PCI to PCIe distinctions
If what you need is indeed PCIe, most modern laptops have such an interface, it’s just shaped inconviently.
You could get an M.2 PCIe to PCIe adapter like this one: https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/dfrobot/FIT0782/14322643
Thanks! And what on earth... This would make the expansion card point... downwards? 😅 It's amazing what they come up with though.
After doing some research, it seems the modern way of approaching this is to get a Thunderbolt dock for laptops. It has to be Thunderbolt and not just standard USB-C, even though they both use the same form factor.
I found this as one of the cheapest options at $140: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FQ7VXYDJ
You would then get a Thunderbolt to FireWire cable, which is a simple cable and less than $10.
The problem is that FireWire is incredibly picky about power delivery and so anything that officially supports FireWire also has to have a really antiquated specific power delivery spec that no one is streamlining anymore. So it’s unfortunately niche at this point.
But a lot better than $4k!
Thanks for looking this up! 😊
If FireWire indeed is that picky about PD, I'd rather go with one of those external PCIe card/devices that connect to thunderbolt. Since I happen to have a spare PSU. Which hinges on me finding a PCIe FireWire card. 😅
Just to clarify, do you mean PCI (old) or pcie (new). I'm assuming you mean pcie since it's thunderbolt.
If I'm right you can get a pcie thunderbolt GPU dock on eBay for like $70 (without power supply) like this
You'll need a separate ATX PSU
Thanks! This looks promising too! And much more affordable! 😅
PCI or PCIe? They are different, so make sure you get the right thing.
PCIe thunderbolt cards can be found on aliexpress for $70-100 AUD.
I have this one:
https://a.aliexpress.com/_mLsmPzv
You need to have a thunderbolt port (not the same thing as USB, check your device specs), and you need a power supply, I use an old PC power supply.
You can also get fully nice enclosures used for the cost of the graphics card inside. I bought an enclosure + GT 1030 and sold the 1030 for the cost of buying the whole thing.
Thats wild, why would anyone want a gt1030 egpu...
Is the enclosure large enough for a full size GPU?
Yeah. It was a sonnet eGPU enclosure so any up to 2.5 slot card would fit with tons of vertical room.
And I lied, it was actually 1060, but the bad one. The 3 gig one.
Thanks for pointing that out! 🙏💦
This looks promising indeed! And I also have a spare PSU.
The one I got even came with a motherboard 24 pin adapter to turn on the ATX PSU, so I was very happy with that. The manual is Chinese only, but the only real gotcha was that there is two USBC ports, you want to use the one on the far side of the power connectors, thats the thunderbolt port.
Edit: thank you all for the quick and apt responses! I decided to go in a completely different direction: I have an older gaming rig that just sat there, collecting dust, so I decided to convert that into my new - drumroll please - video capture rig. I have ordered three PCIe cards: an extremely simple GPU from around 2017 (downgrading from an nvidia 3080) that has HDMI, VGA and DVI output ports, an expansion card with FireWire input ports (both 1394a and 1394b), and finally an expansion card with a DVI-I input port for both digital and analog input. The latter also comes with a VGA, composite video and component video adapters. The idea is to help family and friends digitize old stuff.