Extra SATA power (??)

[porthacking]

Hi,

I am new to this and built a my first computer in 15 years last year. I will now be building another computer and turning this one RAID server. The computer has a 500W (maybe 450W?) Seasonic S12 II 80+ Bronze power supply.

I will be running 7 SATA devices (x6 HDDs and x1 optical drive). There are only x6 SATA connectors from the powersupply. Is it possible to get an adaptor to convert one of the left over connectors (e.g. one of the peripheral connectors?).

Also, the PCI E x16 connector has a 6 (unit/hole?) connector and another two that hangs off the side. Is this for connecting for certain devices? The graphics card I installed didn't seem to have space for the extra connector. Do some?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks.

 

[davcon]

Yes just buy a molex to sata adapter.
the 5970 and GTX 580 use 8pin pcie connectors.
http://www.monoprice.com/products/search.asp?keyword=molex+to+sata

 

[galeener]

The pci E power is probably a 6+2 connector for using on higher power video cards.
Some use an 8pin this way its set up to use for 6 or 8 pin. Some video cards us 2 6 pins or 1 6pin and 1 8 pin. Just some info for your connector question.

 

[galeener]

The pci E power is probably a 6+2 connector for using on higher power video cards.
Some use an 8pin this way its set up to use for 6 or 8 pin. Some video cards us 2 6 pins or 1 6pin and 1 8 pin. Just some info for your connector question.

 

[JackNaylorPE]

Bigger power draw cards use the PCI-E connectors and are 12 volt.

SATA power cables support three voltages. Pins 1 to 3 support 3.3V, the 7th through 9th terminals handle 5V and the final three pins transfer 12V. The 4 to 6 and 10 to 12 pins are exclusively for grounding. One pin in each group is longer than the rest to limit the inrush current during hot-swapping. The support for lower voltage enables energy efficient devices to function with less electrical waste.

Read this:

http://www.playtool.com/pages/psuconnectors/connectors.html#pciexpress

You have to be careful about SATA power cables. Some of them are missing the 3.3 volt wire. People with older power supplies often use adapters which convert from 4 pin peripheral cables to SATA power cables. But since 4 pin peripheral connectors only supply 5 and 12 volts, the SATA connector is missing 3.3 volts (there's no orange wire). There are also a few older power supplies which inexplicably have SATA power cables which are missing the 3.3 volt wire. Currently, SATA drives rarely use 3.3 volts. That may be because there are too many people using adapters so the drive makers don't want the headaches which come with using 3.3 volts. But in the future, 3.3 volt drives may become common so you need to be careful when using SATA power cables which don't implement 3.3 volts.

With the above in mind, you can try something like this

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812816015

 

[Haserath]

Yes just buy a molex to sata adapter.
I've never seen a gpu that requires 8 pins.

There are GPU's with 8 pin connectors. I used to use a GTX 280 with 1 8 pin connector and 1 6 pin connector.

An adaptor should work perfectly for the extra sata power connection.

 

[porthacking]

Thanks everyone. That clears things up a bit.

The HDDs are brand new SATA 3 Seagate Barracuda Green 2TB drives.
- Does this mean I shouldn't have any problems with the 3.3V problem?
- Some of those adaptors say that they are for SATA 1 and 2 drives. Is there anything I need to be aware of when looking at adaptors for SATA 3?

Thanks once again.

 

[Haserath]

Thanks everyone. That clears things up a bit.

The HDDs are brand new SATA 3 Seagate Barracuda Green 2TB drives.
- Does this mean I shouldn't have any problems with the 3.3V problem?
- Some of those adaptors say that they are for SATA 1 and 2 drives. Is there anything I need to be aware of when looking at adaptors for SATA 3?

Thanks once again.

You shouldn't see a problem when using the adaptor that Jack put on here.

SATA 3 isn't for power, it's the connection that connects to your mobo for transfering files, so it doesn't matter. Sata 3 is just faster than 2 and 1.