SATA power cable

[dwchan69]

I ran into a weird situation, is there a reason why when I swap out the SATA power cable (with 3 sata connections) to a SATA power cable with 4 sata connections, it prevents my motherboard from booting? It is using the same 6-pin plug at the end (going into the Power Supply) and it is from the same manufacture (EVGA). I even unplug one of the 4 drives with the same result (so I assume it is not a load issue). Any input would be appreciated

 

[ChrisRJ]

Well, it looks the cable is faulty in some way. Do you tools to measure the electrical resistance?

 

[dwchan69]

I may or get my hand on one. Are we measuring voltage or short? I got 4 of these cables and I tested out 2 of them so, all bad. So in theory, it shouldn't be an issue?

 

[ChrisRJ]

Looking for a short is obviously the first thing. But resistance between the various connectors will give you an indicator how things look overall. If you are not too interested in finding the root cause, I would rather look for a completely different approach and e.g. purchase a Y cable to get 4 SATA power connections from one of the old cables that are known to work.

 

[dwchan69]

Given a normal SATA power cable has 3 SATA connection, how many drives can its support? or how many y splitter I can use on it>=?

 

[artlessknave]

just being from the same manufacturer doesn't mean the cables are compatible. you need to make sure they are compatible, not just guess, or you risk literal fires.

 

[ChrisRJ]

Given a normal SATA power cable has 3 SATA connection, how many drives can its support? or how many y splitter I can use on it>=?

That will depend on your power supply. How many drives do you want to use overall?

 

[jgreco]

It also depends on wire gauge and connector quality. An actual SATA power connector is not rated to support two hard drives. There are three 1.5A 12V pins, 4.5A. Some drives require as much as 2.5A-3A to spin, so you can be overcurrent and run into a drive-killing brownout, or a connector-fire-starting exciting afternoon.

If your PSU cables are 18ga (10A), do not try to power more than three drives. A 16ga (14A) cable should be able to manage four. These are expected to be "safe" numbers, someone will come along and go "but I ran six drives" and maybe they did, but it isn't safe.

 

[dwchan69]

I am using an EVGA 650 GQ power supply, it comes with 3-SATA power out and 1 - peripheral power out. I got the cable from eBay and I also went back and look through EVGA site. EVGA site does send a 4 SATA ports power cable, however, I did notices they have 2 versions, one that is generic with no additional description, braided, and is the one I got

EVGA 4x SATA Cable (Single)

EVGA single power supply cables are designed to replace missing or lost cables for a limited number of EVGA modular or semi-modular power supply models, and are officially certified only to work on a limited number of EVGA power supplies, which can be found on the compatibility tab. Due to the...

www.evga.com

and there is also one that says "EVGA 4x SATA Cable (Single) for 650GQ/750GQ/850GQ/1000GQ ONLY"

EVGA 4x SATA Cable (Single) for 650GQ/750GQ/850GQ/1000GQ ONLY

EVGA single power supply cables are designed to replace missing or lost cables for a limited number of EVGA modular or semi-modular power supply models, and are officially certified only to work on a limited number of EVGA power supplies, which can be found on the compatibility tab. Due to the...

www.evga.com

So now I am not sure if I got the wrong cable as the description is not super clear. Also, I did go back and did some more testing, in short, just plugging the cable into the power supply, without attaching the disk, will cause the motherboard not to boot. Fair to assume it is not a load issue, yet.

With that being said, I am looking for other power supply options, but do want to check one thing, can the cable for peripheral power be used with SATA drive, with a Molex to SATA adapter of course

 

[artlessknave]

wrong cable as the description is not super clear.

yup, modular cables can be really convienient but the lack of standardization in them is really inconvenient, especially since some of them are physically compatible but not electrically.

cable for peripheral power be used with SATA

yes, with the above noted power limitations.

 

[dwchan69]

is there a power calculator as to how big I should size my power supply?
Amd 1920x - 12 cores
2 CPU fan
4 case fan
8 - 16GB ddr4 DIMM
Lsi 9300-16i hba
Lsi 9207-8e hba
Intel x710da2 dual 10Gb NIC
MSI GT710 1GN video card
1 - generic m.2 sata ssd
1 - intel optane p4801x 100GB m.2 nvme
16 - 8TB seagate Exos hard drive

want to make sure a 650w 80+ efficient power supply is enough to handle the load

 

[artlessknave]

uhm. I think the answer is "no". I would not run that build on anything less than 750w, and probably aim for 850w since the price difference is mostly negligible. granted, i would also not run that build because it looks like desktop hardware but that's beside the point.
note that there generally nis o such thing as too big of a PSU, and you want to be in the 80% range, not near the max load. most of them are designed to operate consistently in the 60-80% ranges, where 90%-100% should only be in spikes (like when 16 spindle drives spin up on boot).

Power Supply Calculator - PSU Calculator | OuterVision

Power Supply Calculator - Select computer parts and our online PSU calculator will calculate the required power supply wattage and amperage for your PC.

outervision.com

pcpartpicker also gives a power summary.

 

[dwchan69]

Sorry but can you elaborate you comment "i would also not run that build because it looks like desktop hardware but that's beside the point "?

 

[artlessknave]

you don't list a motherboard that I can see, and I thought the processor (im not very familiar with AMD since they were pointless for so long) might be a desktop part. looking it up I see it's threadripper, so it could be on a server grade board...but since I don't the board I dunno. you can ignore that part because it looks like i was talking out my posterior.

 

[dwchan69]

I see, the motherboard is GigaByte X399 AORUS PRO. I would say the build is a mix blend of hardware more along the line of workstation class. I am also using a Dell MD1200 JBOD

 

[artlessknave]

oh. if you have 12x disks in an external exclosure then that PSU size might be a bit better, but doesnt that mobo and proc use a fair amount of power?

 

[Redcoat]

Look in the forum Resources - Hardware section forJ Greco’s guide piece on PSU sizing.

 

[jgreco]

is there a power calculator as to how big I should size my power supply?

https://www.truenas.com/community/threads/proper-power-supply-sizing-guidance.38811/