Hi guys,
Is it safe to connect molex or 6-pin cable directly to riser board?
As far as I read, the SATA/molex and SATA/6pin power adapters are the ones that should be avoided?
I bought a few riser boards with 6-pin power socket. Came with sata-6pin adapter cables. Should I be using them or try to connect a 6-pin cable directly from the psu 6-pin socket?
Thanks in advance, I also asked the same question in a few thread I posted regarding dual psu and riser boards.
SATA connectors THEMSELVES are only rated for 54 watts of +12VDC draw, while the PCI-E spec for the bus allows for 75 watts draw.
MOLEX are rated over 150 watts on the connector, the WIRING is what you have to watch there if you put more than one riser on a chain.
PCI-E 6-pin using *2* +12VDC lines is good for almost 200 watts, the ones (not actual PCI-E spec) that have 3 +12VDC lines are good for 288.
Molex and PCI-E 6-pin to riser are safe, SATA is problematic and often UNsafe.
Keep in mind that the power conversion circuitry on the risers is NOT 100% efficient, so your actual draw from the power connector will be a little MORE than what the card itself is actually pulling.
The only issue I have with the Mintcell risers to date is that once in a while the USB cable itself is iffy - but they're standard cables and cheap/easy to replace when that happens.
How do you tell PCI-E 6-pin with *2* vs *3* +12VDC, do I count the yellow cables? (the black ones are ground cable?)
I'm in the middle of a getting a single Seasonic 1300W PSU to hopefully power 6 rx580s... anything to watch out for?