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PSU only has 4 SATA power, what to do if you have 5 or more drives?

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  • SATA
  • Power Supplies
  • Storage
  • Components
  • Power
Last response: in Components
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June 23, 2014 10:21:38 PM

I'm doing my first build and while looking at the back of my new PSU (EVGA Supernova 850 G2), I see that it has only 4 SATA power connections.

How do people supply power to systems having 5 or more drives?

I'll have an SSD, 3 Hard drives, an Optical drive (that's 5 total) and a couple devices I am planning on getting (fan controller, LED lighting with controller) these devices require power, too.

What do people do who have Raid control and other numerous drives do?

Here is an image of the labeled, modular connections of the EVGA PSU, if it helps at all:

http://

I'm only connecting one Video card and there's power supply enough for 4. Can any of those extra 8-pin VGA connectors be used?

More about : psu sata power drives

a c 134 ) Power supply
a b G Storage
June 23, 2014 10:35:28 PM

Each cable has multiple SATA power connectors. So you would just need to plug in two PSU cables.
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June 23, 2014 10:49:22 PM

ksham said:
Each cable has multiple SATA power connectors. So you would just need to plug in two PSU cables.



Ahhhhh, okay. I forgot about that. Thanks!


But while I'm at it, suppose a system needed more than 8 drives and various front panel controls? Do they then need to add another PSU?
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a c 134 ) Power supply
a b G Storage
June 23, 2014 10:58:35 PM

Your PSU supports up to 10 drives. I think your case will have issues supporting so many drives before you run into issues with your PSU. But you can always buy molex to sata power connectors.
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a b G Storage
July 1, 2014 6:08:22 PM

They do make splitters, ( http://www.newegg.com/Internal-Power-Cables/SubCategory... ) but like ksham said, a larger PS in a good idea if You run LOTS of drives all at the same time.

There is a limit to how many splitters should be connected in series. 3 is often too many.

Running a second power supply is a real pain. I recommend a single high-wattage power supply.

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a c 298 ) Power supply
July 1, 2014 6:39:04 PM

Your power supply has 10 SATA connectors and 4 Molex connectors, the SATA connectors are going to be used for your drives, the molex for fans and front panel controllers. While the PSU can easily support far more there isn't a reason to put the connectors on. Very few cases support even 10 drives, let alone more, and if you do need to run more drives you will hook them together with one of the SATA chains so you don't have a mess of wiring.

If you have more than 10 drives you are running a very special setup and should know what you need to do to make it work before you start, that includes a RAID setup and staggered spinup of the drives.
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