Help a noob with various cable/connection questions? (Please...)

[sleepyhead]

Wow. Just when I thought I might know what I was doing...I got humbled big time! I apologize in advance for the length of this post as I have several questions - all related to my PS cables and connnections. I'll try to keep it organized!

I don't have all my parts yet (what I do have is listed in my signature) but I'm in the process of attempting my first build to replace my 8 year old Dell. I've been saving for a while and am almost ready to go! I just got my Seasonic M12 700w Modular Power Supply today and decided to sit down and install it. Doing so raised a ton of questions.

It all started out so easy. I put it into it's tray, screwed everything in, slipped the 24-pin, 4-pin and 8-pin power connectors up into the Antec P182 case and then realized that for proper cable management I'd have to route these non-modular cables out through the back of the case instead of up through the middle. So I unscrewed everything, slipped the wires out and then reinstalled the PS. Of course, then I realize that there doesn't seem to be enough room once the PS is installed to plug in the modular cables that I'll be needing due the the fan that's right behind the power supply. So, I take the PS out again (hey, at least I'm getting a lot of practice, right?) and start thinking about what cables I'll need to plug in. That is where all of the confidence that I've built up from a year of lurking here and soaking up knowledge like a sponge crashed to the ground. I don't know s@%! about connections!

Here's all of the questions that came up. I really appreciate any veteran builders out there who take the time to help me out on this. I know some of my questions are probably going to be very basic so try not to laugh too hard!

1. I see (3) 4-pin cables for my case fans and (1) 4-pin cable for my floppy/card reader. They are called molex cables, right? Can/Should I 'daisy chain' (i.e. 'link') these 4-pin cables together and ultimately end up with just one plug into the power supply for all of the fans and the FDD? Or should I just do the fans this way and do the FDD seperate?

2. The FDD cable that came with the power supply has connections for 2 Floppy Drives. I am assuming that I can just ignore the second and leave it next to the FDD. Or does it need to be plugged in somewhere?

3. One of the wires that came attached to the case looks like a 4-pin molex but only has 2 pins, with 2 empty holes. It has 1 black wire and 1 yellow. What is it? Where does it go? Can I 'daisy chain' it to the rest of the 4-pins? (My hunch is 'no'...)

4. Will I need to use the 4- or 8-pin power connector to the mobo? (I'll likely be going with the EVGA 122-CK-NF68-A1 LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard.) I know that one will go unused, but I don't know which one.

5. I noticed that the FDD power cable is too short to reach the power supply - which leads me to think I can just 'daisy chain' it with the others to solve the problem? Or do I need some sort of extension?

The rest of my questions deal with exactly what modular cables I'll need. I think I got this down but would like to run it by you guys anways...

6. The PS came with (1) Sata Power Cable that is only 1/2 sleeved and appears to be able to hook up to 4 SATA devices at once. I'm assuming that I'll use this one for the 3 SATA HDD's that I'll have in the lower cage of the P182?

7. Another SATA Power Cable can hook up to 2 SATA devices. I figure I'll use this for the SATA DVD Burner that I'll be ordering and leave the other connection for an eventual blu-ray drive in a year or so when prices fall the reasonable amounts. Do I have it right?

8. The PS also came with 3 PCI-E cables, (2) with three 6-pin connectors and (1) with two 6-pin connectors and one 2-pin connector. I'll be running one 8800 GTX. I'm assuming that I'll only need one of the cables with the three 6-pin connections. Is this correct? Also, where does the 3 connections go to? (1 to the PS, 1 to the mobo and 1 to the ???) I used to know the answer to this from my past reading in the forum, but can't quite remember!

Apparently you use all 3 of those cables for 'Quad SLI'...I've heard of SLI but Quad SLI????

I warned that this would be a long post. Hopefully some of you stuck with me and can help me out. Hopefully I kept everyting organized so that you can touch on everything. I read this over and man, I gotta admit, it sounds like I have no business building a computer!!! But, I promise...get me through this part and I should have only minimal questions the rest of the way out.

Thanks in advance,

-J.

 

[ffchocobo]

1. Yes these are molex connectors. And Yes you _can_ daisy chain as long as you like but I highly recommend AGAINST it - this is obviously due to power requirements. It is best to make use of all the molex your PSU comes with and just daisy chain the devices that require little power (such as fans).

2. Yes tie it back and make it look pretty

3. Haven't seen one of these before personally but my guess is that its a fan/mobo adapter. Just leave it for now unless the instructions tells you use it specificly.

4. You will need the 24 pin ATX power connector and also the 8 pin cpu power connector.

5. Daisy it, or just forget about the FDD after you have installed your RAID drivers and remove the thingy entirely.

6. Sure, go ahead.

7. Yup yup.

8. This one I have no idea, but fear not someone else will answer.

 

[morerevs]

1. See above

2. Some soundcards use a 4-pin floppy connector, if you're using onboard sound you won't need it.

3. If it comes from the case it's probably a fan or a pretty light somewhere, read the docs or try following the
cable and see/guess where it leads.

4. My board recommended the 4-pin CPU connector but others might need the 8-pin so check mobo manual.

5. See above.

6. Ditto

7. Yup

8. If you're going for a GTX you'll need to connect one side to the PSU (obviously ) and two to the card
itself. The one with the 6+2 connectors is for cards that require additional power like in certain cases a 2900xt
and maybe some future cards, so there's a future for your PSU in upgrading

Quad sli is when you have two dual GPU cards like the 7950 GX2 in your system, basically this equates to four GPU's hence the term Quad. However the drivers for that are in a sorry state as far as I know so nothing to get exited about yet really.

Goodluck with the build and if anything is unclear don't hessitate to ask.

 

[jsc]

An eVGA 680i motherboard should use the 4X2 pin 12 molex connector.
I am pretty sure that the 8800GTX needs 2 3X2 pin 12 volt connectors for power.

And the motherboard manual recommends connecting a hard drive power connector to the motherboard down by the PCI-X connector if you are running SLI. I am not running SLI, but I figured that it can't hurt.

 

[sleepyhead]

1. Yes these are molex connectors. And Yes you _can_ daisy chain as long as you like but I highly recommend AGAINST it - this is obviously due to power requirements. It is best to make use of all the molex your PSU comes with and just daisy chain the devices that require little power (such as fans).quotemsg]

So now I understand that it's cool to daisy chain all of the fan connections together. Can I link the FDD up with them or should I keep it seperate? (Not sure how much power the FDD requires, but I imagine that it's not a lot...)

Also, can you give me examples of what types of molex connectors I shouldn't daisy chain together because of power requirements?

Thanks!

-J.

 

[sleepyhead]

2. Some soundcards use a 4-pin floppy connector, if you're using onboard sound you won't need it.

3. If it comes from the case it's probably a fan or a pretty light somewhere, read the docs or try following the
cable and see/guess where it leads.

I may be starting out with onboard sound but will definately be purchasing a sound card once Vista drivers are improved.

The case does come with a 'snake light' flashlight type thingee. Maybe that's what its for. I'll have to look when I get home. I read over the instructions that came with the case but don't remember reading anything about where it would plug into...maybe I just missed that part. Or maybe the 2-pin molex with the yellow and black wires is for something else...

 

[jeditim]

In regards to the case fans...wouldn't it be better to hook up the fans directly to any headers on the Motherboard. I recently built a new system and swapped out the case fans to new fans that hooked up directly to the Motherboard...this would seam better than using the Moldex connections. Am I wrong.
Tim

 

[sleepyhead]

I believe that because the Antec P182 case has built in fan controllers (hi, medium, low) that you don't need to go through the mobo. The 3 fans all have molex connections that plug right into the PS. But then again, I don't know too much about this stuff so someone may say different!

-J.

 

[evongugg]

If the fan has a monitoring single wire that should be connected to the motherboard and the molex to power. Motherboard headers are a little limited in the amount of power they can supply.