Splitting power connectors

[deuce_mn]

Hi, I have a Zalman power supply:

Zalman ZM500-HP

and am planning on splitting some of the SATA power connectors, but am not sure if the power supply can handle the splitting.


The first question I should probably ask, and might answer everything for me, is, does only the total load on the PS matter? That is to say, if there is a 400 W load on a power supply, is there a difference if the entire load is connected to one connector on the power supply, or to several/individual connectors?



This PS has two cables with SATA connectors. (3 connectors on each)

The only increase I am adding to the load of PS is I am adding an optical drive. I will have two total, but I don't think it will substantially increase the load because I don't plan on having both drives running at the same time much.

The only other change is I am moving the components around a bit, and won't have as much flexibility for using individual connectors for each device.


I want to split one SATA connector twice, so it will power 4 devices.

It will branch out like this:


............PS
.............|
.....SATA con
.....| .............| ...(split point)
.../..\.........../..\....(split point)
HD..CC....HD..Media Reader


CC is a cold cathode power supply with 2 cold cathodes connected to it

Media reader is a this 5.25 bay media reader with several 12 V fans, plus a CPU cooler.

HD is a hard drive.


So will it make a difference if all these devices mentioned are connected with individual connectors, or all through the same connector? (Split a few times)


The complete setup is:

Xeon Core2 E3110
ASUS P5KC
4 GB ram in 2 sticks
GIGABYTE GV-NX96T1GHP
LSI MegaRAID 8888ELP
PCI-e x1 5 port USB 2.0 card
PCI 5 port USB 2.0 card
(2) SATA DVD-RW drives
ZALMAN CNPS9500A cpu cooler
(2) 120mm fans, 12v LED
(2) 80mm fans, 12v LED
(2) Seagate 1 TB ES.2 SATA HD
(2) Seagate 15K.5 SAS HD


Thanks,
Mike


EDIT:

This may seem like a lot of components, and when using one of those power supply calculators, it usually gives a value between 500-600W, I have my system connected to a UPS and I have never seen a load over 300W from the computer, even when I try and give everything a 100% load. The PS is 500W.

 

[badge]

and am planning on splitting some of the SATA power connectors, but am not sure if the power supply can handle the splitting.

Once the 24 pin main connector is plugged in, the MB voltage regulators regulate voltage to the MB in the form of 3.3v, 5.5v, 12v. All the other connectors coming off your PSU are 12v. Splitting or 'piggybacking' the 12v leads from the PSU is fine, the 'split' current will be 12v. no matter how many times you 'split' the current. As long as the PSU is not overloaded to the point of not being capable of handleing the load, split the 12v leads to your heart's content.