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SATA to Molex adapters
wirelessnet2
Member Posts: 385 ✭✭✭
in Mining
Alright guys, its time for me to make a thread on this. SATA to molex adapters: they are a bad idea. Do not use them. End of story. They catch fire, and can kill your hardware (or possibly light something else on fire, which is BAD). The Molex end of the adapter is fine. It's such an ancient connector that you almost cannot mess up making the connector. How the molex end is made in factories: The plastic mold is created, and then the wires are inserted into the mold, with plastic spacers in between the cables. Simple as that. However, the SATA end is the problematic end- How the SATA ends of these adapters are typically made is the wires are clamped into place, and then the plastic is MOLDED AROUND THE WIRES. In the process of the molding, the wires can shift slightly, which can cause problems down the road. You see, these adapters are made to be used for things like hard drives, which draw like 10w max. and they catch fire sometimes just doing that (ill link two videos showing what I mean- watch them- they are pretty good videos). You put a GPU on one of those adapters, using upwards of 50w (and producing a lot of heat), and you get problems. The plastic can get soft, and an arc will form between the wires. This melts the plastic more, which creates a bigger arc, and then it turns into a huge positive feedback loop until a fire catches. now, HOPEFULLY at this point your PSU will notice the massive overcurrent and kill power to the rig, but sometimes the arc does not trip the protection, and it can... you get the point. Just dont use the adapters guys, Its simple as that. These adapters are mass produced in factories in china somewhere for like half a cent, and half a cent is the quality youre getting.
Video 1:
Video 2:
(THIS GUY HAD HIS ADAPTERS CATCH FIRE POWERING HARD DRIVES- THINK ABOUT THE RISK FROM POWERING GPUS)
Video 1:
Video 2:
(THIS GUY HAD HIS ADAPTERS CATCH FIRE POWERING HARD DRIVES- THINK ABOUT THE RISK FROM POWERING GPUS)
Comments
@ceddycakes if you use this usb reiser, you can connect you molex cable directly to the resier:http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/UK-PCI-E-1x-to-16x-Powered-USB-3-0-Extender-Riser-Adapter-Card-Bitcoin-Litecoin-/310897618647?hash=item4862f12ed7:g:e1IAAOxyUI1TIzwy
According to the video posted by @wirelessnet2 the Start Tech looks good (you can see that it has the screw at the SATA end that actually clips the cable into the connector)
Edit 1: The riser you linked has the exact type of SATA connector that is not recommended.
I have been looking all over for potential solutions regarding the sata/molex issue. I found a possible solution, maybe using a VGA power cable to female molex. Has anyone tried this fix, maybe?
So i can connect the risers directly to my PSU @trump104 @ceddycakes
you get a fire
It did came with 1 molex cable, but that molex cable is plugged into the H97 Anniversary pci power. Also I just looked at my power supply, I only have one 'perif' adapter. I assume I need two, but no power supply descriptions tell me what connections they have.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00COIZTZM/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER
Thank you so much for the help and thank you for finding those molex cables. I've been on amazon for 3+ hours and I couldn't find anything like that.
So yeah, looks like I'll be buying those cables, sending back the power supply for the one linked above, but 480's and hopefully my house doesn't burn down
I don't know how to feel.
Btw I am using the same PSU that you linked. I bought some extra cables for it:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/351794917153?_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT
These cables can be plugged into the PSU's sata port and you will get an extra of 2 molex plugs/cable.
When you get these cables can you connect more than 1 molex per cable safely? I have a 1300w power supply with 2 molex cables per cable, but was not sure if it was safe to connect more than 1 per cable.
I would ask somebody with more experience @wirelessnet2 : Can we plug more than 1 GPU on the same molex cable safely?
@banzsolt you can connect many gpu's to the molex of the psu if there is proper contact, if there isn't you will notice the connectors and cables will get hot around it. I have 2rigs each with 2psu's and each psu is connected to 2 gpus. 2gpus have one shared wire soldered to one molex cable on the psu. The psu molex wire should be able to handle alot of power, I'd say 500W easily but the problem is with the molex connector itself, those can make bad contact easily or slightly move with temperature increase/decrease, thats why they get hot, my soldered molex cable on the psu is cold, I could put there 4gpus easily.