Man of Honour
I recently paid someone to assemble a new PC because I couldn't be bothered to do it myself. I'll just have to move the graphics cards and drives over from this PC when I finally get around to it. They did a fine job of cable tidying. The problem was with the design of the SATA power cable(s) from the PSU. Those cables are quite stiff and have the connectors embedded in the cable at right angles to the cable, designed specifically for the traditional setup of drives mounted horizontally in drive bays stacked vertically. But I'd be mounting the drives (SATA SSDs) vertically in mounting brackets that are side by side horizontally, sandwiched between the side panel and the plate that the back of the motherboard is mounted too. It's impossible to use 1 cable for those 3 drives and probably impossible to use 3 cables (the PSU comes with 4, modular) because there wouldn't be enough space to fit the resulting 14 (2 cables with 4 each and 2 cables with 3 each) rather bulky connectors in the space between the motherboard mounting plate and the side panel.
OK...I have some SATA power extension cables amongst the many bits and bobs of PC hardware I have in my "parts I might need some day" cupboard. Most of which are ridiculously obsolete now. Why do I keep 3 sets of floppy disc drive cables?
So...problem solved. I can run the a bulky 4-connector SATA power cable from the PSU along the bottom of the case and use 3 extension cables from it to power the drives. One connector at each end of the cable, so they take up much less space.
No, I can't. The extension cables aren't long enough to reach from the bottom of the case and up to the top of the drives with enough slack to loop back down to plug into the drives without too much bending. Maybe I'll have to undo the neat cable tidying, fit the optional drive bays from the case's accessories package and then they'll fit. Or maybe I'll have to buy longer extension cables. Faff and bother.
Then I realised that SSD's don't have a strict "this way up and only this way up!" construction. I could simply mount them with the connectors at the bottom and the cabling will reach just fine, no problem. I have no idea why I didn't realise that immediately as it's so obvious. Definitely a numpty moment.
OK...I have some SATA power extension cables amongst the many bits and bobs of PC hardware I have in my "parts I might need some day" cupboard. Most of which are ridiculously obsolete now. Why do I keep 3 sets of floppy disc drive cables?
So...problem solved. I can run the a bulky 4-connector SATA power cable from the PSU along the bottom of the case and use 3 extension cables from it to power the drives. One connector at each end of the cable, so they take up much less space.
No, I can't. The extension cables aren't long enough to reach from the bottom of the case and up to the top of the drives with enough slack to loop back down to plug into the drives without too much bending. Maybe I'll have to undo the neat cable tidying, fit the optional drive bays from the case's accessories package and then they'll fit. Or maybe I'll have to buy longer extension cables. Faff and bother.
Then I realised that SSD's don't have a strict "this way up and only this way up!" construction. I could simply mount them with the connectors at the bottom and the cabling will reach just fine, no problem. I have no idea why I didn't realise that immediately as it's so obvious. Definitely a numpty moment.
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