SATA Ports

Andrew Smith · 30 Nov 2017 at 18:38

Hi,

I have purchased a new graphics card for my PC and have foolishly dived in without doing enough/any research. Unfortunately I have found that whilst the card fits my motherboard, once installed, it covers the four SATA ports meaning I cannot then plug the hard-drive and DVD drive in.

Does anyone have any suggestions? I thought maybe I could get a PCI card that has additional SATA ports and use those ports instead, but I don't know exactly what I'd need to get. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

bremen1874 · 30 Nov 2017 at 18:43

No option to plug the graphics card into a slot that doesn't block the SATA ports?

What motherboard and graphics card do you have?

Andrew Smith · 30 Nov 2017 at 18:49

No, sadly not. Pardon the dust, but the only available slot is that blue one:

Just the one slot. Motherboard is an MSI fm2-a55m-e33. Graphics card is a 4gb Sapphire RX 560.

facboy · 30 Nov 2017 at 18:57

Right-angle cable give you enough room? Though you could probably only use one.

bremen1874 · 30 Nov 2017 at 18:58

Please do clean it. If nothing else it'll stop the CPU overheating and may make it run more quietly.

I can't see how the video card can be blocking the two lower SATA ports that are in use at the moment.

For the other two would cables with 90 degree ends on them fit?

Andrew Smith · 30 Nov 2017 at 19:00

facboy said:
Right-angle cable give you enough room? Though you could probably only use one.

I was just thinking that, and think I could get away with two. There are four SATA ports on the motherboard, I could use the two on the right hand side of the four, rather than the two at the bottom. I'd have to check the clearance.

Andrew Smith · 30 Nov 2017 at 19:36

Just put it back in and there might be enough clearance for right angled cables, difficult to know though. I've also just realised that I haven't even got the right power cable to attach to the bloody thing. A disaster from beginning to end!

This is it in situ:

Danny75 · 30 Nov 2017 at 19:49

There's a brand called "Postta" that sell rare angled SATA cables, if you ever need to use the other two. The ones you'd want would be:

Postta SATA III Cable (3 Pack)18 Inches 6.0 Gbps Straight to Left Angle Data Cable with Locking Latch-Red

Postta SATA III Cable (3 Pack)18 Inches 6.0 Gbps Straight to Right Angle Data Cable with Locking Latch-Red

Andrew Smith · 30 Nov 2017 at 19:54

Cheers. I think these will do for what I want for the SATA cables:

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/akas...ngle-connectors-ak-cbsa01-05bk-cb-045-ak.html

Any idea about the power cable for the card?

Danny75 · 30 Nov 2017 at 20:00

Andrew Smith said:
Cheers. I think these will do for what I want for the SATA cables:

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/akas...ngle-connectors-ak-cbsa01-05bk-cb-045-ak.html

Yes those will be good if you just use the two ports all the way to the right.

Andrew Smith said:
Any idea about the power cable for the card?

Not really. That card doesn't appear to bring a molex connector on it. New PSU, or some molex-to-PCIe 6-pin adapter, I'd imagine. Or SATA-to-PCIe like so:

My basket at Overclockers UK:

1 x OcUK Value 2 x 15-Pin SATA to 1x 6-Pin PCI-E Adapter Cable - Black= £2.39

Total: £7.05 (includes shipping: £4.66)

I wouldn't have a clue how well they work though.

facboy · 30 Nov 2017 at 20:57

dare I ask, how old is your PSU that it doesn't have a PCI-E 6-pin connector? If it's really old might be time to get a decent new one, when a PSU goes pop it can take things with it :S.

GWANGY · 30 Nov 2017 at 23:35

Im very surprised your card requires extra power most 560's dont and Sapphire sell a few that dont require extra power.
if your mining and overclocking the card, then a new PSU would be a good investment ,as two sata s would be pressed to supply the power needed....

EsaT · 1 Dec 2017 at 09:06

facboy said:
dare I ask, how old is your PSU that it doesn't have a PCI-E 6-pin connector? If it's really old might be time to get a decent new one, when a PSU goes pop it can take things with it :S.

I think that PC is some supermarket cheap bomb considering Roman Empire antiquated case with PSU on top.

Also without even exhaust fan in rear and that cheap PSU likely working as only case fan it would be time to swap it anyway.
Even if it had some semblance of cooling for its cheap parts there must be now quite amount of dust inside it.
With graphics card dumping its heat inside the case PSU's heat load would increase lot so at least adding exhaust fan would be minimum.