Sorry, was reading the thread and wanted to clarify couple of points:
As I keep saying, sata works fine for most people. It's very unlikely it will catch fire and melt.
Did it ever melt for anyone, or community is just theorizing on SATA specs. I've read about fried MOLEX connectors and melted SATA/MOLEX adapters, but haven't encountered any reports about burnt SATA risers.
The following refers to 12 volts:
1. The PCIE spec dictates the slot must be able to sink a maximum of 6.25 amps.
2. SATA spec dictates the connector must be able to handle up to 4.5 amps.
3. Molex spec dictates the connector must be able to handle up to 11 amps.
The more current, the more voltage drop and the higher amount of heat generated. If your card is drawing less than 4.5 amps then there is no risk, Many if not most cards will draw less than the maximum from the slot. However, if you have one of those 250 watt beasts, it is likely it will draw more than 4.5 amps and up to 6.25 amps. Which will exceed the design specification of the sata (but be well within the abilities of the Molex).
Exceeding the amount of current the connector is designed to handle, will not automatically mean fire and disaster. But it certainly increases the risk.
But can a video card actually request more current than mediator device (riser in this case) can handle? Not that good at physics, doesn't it work the same way as a network bandwidth - so if cable/switch cannot put through more than 100 mbps, devices on both sides of the network simply won't be able to push through something bigger?
Show Posts
