Final check before first boot/explosion!:

[Tacitus]

Hello everyone, so after a long afternoon my PC is ready, but I'm yet to boot it. I'd like to ask a few things mostly relating to power and storage, as well as the DVD drive because these are the things that took longest and worry me most.

 

This is an image of my motherboard, when I refer to the top right I am referring to the IO, not where the top right would be when installed in a PC, please keep this in mind.

 

 

 

Firstly, My SSD is connected to the PSU by a 5 pin Sata connector, from this one connection to the PSU come 3 of the wide connections that go into SSDs and DVD drives. The first of these connectors is attached to the SSD, the second is not being used and the third is connected to my DVD drive. Is that fine for powering them?

 

My next questions pertains to the Sata slots on the mobo, the SSD is connected to that with a cable that came with my motherboard into the bottom left slot, whereas the DVD drive is connected to one of the ones slightly to the right of that, just below the red Gigabyte logo. Are these configured correctly?

 

The same goes with my PSU connection to my GPU, which has a 6 pin and 8pin power connector. This is non-modular on my PSU (which is semi-modular) and again, one thick red cable carries both a 6-pin and a 6+2 pin connector, and I've got those plugged into the GPU. There is another red cable with a 6+2 pin connector, should I be using that instead of the same cable for all my power for the GPU?

 

Cheers

 

Chris

[Archangel1994]

Firstly, My SSD is connected to the PSU by a 5 pin Sata connector, from this one connection to the PSU come 3 of the wide connections that go into SSDs and DVD drives. The first of these connectors is attached to the SSD, the second is not being used and the third is connected to my DVD drive. Is that fine for powering them?

Totally fine, I have the same scenario

 

 

My next questions pertains to the Sata slots on the mobo, the SSD is connected to that with a cable that came with my motherboard into the bottom left slot, whereas the DVD drive is connected to one of the ones slightly to the right of that, just below the red Gigabyte logo. Are these configured correctly?

All the ports are SATA 3 so you do not have to worry about that. Make sure that the SATA mode is on AHCI before you install windows though for the best performance, this needs to be set in the bios.

 

 

The same goes with my PSU connection to my GPU, which has a 6 pin and 8pin power connector. This is non-modular on my PSU (which is semi-modular) and again, one thick red cable carries both a 6-pin and a 6+2 pin connector, and I've got those plugged into the GPU. There is another red cable with a 6+2 pin connector, should I be using that instead of the same cable for all my power for the GPU?

Using the same cable for the GPU is fine. I mean if it were bad then why would they put 2 connectors on one cable? My GPU is also connected with an 8-pin and 6-pin on the same cable and it can reach its 100% TDP

[Jerakl]

1. Yes, it's fine for powering them.

 

2. Yes it doesn't usually matter which order they are plugged in.

 

3. As long as all of the pins on your GPU are populated you should be fine.

For example, on my GTX 780, It has a 6+8 connectors, I had 2 6+2 connectors, so I plugged one into the 8 ping and the other into the 6, and just tied back the +2 pins on the 6.

[ManWithBeard1990]

General rule of thumb is if it fits it'll work. Only thing to be careful of is not to plug an 8pin PCIe power connector to the 8pin CPU connector on the mobo, because I think that may actually be possible to do but would fry something.

[Tacitus]

Totally fine, I have the same scenario

 

 

All the ports are SATA 3 so you do not have to worry about that. Make sure that the SATA mode is on AHCI before you install windows though for the best performance, this needs to be set in the bios.

 

 

Using the same cable for the GPU is fine. I mean if it were bad then why would they put 2 connectors on one cable? My GPU is also connected with an 8-pin and 6-pin on the same cable and it can reach its 100% TDP

 

1. Yes, it's fine for powering them.

 

2. Yes it doesn't usually matter which order they are plugged in.

 

3. As long as all of the pins on your GPU are populated you should be fine.

For example, on my GTX 780, It has a 6+8 connectors, I had 2 6+2 connectors, so I plugged one into the 8 ping and the other into the 6, and just tied back the +2 pins on the 6.

 

General rule of thumb is if it fits it'll work. Only thing to be careful of is not to plug an 8pin PCIe power connector to the 8pin CPU connector on the mobo, because I think that may actually be possible to do but would fry something.

 

Thanks everyone! I'll double check my CPU connector, but it's a different colour from the PCIe/VGA connectors so I'm sure I'd have spotted it.

[Archangel1994]

Thanks everyone! I'll double check my CPU connector, but it's a different colour from the PCIe/VGA connectors so I'm sure I'd have spotted it.

It should be marked. The PCIe cables have "PCIe" or "VGA" marked on the plugs so the CPU cable should be easy enough to spot.

[Tacitus]

It should be marked. The PCIe cables have "PCIe" or "VGA" marked on the plugs so the CPU cable should be easy enough to spot.

 

I would have thought so, but it was about 4 hours ago I plugged that in.