Hi all. Sorry if this has already been answered but I have one (hopefully) simple question. Can I power the backplane directly using the PSU’s cables without using the breakout board that collects 6-pin power and breaks out to 4-pin Molex and fan power?
I am already powering the fans directly from the board’s fan headers and if I can bypass this board and run (4) individual 6-pin to 4-pin Molex cables from the PSU using the manufacturer’s cables I will. It makes for a cleaner run.
The root of my question is really whether the backplane Molex are standard Molex power pinouts or not.
Thank you!
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I think the answer to that as asked is yes. The issue/concerns will be around physical form factor–you need the connectors to be low profile if you still plan to use the 45Drives case, and around spreading out the power delivery; you don’t want to connect all four backplane molex to a single SATA/PATA port of the PSU via some sort of cable with four molex on it; you want to aim for one PSU output driving at most two molex connectors.
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Thank you! I do have low profile Molex because (un/fortunately) I am using SATA to Molex adapters. That pic was really just for illustration without confusing the matter. I will be running 4 individual 6-pin to Molex power, just as the original did, however using my own cables instead and plugging them directly into the backplane. I will report back and share more pics. Thanks again!
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This was my approach to direct power to the backplane:
I cut the cables from the 24-pin connector and just re-terminated the cables with molex pins. The key here, is I got to save the pre-existing low-profile molex connectors. Between this and connecting my new fans to the motherboard headers, I’ve bypassed the power midplane. Saving important space in the case and allowing larger 1500 Watt PSUs to be installed without interference.
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How does this work if you are using less than four molex to power the backplane? In this setup, each group of four drives is being powered by it’s own molex, is that right? There is no combined power draw across the molex connectors? Say you had drives in 1-1, 1-5, 1-9 and 1-13 and only one of those molex plugged in?
Not saying that an issue, just curious when evaluating this as a potential change.
There are 4 connectors total. I’m not sharing anything. Each connector on the backplane is going to its own molex connector. Am I understanding what you’re asking correctly?
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