Do you like SATA ports stacked on edge of board?

[texasnightowl]

I haven't had a board with them in that arrangement yet, but I'm going to be building a new system very shortly and I see several (most) of the boards have gone to that arrangement where the connectors are "stacked" and facing the edge of the edge of the board. Those of you who have boards with this configuration - do you like it? Or not?

 

[mv2devnull]

I do rememr having a that didn't have edge-facing ports, and then I was in major trouble with many ports in use and new graphics card blocking most of those ports. That was a layout years ago.

I'd say that the edge-facing is generally nice, but it really depends on your computer case too. If you don't have space to route the cables to the edge, then you don't.

 

[texasnightowl]

Hmm..yeah, I plan on re-using my Antec Solo case at the moment so I need to pull it out and take a look at my current cable situation. I'm planning on just 3 sata connections at the moment (1 optical, 2 hdds) but if I'm remembering right, my hdd cage is a bit of a pain.

 

[stahlhart]

I haven't had a board with them in that arrangement yet, but I'm going to be building a new system very shortly and I see several (most) of the boards have gone to that arrangement where the connectors are "stacked" and facing the edge of the edge of the board. Those of you who have boards with this configuration - do you like it? Or not?

I don't like it -- would much prefer the ports to be perpendicular to the board surface, and a little more spacing between them to allow for such things as round SATA cables and locking connectors.

 

[Meghan54]

Wouldn't have them any other way. Perpendicular to the board just gives ports that can easily get blocked by large cards......sorta like the problems that exist with memory and some large cpu heatsinks.

One of the better ideas mb makers have had.

 

[texasnightowl]

Perpendicular to the board just gives ports that can easily get blocked by large cards......sorta like the problems that exist with memory and some large cpu heatsinks.

I can see that large video cards on some boards could cause problems, but it seems that with them stacked, in a case with not a lot of room, the spacing to the hard drive cage could cause problems?

At least initially, video card size won't be an issue for me. My build will use IGP at least initially.

 

[VirtualLarry]

If it comes down to a choice of:
A) Having accessable SATA ports, but with the angled connector so they are sideways off the edge of the board, or
B) Having SATA ports that are straight up, but blocked off, and unusable

Then I would go for 'A' every time.

 

[stahlhart]

I can see that large video cards on some boards could cause problems, but it seems that with them stacked, in a case with not a lot of room, the spacing to the hard drive cage could cause problems?

You're pretty much screwed either way. With the angled connectors, the least they could do is add a millimeter or so of a gap between them, top to bottom, so that the connectors aren't stressing each other if you're plugged into both of them.

There were several cabling options for my build that I had to scrap because you couldn't stack them one on top of the other; the SATA connectors were too thick to sit squarely, stressing the ports on the edges, and the cable latches wouldn't reach to lock in place. I've got the plain, cheap red ones in there now that don't have the latches; that's about all I can fit. Would have preferred black ones for aesthetics, but can't find any that will work.

 

[Meghan54]

You're pretty much screwed either way. With the angled connectors, the least they could do is add a millimeter or so of a gap between them, top to bottom, so that the connectors aren't stressing each other if you're plugged into both of them.

I guess if you're using angled connectors on the motherboard that could suck, esp. if all you have are right angled connectors.

Then again, you do know that what are called "left angle" SATA cables do exist, don't you? So, then you can have one cable angled down and one angled up out of the side mounted SATA ports on the motherboard. True, you'll have to make a loop, but we know the cable will do such in a small radius and you won't have the connectors stacked on top of each other, stressing the port and the cable's connector.

For instance:

http://www.performance-pcs.com/catal...ducts_id=27312

 

[stahlhart]

I guess if you're using angled connectors on the motherboard that could suck, esp. if all you have are right angled connectors.

Then again, you do know that what are called "left angle" SATA cables do exist, don't you? So, then you can have one cable angled down and one angled up out of the side mounted SATA ports on the motherboard. True, you'll have to make a loop, but we know the cable will do such in a small radius and you won't have the connectors stacked on top of each other, stressing the port and the cable's connector.

For instance:

http://www.performance-pcs.com/catal...ducts_id=27312

I had not considered the left-angle connectors -- thanks very much for the suggestion. I'll see if I can make this work with the wire management in the case.

One thing that's frustrating that's not the fault of the ports is the location in my case of the slats between the oval holes in the mounting plate for wiring -- one of these lines up directly with the SATA ports, and the other with the ATX socket. :\ I'm almost tempted to do a mod where I cut those two out and wrap a rubber edge guard around the one long oval hole that's left. One of those things you can't really see until you start putting everything together.

Something else that might be neat would be a small extension of about 1/2" or so that you could put in one of the two ports -- that way you could stack two angled cables, either up with left angles or down with right angles. Not sure how mechanically stable it would be, though.

 

[Arg Clin]

I'm not a big fan of the stacked edge faced SATA ports. In my R3 they are very hard to get to in this way. I's prefer them placed perpendicular to the board surface near the RAM/CPU section.

On my Gigabyte 890FXA UD5 the PATA and FDD connectors are placed there, while the SATA ports are edge faced below the videocard. Would have made more sense the other way around, since SATA you will most certainly need, while PATA and FDD are rather optional.

 

[fuzzymath10]

I have a small case and the 4 sata ii ports are facing the drive cage with not enough clearance for even a right angle cable so I'm stuck with the 2 sata iii ports which is fortunately the minimum I need for my two ssds.

It seems that those with long cards generally have large cases so they're not an issue for them but those of us with small cases and shorter cards we lose the ports.

 

[texasnightowl]

I have a small case and the 4 sata ii ports are facing the drive cage with not enough clearance for even a right angle cable so I'm stuck with the 2 sata iii ports which is fortunately the minimum I need for my two ssds.

It seems that those with long cards generally have large cases so they're not an issue for them but those of us with small cases and shorter cards we lose the ports.

I finally spent a few minutes looking at the space between my drive cage and motherboard in my current case (Antec Solo) and even without a video card in there, it would be very hard to access ports that face the drive cage. Very hard. There's just not a lot of space between them.

After looking at that, I have to say I am considering buying a new, slightly larger case with side mounted drives. My Antec Solo may be saved to become my case for the HTPC build I'm planning for a few more months from now.

 

[mv2devnull]

I thought that the Solo has its HDD cage on the left side of the case and therefore has ample room between the cage and the right side of the case?

 

[texasnightowl]

I thought that the Solo has its HDD cage on the left side of the case and therefore has ample room between the cage and the right side of the case?

Yeah, it was pretty late last night when I looked at it and since the right side panel doesn't have thumbscrews like the left panel, I didn't open it. But you are probably right since there is a "cable management" area behind the hard drive bay.