How much power does a SATA link consume?

[Chicken76]

As the title says, does anyone know how much power is being used to keep a SATA link active by a typical desktop chipset's southbridge?

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Such a tiny amount that if you were really worried about it, you could offset it by putting a solar panel in your basement.

 

[Phynaz]

Lol, awesome answer Dave.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Lol, awesome answer Dave.

It's true though. :awe:

Serious answer - Marvell's specs on their stuff say their entire SATA controller consumes <1w. It is likely that the power consumption for chipset-integrated SATA is less.

Unoccupied ports have no completed circuit, and therefore probably don't consume any energy at all.

In-use ports may add a milliwatt or two to the SATA controller's power consumption, but that's insignificant compared to the power being drawn by the drive you've got plugged into it.

(Think about it - 200mW will broadcast WiFi throughout my entire house. How could throwing data down a 8" SATA cable use more than a tiny fraction of that?)

 

[Chicken76]

Thanks Dave. Then I guess I don't need to worry whether putting more but smaller drives is going to use more power than fewer but bigger drives. (after taking into account the power consumption of the drives themselves)

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Thanks Dave. Then I guess I don't need to worry whether putting more but smaller drives is going to use more power than fewer but bigger drives. (after taking into account the power consumption of the drives themselves)

That's correct - the power consumption of the drives is the thing to keep track of.