Adding some hardware.

[blindleader]

You might think from the length of this post that I'm building a supercomputer from scratch. Nope, just a little upgrade. I've always been a hands-in-pocket type of engineer when it comes to unfamiliar equipment.

Here's what I have:
Antec P183
Asus P7P55D Pro
EVGA nVidia Geforce GTX 275
Lite-On Blu-Ray player/DVD writer
Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-2250 dual TV tuner
1 Velociraptor
1 Caviar Black
Corsair TX 650W
Dust (aftermarket, 21 months worth, bad housekeeping seal of disapproval)

The plan is to replace the accumulated dust with a couple of memory cards, a Caviar Green HDD, and an additional eSATA port. I just want to make sure I have all the necessary material, and know exactly what I'm going to do before opening up the computer.

Question 1:
So I want to install the eSATA panel that comes with my external drive enclosures in the vacant expansion slot. The PCI slots are unused, so there should be plenty of room. Do you see any problems with this?
If I read the photos and motherboard layout correctly, there should be two unused SATA connectors (SATA5 and SATA6). 1,2,3,4 go to the HDDs, the optical drive and the front panel eSATA port. The SATA_E1 is connected to an expansion slot panel that also contains what looks to me like 2 CD input connectors. (never bothered to investigate that). It's in the bottom slot with the vacant slot just above it.

Question 2, 2.1 & 2.2:
It appears that installing the Caviar Green in the HDD cage is just a matter of mounting screws, no other hardware required, right?. The Black is in the second slot and the Velociraptor is in the fourth slot. Which of the remaining two slots is preferable for the new drive? My bag of spare parts has two 18" SATA cables with different connectors. May I assume one of them is the right one to use for the drive?

Question 3:
Am I going to need a Power cable Y-splitter for the new drive, or is there a vacant connector on the existing SATA power cable?

[PCC-William]

1) You shouldn't have any problem routing another eSATA as you described... but I wonder if one is already present on the back of your system, given the place you said SATA_E1 is hooked up to. What is your order number? I can look up a picture of the back of your system (if it is new enough) and see what the story there is.

2) The only things to hook that drive in will be screws to physically mount it along with a power connection and data cable. The spare cables in your accessory box should work great, and you'll need to find a lead coming from the power supply as well - but there may already be one in the right area since there are two other drives down there. I don't think the location of the drive will matter much, just put it wherever you can most easily wire the connections.

3) Ah, I sort of answered this above. If you can't find a spare power connector on the lead going to the other two drives then a splitter could work.

[blindleader]

1) You shouldn't have any problem routing another eSATA as you described... but I wonder if one is already present on the back of your system, given the place you said SATA_E1 is hooked up to.

Order #64963, but to save you the search, here's my back panel:

There are two eSATA connectors, one on the motherboard and the other in the bottom slot. You can see the vacant slot just above that one. That's where I'd put the extra eSATA panel. I'm still in the dark about the other two connectors (CD?) in the bottom slot. I'm sure it came with the motherboard, as there are similar but not identical assemblies shown in the User guide.

Actually, if there were more SATA channels available, I'd fill all the available slots with ports. But I haven't seen a PCI SATA controller I like, and they're too expensive. When I can get two or more eSATA ports for $15, I'm there.

Thanks a lot for your help.

[PCC-William]

Those other two ports are more USB 2.0 connections - and yes, that bracket came with the motherboard to provide additional connectivity. The slot above that looks like it should be fine to go ahead and use, though, so feel free to do so