Motherboard Connector

Motherboard needs to provide power for Storage devices because they need both 12V and 5V. The motherboard is recommended to provide power to either 4, 6, or 8 storage drives. Current and near future platforms support 6–8 SATA connections. Based on market, board size and cost considerations the amount of storage drives supported needs to be considered. Based on per storage drive max requirements of 12V @ 2-2.5 amps and 5V @ 1 amp, below are details for two options. If per drive power increases then number of drives per connector would also change.

Two connector options listed below to support 2 drives or 4 drives per connector based on motherboard need. Both connector options follow the 3 mm ATX12VO SATA Power Header dual row vertical through hole product type. These connectors must support 5A per pin.

Supporting 2 SATA Drives with 4 Pin Connector Details

Table 5-12: 3 mm SATA Power 4 Pin Connector Part Numbers

More connectors options may exist; Work with your preferred connector company to verify if they can provide the connector described in this document.

Table 5-13: SATA MB Power 4 Pin Connector Pinout

The motherboard connection for this part does have 1 post that provides a mechanical key for the connection next to the last circuit, just like the 6 pin connector does.

Figure 5-6: 3 mm SATA Power 4 Pin MB Header – Motherboard Connector Diagram (Pin Locations and Latch Location)

Figure 5-7: 3 mm SATA Power 4 Pin MB Header – Recommended PCB Layout (Top Layer View)

The 4 pin storage drive connector option recommended cable has two storage drive connections over the length of the cable.

Figure 5-8: 3 mm SATA Power 4 Pin Cable Connector – Key and Pin Locations

SATA - 4 pin power cable that supports two SATA drives per cable is available from the following companies.

Table 5-14: 2 SATA Power Cable Part Numbers

Other cable companies may also be able to manufacturer this cable. Work with your preferred connector and cable company to verify if they can provide the SATA power cable described in this document.

Supporting 4 SATA Drives with 6 Pin Connector Details

If a system designer needs to support more than 2 SATA devices per connector on the board a 6 pin storage drive power connector is defined. With a total of 6 pins the number of SATA devices that can be supports is 4 devices. The Micro Fit connector will only support 5 amps per pin, because of that the 12V wire can only support 2 drives in Series. To support more than 2 drives the cable would have to be in a “Y” shape with 2 drives on each leg of the “Y”. The 5V current is more than half of the 12V current therefore the one 5V pin can be used to support 4 SATA devices.

Using the 6 pin motherboard connection with the key solutions provided below allows both the 6 pin (2x3 – supporting 4 drives) and 4 pin (2x2 – supporting 2 drive) cables to be plugged into the 6 pin (2x3) motherboard connector. Notice the 6 pin motherboard connector latch is wider to support the latch from both the 4 pin (2x2) and 6 pin (2x3) cable connector.

Table 5-15: 3 mm SATA Power 6 Pin Connector Part Numbers

More connectors options may exist; Work with your preferred connector company to verify if they can provide the connector described in this document.

Table 5-16: +12 V Power 6 Pin Connector Pinout

Figure 5-9: 3 mm SATA Power 6 Pin MB Header – Recommended PCB Layout (Top Layer View)

Figure 5-10: 3 mm SATA Power 6 Pin MB Header – Keying and Pin Locations

Cable design diagram. Both pins 2 and 5 would need to have 2 wires coming out of the one pin. Top view shows which cable is connected to each pin.

Figure 5-11: 3 mm SATA Power 6 pin/4 SATA Device Cable Diagram (Connector Top View)

Figure 5-12: 3 mm SATA Power 6 Pin Cable Connector – Traditional Cable Diagram

Figure 5-13: 3 mm SATA Power 6 Pin Cable Connector – Key and Pin Locations (Bottom View)

SATA - 6 pin power cable that supports 4 SATA drives per cable is available from the following companies.

Table 5-17: SATA Power Cable Supporting 4 SATA Devices Part Numbers

Other cable companies may also be able to manufacturer this cable. Work with your preferred connector and cable company to verify if they can provide the SATA power cable described in this document.