Power Supply without the 3.3V rail connected on the SATA plugs

[feartec]

Hello

I had an issue where I was trying to use a Thermaltake RGB 700W power supply to power my Corsair H115i Platinum RGB AIO cooler. Everything worked fine but the RGB lights on the water pump did not work. Long story short this was because the Thermaltake 700W power supply does not have 3.3v connected to the SATA connector.

psu33.jpg

Q1) Is it common for some power supplies not to have 3.3v on SATA connectors?

Q2) Did Thermaltake cheap out of is this a trend?

Q3) Does the Corsair HX1200i 1200W Power Supply have 3.3V enabled on the SATA Plugs?

Links
500W SIlverstone PSU (with 3.3V SATA)
https://www.scorptec.com.au/product/...T50F-ES230-BK/
700W Thermaltake PSU (without 3.3V SATA)
https://www.scorptec.com.au/product/...-0700NHSAWA-1/
Corsair HX1200i 1200W Power Supply
https://www.scorptec.com.au/product/...CP-9020070-AU/

[feartec]

The Corsair H115i AIO Pump RGB's only work if 3.3V is found on the SATA Plug.

https://twitter.com/FearbySoftware/s...06268265938944

[feartec]

From research only Corsair and Silverstone run 3.3V to the SATA connectors?

[Travis]

https://www.tomshardware.com/news/hd...ure,36146.html

Removing the 3.3V rail from the SATA cables make the PSU compatible with SATA 3.3 HDDs supporting PWDIS feature.

[Jon Gerow]

Q1) Is it common for some power supplies not to have 3.3v on SATA connectors?

Q2) Did Thermaltake cheap out of is this a trend?

Q3) Does the Corsair HX1200i 1200W Power Supply have 3.3V enabled on the SATA Plugs?

Q1) It is very UNCOMMON for a SATA to not have +3.3V

Q2) Yes. But only on their cheapest garbage PSUs

Q3) Yes. All Corsair, Silverstone, Enermax, FSP, EVGA, beQuiet, etc. have +3.3V on the SATA

From research only Corsair and Silverstone run 3.3V to the SATA connectors?

That' not much research if that was your conclusion.

MOST (99%) power supplies have a +3.3V on the SATA. When I picked up a Thermaltake Smart, it was the first and only time I saw a PSU without one.

Just going through the latest Tom's Hardware reviews (because this site hasn't had a new PSU review in a year), you can see what has +3.3V on SATA:

https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews...view,6266.html
https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews...pply,6228.html
https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews...pply,6119.html
https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews...-psu,6070.html

Even Thermaltake's own iRGB Series power supplies have a +3.3V:

https://www.hardocp.com/article/2017...titanium_psu/1

Travis is correct that leaving it off will allow it to work with an HDD's PWDIS feature, but honestly, Thermaltake left it off to save money.

The Thermaltake Smart is an EXTREMELY cheap power supply and should be avoided.

[mariush]

Maybe a better question would be ... was it that hard to add a 20 cent LDO regulator inside the thing, to convert 5v to 3.3v?

You'd make your product more compatible for a minimum of an investment.

[Raven Rampkin]

You'd make your product more compatible for a minimum of an investment.

Nah, feature separation (though with this market positioning and with a feature never bragged about -- afaik -- in the adverts, on the box, and in the manual, it feels more like feature stupidation )

[Jon Gerow]

Maybe a better question would be ... was it that hard to add a 20 cent LDO regulator inside the thing, to convert 5v to 3.3v?

You'd make your product more compatible for a minimum of an investment.

$$$$$

[ehume]

Seasonic has some PSUs that come with adapters. These adapters convert SATA power with 3.3v to SATA power without 3.3v. It has something to do with server-type HDs that won't spin up when the 3.3 line is live.

[Jon Gerow]

Seasonic has some PSUs that come with adapters. These adapters convert SATA power with 3.3v to SATA power without 3.3v. It has something to do with server-type HDs that won't spin up when the 3.3 line is live.

Correct. Those are adapters though. This is just TT being cheap.