Cheap Asian components..

Nitth

Hi, Got 2 questions.

Looking to buy some NEW parts off ebay on the cheap..

First item i am looking at is a Dual Link PSU adapter. (to link 2 psu's in tandem)
Wondering if i buy from manufactures in china if there is any risk of fault from the component? The component itself is very simple molex wiring and i cannot see any how any foreseeable fault would occur but i thought i would double check.

Second item is a 2 in one USB 3.0 + SATA3 PCI controller, My motherboard does not natively support SATA3 and its a damn shame because i believe my SSD is suffering because of it. Any reason why a cheap solution would be a bad idea on this front?

Also, not up to date on on the USB architecture... If the card has a "pinout" port internally how many USB3 Jacks can i link up with that? Does it follow the same rules as legacy?

Ridelynn

Hmm...

Most everything you buy globally that is electronic (and otherwise, honestly) is manufactured in China. If you are buying from a chinese marketplace, though, they may not have the same QC, warranty, or return policy that you are accustomed to, that would be what I would be more concerned with.

If your a DIY-type, all you need to tandem multiple power supplies are diodes (each wire you are connecting gets a diode so you can't reverse-power one power supply with the other), which you used to get at Radio Shack, now I guess you have to order them or find a local geeky electronics outfit.

Amazon has a pack of 30 that would work for $17 {w/ shipping), that would connect 15 wires on each power supply, or 3 Molex connectors. They typically cost about $0.50 a piece, so that's about right.

http://www.amazon.com/1000V-Axial-Diode-Rectifiers-Pack/dp/B001JSWE8I/ref=sr_1_23?ie=UTF8&qid=1395066560&sr=8-23&keywords=diode

That, admittedly, is cheap, and also a minor pain in the rear and difficult to make look good.

For SATA3/USB3 - you can add both via PCI cards. The number of ports will depend on the card you buy. WIth USB3, yes, you can still use hubs to extend that number of ports internally (just if you want to retain USB3 speed, you need to make sure your hub is a USB3 hub, otherwise it gets down-converted to the lowest common speed).

Here's an example, the first one that popped up on Newegg:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815124108

Not necessarily the one you would want to order, but just an example that this is available - this 1 SATA3 and 1 USB3 port on the same card.

That being said, your SSD is technically suffering, it can't get to max transfer speed, but the real benefit of an SSD isn't so much the transfer speed as it is the random access speed. You'd see a bit of a boost, but it won't be huge unless your copying very large files that actually get up to the max transfer speed and stay there for a significant period of time (which isn't often during normal use - like copying a movie file or something).

Nitth

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Originally posted by Ridelynn
Hmm...

Most everything you buy globally that is electronic (and otherwise, honestly) is manufactured in China. If you are buying from a chinese marketplace, though, they may not have the same QC, warranty, or return policy that you are accustomed to, that would be what I would be more concerned with.

If your a DIY-type, all you need to tandem multiple power supplies are diodes (each wire you are connecting gets a diode so you can't reverse-power one power supply with the other), which you used to get at Radio Shack, now I guess you have to order them or find a local geeky electronics outfit.

Amazon has a pack of 30 that would work for $17 {w/ shipping), that would connect 15 wires on each power supply, or 3 Molex connectors. They typically cost about $0.50 a piece, so that's about right.

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Well im specificly looking at:

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Dual-PSU-Power-Supply-Adaptor-Cable-Connector-for-Litecoin-Bitcoin-Mining-20c-DA-/151210688323?pt=AU_CablesConnectors&hash=item2334dbff43&_uhb=1

Personally i would rather get a solution like this (which is only $6) and not worry about the hassle of modding the cable myself..However this cable does not appear to have a diode on it like you were suggesting..

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For SATA3/USB3 - you can add both via PCI cards. The number of ports will depend on the card you buy. WIth USB3, yes, you can still use hubs to extend that number of ports internally (just if you want to retain USB3 speed, you need to make sure your hub is a USB3 hub, otherwise it gets down-converted to the lowest common speed).

Here's an example, the first one that popped up on Newegg:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815124108

Not necessarily the one you would want to order, but just an example that this is available - this 1 SATA3 and 1 USB3 port on the same card.

That being said, your SSD is technically suffering, it can't get to max transfer speed, but the real benefit of an SSD isn't so much the transfer speed as it is the random access speed. You'd see a bit of a boost, but it won't be huge unless your copying very large files that actually get up to the max transfer speed and stay there for a significant period of time (which isn't often during normal use - like copying a movie file or something).

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Looking at..:

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Combo-PCI-E-Card-Adapter-2-Ports-USB-3-0-eSATA-3-0-SATA-3-0-20-Pin-extender-/190898812868?pt=AU_Components&hash=item2c7274b7c4&_uhb=1

In Aus...so cant use newegg.
Parts like these i usually acquire from ebay new because MSY doesn't stock stuff like this. If i went anywhere else i would pay out the ass for simple components like these..