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US$314 Sonnet Echo Express SEL (16Gbps-TB2)


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Hey guys, goalque has PM'd me a very good suggestion. I used a powered Molex x8 to x16 riser, however, it had a ground (black) wire. In theory, by removing it, I would also remove the ground loop that's the issue with using two power supplies to power the slot.

What I've done is removed the ground wire. It was easy as I was able to remove the pin from the Molex connector. I've also used both PCIe cables from my Seasonic (so it now has access to the full 576W from the 12V rail rather than 288W from a single cable).

I ran Unigine Valley on Windows. I was able to run it for 20 minutes before crashing to desktop (as opposed to crashing the entire computer). I thought that it was Valley with the problem, but when I ran Valley on OS X, it froze the whole system after 5 minutes.

I'm just going to up sticks and buy a Sonnet III-D enclosure.

How about using the barrel DC connector attached to your external PSU to power the TB part of the SEL? Then there is no need to remove any black connector since the whole thing is powered by one PSU? I *would not* recommend removing the GND from any cable since it's the reference point for voltage provided by/to the device.

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How about using the barrel DC connector attached to your external PSU to power the TB part of the SEL? Then there is no need to remove any black connector since the whole thing is powered by one PSU? I *would not* recommend removing the GND from any cable since it's the reference point for voltage provided by/to the device.

Actually I didn't recommend to remove the ground wire, I myself had this riser with SEL and it worked:

8X PCIe 16X extension cable 19cm power

Powering only from the 12V/7A DC jack via molex didn't feed enough wattage to spin GPU fan (this was quite odd because I thought a powered riser is not compulsory with SEL).

EDIT: I meant by "12V/7A DC jack via molex" a molex-to-barrel-plug-adapter (2.5mm/5.5mm) from the ATX PSU. 12V/7A is marked output of the original SEL power adapter (adverted as 60W on their web page).

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Thanks for the reply. Do I need a powered riser, if I use a molex-to-barrel plug adapter to power the SEL?

The fans won't spin without a powered riser?

That's correct. GPU didn't show any sign of life without a powered riser, even if using a molex-to-barrel-plug adapter, if I remember right. But I cannot be 100% sure, because I only tested with the riser from Cablematic that has only one yellow wire (molex plugged/unplugged).

EDIT: I still have the x8 to x16 powered riser, but GTX780 fans didn't spin either, when I used it with the AKiTiO. I just confirmed. Meaning that this riser is only meant to be used when powered, and not molex unplugged. Therefore, it is possible that you can use molex-to-barrel-plug to feed enough wattage to run SEL with your GPU + unpowered x8 to x16 riser, not the powered one from Cablematic. But we don't know the wattage output of x8 slot in this situation. My GTX780 only needs 25W from the PCIe slot, but other cards may need 75W.

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Actually I didn't recommend to remove the ground wire, I myself had this riser with SEL and it worked:

8X PCIe 16X extension cable 19cm power

Powering only from the 12V/7A DC jack via molex didn't feed enough wattage to spin GPU fan (this was quite odd because I thought a powered riser is not compulsory with SEL).

Would have worked because your DC and ATX PSU plugged into the same GND wall socket and the DC adapter didn't apply any level shifting. WOuld have been OK too if you used a molex-to-barrel connector off your ATX PSU to the DC jack since again have a common reference GND.

SEL comes with a 60W AC adapter: Sonnet - Echo Express SEL Thunderbolt 2 PCIe Expansion Chassis . Based on your result in using a 84W AC adapter it appears to also limit power to the PCIe slot, just like the AKiTiO Thunder2.

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Would have worked because your DC and ATX PSU plugged into the same GND wall socket and the DC adapter didn't apply any level shifting. If used sockets with different GNDs then you'd have quite a dangerous wiring arrangement.

SEL comes with a 60W AC adapter: Sonnet - Echo Express SEL Thunderbolt 2 PCIe Expansion Chassis . Based on your result in using a 84W AC adapter it appears to also limit power to the PCIe slot, just like the AKiTiO Thunder2.

12V/7A was marked on the original power adapter of the SEL and it has the same 2.5mm/5.5mm barrel plug size as AKiTiO's adapter. The advert on the Sonnet site is incorrect or they have updated version, or they sell SEL with different adapters. In the manual I also found some info that it would be 60W, and it was confusing.

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Would have worked because your DC and ATX PSU plugged into the same GND wall socket and the DC adapter didn't apply any level shifting. WOuld have been OK too if you used a molex-to-barrel connector off your ATX PSU to the DC jack since again have a common reference GND.

SEL comes with a 60W AC adapter: Sonnet - Echo Express SEL Thunderbolt 2 PCIe Expansion Chassis . Based on your result in using a 84W AC adapter it appears to also limit power to the PCIe slot, just like the AKiTiO Thunder2.

12V/7A was marked on the original power adapter of the SEL and it has the same 2.5mm/5.5mm barrel plug size as AKiTiO's adapter. The advert on the Sonnet site is incorrect or they have updated version, or they sell SEL with different adapters. In the manual I also found some info that it would be 60W, and it was confusing.

I think that that might be the case, the adaptor might output 84W (12V x 7A), but only 60W is allocated to the PCIe slot itself.

Also, sorry for the misunderstanding but what goalque has recommended to me yesterday was to use a powered riser with a molex connector with only one yellow wire, such as PCIe 16X extension cable 19cm powered 1X riser card. This didn't have the black ground wire like my riser has, so I assumed that if I remove it, it would function exactly the same as this one.

I just purchased a Sonnet III-D earlier today, however, since 1. It has a broken fan that I need to replace so I can't sell it and 2. I really want to get this set-up working for anyone looking for a lower cost solution, I will look online for a barrel plug so I can get the SEL working under my PSU.

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I think that that might be the case, the adaptor might output 84W (12V x 7A), but only 60W is allocated to the PCIe slot itself.

Also, sorry for the misunderstanding but what goalque has recommended to me yesterday was to use a powered riser with a molex connector with only one yellow wire, such as PCIe 16X extension cable 19cm powered 1X riser card. This didn't have the black ground wire like my riser has, so I assumed that if I remove it, it would function exactly the same as this one.

I just purchased a Sonnet III-D earlier today, however, since 1. It has a broken fan that I need to replace so I can't sell it and 2. I really want to get this set-up working for anyone looking for a lower cost solution, I will look online for a barrel plug so I can get the SEL working under my PSU.

I just noticed a very important detail with the Cablematic's x8 to x16 riser: GPU fans didn't spin either when I used it with AKiTiO, and powered from the molex-to-barrel-plug adapter. I corrected my assumption that it wouldn't work without powered riser here. @Mark, can you test if your GPU fan spin when molex is not plugged with your riser?

With a x16 to x16 powered riser and molex unplugged, fans do spin. The x8 to x16 riser seems to have wires soldered differently, 8/9 wide cable separated whereas x16 to x16 riser has the whole x4 part separated.

As Tech Inferno Fan suggested, it's possible to use only one power source (ATX PSU), and feed the required power via molex-to-barrel-plug adapter. That way 75W might be allocated to the x8 slot. Not sure, but just wanted to say the possibility still exists. In fact, it makes sense to have 84W adapter, if the TB card+other PCIe board components need 24W and the x8 slot 60W.

EDIT: I did a continuity test with a multimeter, and there is no direct 12V connection from the male 2nd pin to the female 2nd pin! The power comes from the molex connector only (one yellow wire).

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My III-D has arrived! I ran Unigine Valley on OS X for 20 minutes (all the time that I had) and there were no problems. It won't boot up under Windows 8.1, but that's for another thread :P

Anyway, I am going to be away for a few days, and I've ordered hopefully the correct plug for the SEL, I'm going to try and make an adapter for the SEL as soon as I get back.

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  • 1 month later...

Hey,

I've bought the Sonnet SEL and I'm running into the exact same problem as Mark did. I've a non powered 8x -> 16x riser, a 450W PSU and a EVGA GeForce 760. So how should I proceed?

... and bying a III-D instead is not in my budget ;-)

Thanks in advance

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Just an update for you guys: I've had problems running a 980 (stock clocked, custom cooler) on my III-D, so I tried it on my SEL with a normal riser, and it ran Unigine Valley for 5-6 hours without any problems. Otherwise, I suggest buying plugs for the SEL and see if you can run it from the Molex adaptor?

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I don't think so, unless it has a 6-pin connector. The reason why my 780 Ti crashed was partly because it was also a superclocked model, which drew far more than the 250W rated TDP. The 980 that I have at the moment is a stock-clocked one, so it is stable. My power supply has a rated TDP of 210W (60 from the PCIe slot of the SEL + 75 from each of the PCIe connectors).

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