When you are buying a new motherboard, there are a lot of questions you might have. One of the questions people often ask is whether or not the motherboard will come with SATA cables. The answer to this question is that, yes, motherboards do come with SATA cables. If you want to know more about what other kinds of cables come with your motherboard and what they are used for, keep reading.
So, do motherboards come with SATA cables?
Yes, as you already know, motherboards come with SATA cables. If you are looking to buy a new motherboard, you can rest assured that it will come with the necessary SATA data cables to connect your drives.
At this point, I want to remind you that a SATA device needs two types of SATA cables to function. One is the SATA data cable, and the other is the SATA power cable.
The data cable is used to connect your SATA drives to the SATA ports on the motherboard. This is the only way to pass information between the two devices. This is the SATA cable you will get with your motherboard. You will get 2 to 4 SATA data cables with your motherboard, so if you plan on adding more SATA devices in the future, you will not need to buy more cables.
On the other hand, the SATA power cables are used to provide power to your SATA drives. This is a cable that doesn’t come with your motherboard but with your PSU.
What does the SATA cable look like?
Now that you know if motherboards come with SATA cables or not, you might be wondering what these cables look like.
The SATA data cable is a thin and long cable. It comes in many colors and has a 7-pin L-shaped connector on each end.
The SATA power connector is a 15-pin cable that is part of the power supply unit. It is wide and flat and has a distinguishable shape.
Related Article: What Cables Do I Need For SSD?
Different Types of SATA cables
Now that we have made it clear that motherboards come with SATA cables, I would like to talk to you about the different types of SATA cables you might encounter. These cables can be classified in many ways, but we will only talk about the most important ones.
The first classification is based on the physical shape of the cable. There are two types of SATA cables, straight and angled.
Straight SATA Cables
The straight SATA cables are the most common and are the ones that come with your motherboard. As the name implies, these cables have straight connectors on each end. One of the advantages of using these cables is that they are easier to route through your case. The downside is that they can make it difficult to connect in tight spaces.
Angled SATA Cables
The angled SATA cables are less common; the only difference between them and the straight cables is that they have angled connectors on each end. The advantage of using these cables is that they are easier to connect in tight spaces. The downside is that they can be more difficult to route through your case.
The second classification is based on generation. There are three generations of SATA cables, SATA 1.0, SATA 2.0, and SATA 3.0. While all these cables are physically the same, they have different transfer rates.
SATA 1.0 Cables
The first generation of SATA cables was released in 2003, along with the SATA 1.0 specification. These cables have a data transfer rate of 1.5 Gb/s (which is the same as 150 MB/s).
SATA 2.0 Cables
The second generation of SATA cables was released in 2008 along with the SATA 2.0 specification. These cables have a data transfer rate of 3 Gb/s (which is the same as 300 MB/s).
SATA 3.0 Cables
The third generation of SATA cables was released in 2011 along with the SATA 3.0 specification. These cables have a data transfer rate of 6 Gb/s (which is the same as 600 MB/s).
To be honest, you shouldn’t care much about the SATA generation when you are buying a new motherboard. This is because all new motherboards come with SATA 3.0 cables that are backward compatible with SATA 2.0 and SATA 1.0 devices.
Related Article: How To Identify SATA 1 2 3?
Other cables that you connect to your motherboard
As I told you, we will also talk about other cables that you will connect to your motherboard and analyze if they come with it or if you have to buy them separately.
CPU Power Cable
The first one is the CPU power cable, which is also known as the 4+4 pin EPS connector or the 8-pin ATX connector. This cable provides power to the CPU. It is a thick black cable that comes with your power supply.
24 Pin ATX Connector (Motherboard Power Supply)
The second cable we are going to talk about is the 24-pin ATX connector. This is a wide and flat cable that provides power to the motherboard. It also comes with your power supply.
PCIe Power Cables
The PCIe power cables are used to provide power to your PCIe devices such as GPUs. These cables come in different sizes: 6 pins, 8 pins, and 12 pins. You will find these cables in your power supply unit. If you want to know more about PCIe cables, read our article “What is a PCIe cable and what it is used for.”
Front Panel Connector cables
The next cables are the Front Panel Connector (FPC) cables. These are used to connect the buttons and LEDs on your case to the motherboard. These cables are part of your case.
HDMI Cables
The HDMI cables are used to connect your motherboard to a monitor. You will need these cables or similar cables such as DisplayPort or VFA if you want a working display. These cables don’t come with the motherboard but with the monitor.
Ethernet Cables
The Ethernet cable is used to connect your motherboard to the internet using an Ethernet connection. While almost all motherboards come with an Ethernet port, the cable doesn’t come with the motherboard.
Main Power Cable
The last cable we are going to talk about is the Main Power Cable. This is the cable that provides power to your power supply. It is a thick cable that comes with your power supply.
FAQ
Does My PC Come With a SATA Cable?
If you buy a pre-built PC, it will come with a SATA cable. If you build your own PC, then the SATA cable will come with your motherboard.
You can also buy SATA cables separately if you need more than the ones that come with your motherboard or pre-built PC.
What Cables Come With A Motherboard?
Most of your computer’s cables will come with other components such as the power supply, case, or monitor. The only cables that come with your motherboard are the SATA data cables, and maybe some led extension cables if your motherboard has RGB.
Do New Hard Drives Come With SATA Cables?
No, new hard drives do not come with SATA cables. As you already know, SATA cables come with motherboards.
How Many SATA Cables Does A PC Come With?
Your motherboards will come with 2 to 4 SATA cables. If you need more, then you can buy them separately.
Conclusion
In this article, we talked about if motherboards come with SATA cables and what other cables you need for your motherboard. We also discussed the different SATA cable types and their data transfer rates.