this post was submitted on 11 Feb 2024
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PC Master Race

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Hello everyone, I'm doing some box cleaning and I found a bunch of cables which I'll ask for your help for identification, if you don't mind 🙃

So, as the title says, how do you call this cable?


Thank you!

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[–] [email protected] 17 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

No, don't throw them away. You can definitely replace one with another if all the wire colors match and the wires are thick enough and by a reputable brand (so that it's actual copper). But yes, 4-, 6- and 8-pin Molex connectors have at least 2 different possible pinouts, the 24-pin one should be standard.

But if you're naïve and think they're plug-and-play, you'll be playing with a plug-and-fire setup. Most of such swaps will cause a short circuit, in which case fuses or electronic protection will probably trip before the cable insulation starts burning (if the copper is thick enough to sustain 100 A for a second and not heat up by 200 °C). However, pretty much no PC components have polarity protection so you will need to go shopping for an entirely new build.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 9 months ago (1 children)

I'm not one the throw things away, but please don't reuse them if you don't know what your doing.

The PSU end of PSU cables are usually different from brand to brand, sometimes model to model (thanks Corsair), so yeah as long as the pinout matches you should be fine, but I usually wouldn't risk it. Oh the cables are usually all black too, so good luck toneing it out with a multimeter.

For example Corsair vs Seasonic, pay attention to the PSU side:

Corsair Type 4 Pinout

Seasonic Pinout

[–] [email protected] 4 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Yeah, check any documentation available and even check which pins are connected to the same voltage rails. In this case, common sense says that the GPU most likely be fine as long as it uses less than 2/3 the rated power of the cable but any drives will pop.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago

Thanks for the info, everyone!