Hey everyone! Just a quick educational video on an important topic. You can quickly learn this information in our article, if you prefer! www.gamersnexus.net/guides/2702-psa-on-mixing-modular-psu-cables-dont-do-it
The extension ones should work on all as it literally is a 1:1 pin-out and extension. Typically, the full replacement custom sleeved cables will specify which PSU it is meant for usually sold in a kit.
Great video, there should definitly be a standard for the cables on the psu side as well. This would also benefit cable shops for the custom sleeved cables, as they could potentially offer much higher colour variety.
Hey everyone, it's BS Mods! They're amazing. Go check them out. And yes. The black sleeving is nice visually, but it's nice to have the colors for certainty.
I don't understand why this can't be standard. If I have a 6 pin to 6 pin cable for example, the wires should just be straight thru. The F plug on the psu should match the F plug on the device. Otherwise, use a completely nonstandard connector on the psu. I fried an SSD over this crap.
This must be a standard. WTF is this crap.. If they use another 6-pin configuration then it must be NOT compatible with the standardized 6-pin connector.
Hi guys, thanks for this video. So I just bought a Seasonic TX1000 to replace with my Corsair HX750. I called a friend who said you can definitely use the same cables, but there was one cable that didnt fit so I ended up thinking something was off. So I ended up changing all the cables just to be sure... However there was one SATA splitter that would be a huge job to get out, so I left it and thought ”well, a SATA is a SATA...”. I turned on my computer and was happy how everything worked first try. Suddenly after about 5-10 seconds I feel a smell of burned plastic, I witness a FIRE in my SATA powered fan hub, and smoke coming through all fan cables. Luckily I was able to pull out my power chord quickly, and my computer still works - however the voltage regulator on most fan cables are toast, and the computer is having issues to boot sometimes... This PSU was my final piece of my dream PC and I looked forward on finally taking it for a spin - and now instead I’m looking at spending hundreds of dollars, including a new Motherboard. I’m so surprised how this was not more clear in the manual or in the community in general - I even googled it before and it seemed fine. GUYS dont mess around with PSU cables - use the one that comes with the PSU, otherwise you’ll end up looking like an idiot like me... :(
Still mind blown your channel doesn't have +500k, with all the detailed videos I literally binged through.Time to start throwing your channel name around.
I can't believe that this is the ONLY video about this topic! I didn't know about this when I built my latest system. I ended up using a Silverstone PCIE cable on my EVGA PSU for numerous reasons. It fits the socket on the PSU. Everything seems to be working fine, but I have decided to go back to the original flat EVGA cable, and use a PCIE extension cable to complete the run.
This video was very timely, I just bought my first modular PSU. Thanks a bunch for taking the time to let everyone know the potential issues. I will definitely bag my cables, and maybe even label them individually.
I am confounded by the lack of subscribers for this channel (well 73k isn't exactly nothing). I've been a Linus Tech Tips sub for years and I've found that I'm learning a hell of a lot more about tech from this channel and actually hardcore overclocking. love your stuff guys :)
thanks for the perspective; so it's taken them about 6 years to reach nearly 2mm subscribers, though idk what to do with that info now that I want to start my own channel
It is a PSA, but it's coincidentally immediately after Salazar (forrmerly YT ScienceStudio) worked with GN to understand the problem with his blown systems due to incorrect cabling of a modular PSU. It's just a coincidence :)
Lord Casodi ........yea, Gamers Nexus are the ones that pointed out Salazar's oversight in making videos blaming nzxt before truly tracing down the real problem and hurting nzxt's bottom line.
Well I said it on his channel but apart from responding to the smallest of points, he veered clear of the main point, that if he were as adept as he claims to be, checking a resistor and being certain of your conclusions before doing something so irresponsible seems.... well... The obvious thing to do. That being said, I attempted to talk to him and he would only speak to how it was a simple cable swap (which I has already conceded) but again, would Not say anything further and told me to block him...I assume that he blocked me because he never replied to me after his first comment that side stepped mine. It seems everyone is just so "impressed" with the "guts" it took for the rich kid to do what he was at that point legally bound to do. Anyone could have made that mistake... ANYONE.... but not just ANYONE would have made a play for views and subs and made 3 videos based on an extremely questionable "diagnosis" . I frankly see more praiseworthy character in someone that DOESN'T hurt someone else because they were thorough and more conservative in their approach.... Than to big up someone's ego by telling them how adult they are because they were reckless in their accusations and now have to "apologize".
Good advice. I would also add that never ever work on computers when you are tired or burnt out. That is the time when you can make expensive mistakes. Go take a nap or such and come back fresh.
Good point. I built a rather large system recently and it was a big job, taking several hours at the end of a long day. I got only one thing wrong because I was tired... forgot to connect the power up to the CPU pump. (There were so many cables running in there that I though I had clicked them all together.) The CPU hit almost 100 degrees by the time I entered the bios menu after the first post. Fortunately I spotted this straight away - before any damage was done. I went straight to bed without installing Windows!
Just a general PSA :) We have done these before, if anyone likes this format! Here's a good one on fake DVI cables: ruclips.net/video/4lwwO-eNJPc/видео.html (Wow. 2013!)
I think that many people would assume if it fits in the PSU plug it works. Most people don't have enough PSUs to make the mistake. It is a shame how NZXT got in the crossfire however. He did apologize and presumably took down the videos. The issue for NZXT was short lived and had limited viewing.
In Serbia there are not many modular cables makers , so I got one from my friends suggestion and got what I wanted . Man is working on it in last 4 years and he knows for which psu to make right cables !!!! I bought black-red cables for my Seasonic Focus GX-750 !!!!
What a coincidence... I just so happen to be upgrading from a 750 Ti to a Strix 1060, but I lost the original PCIE 6+2 cable that came with my Corsair PSU at some point a year or two ago and bought a Silverstone PCIE cable around the same time thinking it would work. Good thing this video came along, otherwise I'd be losing my shit trying to understand why the cable doesn't fit into the PSU and what could go wrong even if it did fit. So big thanks to GN for allowing me to keep what little sanity I have left. Shame that I can't play with my Strix just yet, but it's better than having a dead PC.
John Gray Exactly, I think so, too. I saw one guy on the apology video say that he bought a hue+ just to support NZXT. With how cool they were during the process, and Greg showing his audience that, it may very well have increased sales in the end.
It is a shame how NZXT got in the crossfire however. He did apologize and presumably took down the offending videos. The issue for NZXT was short lived and had limited viewing. Most who saw the first would have watched the second. I doubt the impact was that bad!
He doesn't have too many, but he has more than 5 for sure and probably MUCH less the GN. Check out Salizar's studio tour and inventory video shots a few months back where you can see the piles of "stuff" he has around through purchase or for review. His organization was not perfect apparently, and he just reached for a cord. I think that many people would assume if it fits in the PSU it works.
"he is clearly not on the same level as Steve" Noone is on Steve's level, though. But yeah, Salazar is definately not the most tech-savvy tech-youtuber and is also quick to blame companies for his own mistakes. Remember his RX 480 budget build, where the RX480 fried his Board? Any halfway recent Motherboard wouldn't have gotten fried and there are a lot of GPUs out there that would also have fried his particular Board, but he put it as though AMD made a huge oversight, while it just wasn't a good idea to build a high-performance gaming-PC with a power-hungry 250$ GPU around a five years old 20$ MOBO.
Agreed that he is not at Steve's level, but I would respectfully disagree with the MB/GPU comment. Yes, there are better MBs out there and that was an OLD board, but the RX 480 was supposed to be a less-power hungry (turned out not so much) lower cost alternative for 1080P gaming. Those that would purchase this would not have the latest and greatest MB/HW but would typically try to put that card as an upgrade into older machines to improve FPS. I thought the test was legitimate unless the MB was known to be a problem; which I don't think it was.
Matt McGregor would you really put 250$ GPU into a 20$ PSU? I think that's adventurous, to say the least. However, The 75W limit only exists on paper today and other cards, like the GTX 750(ti, was it?), the 960 strix and the 950 slot powered card and about any manually overclocked card also exceeds that limit. Thus I'd rather blame the MOBO. After all, what CPU is there on AM2, that wouldn't be a huge bottleneck to the RX 480? I think he cheaped out way to much on the MOBO Of course it would've been better if the RX480 had an 8-Pin to not cause this issue, but saying this is solely AMDs fault and you shouldn't buy the reference card because it this, like he did, was way over the top
Well it probably was not $20 when someone bought it new 5-6 years ago. You would have to talk to Brian @ Tech City about that. He lives for that kind of "score"; though typically he would use a $20 GPU. I have a 6 year old machine (I7 950 DDR3) with a very old power supply. I dropped in a 1070 for testing and benchmarking against a 1070 in my recent SkyLake build. That would have been the upgrade machine if I did not just bite the bullet and built a new one. The PSU in that older machine is probably worth $20 at best now. It's not even 80+ rated. People without the funds might only have enough for a new GPU and if the PSU has a 6-Pin (or extra molex) ... they will do it.
The only time this is an issue is if you have multiple modular PSU's or you are changing out PSU's. You just need to be able to separate the old and the new and label them. I will say that until this issue came up on youtube I wouldn't have know about it so for me at least his mistake was educational.
Here in 2022 I learned this lesson the hard way. Wish I had seen this video back in 2016. Just burnt out my Corsair Sp Lighting Controller. Definitely could have been a worse component, but the smoke coming from it when I turned on my computer was not a pleasant experience.
ALLLLmost screwed this up recently between EVGA and Antec - glad I took a closer look because they WILL plug in with no modification but whew boy would it have blown stuff up...
Also remove all the old PSU modular cables and bag them if you're replacing it with another modular PSU even if it's the same brand! Discovered this very issue when the first modular PSU I had, an Antec, died. Fortunately it was physically impossible to interchange cables from the old PSU to the 3yrs newer Antec PSU!
Just a heads up. Corsair pretty much use an internally universal wiring scheme for their connector on the PSU. Propably to avoid producing a large range of replacement kits. This is a pretty nice bonus for us consumers assuming you own 2-3 computers as you can replace cables from one unit with those of another. So a couple of other questions: - For those of us over seas is there a good place to pick up molex connectors (ideally from asia) in order for us to make custom sleeved cables. - Assuming you don't have the connector you need for any given PSU can you do a check to probe your connector on the PSU side. I would guess having a single cable where the ground cable is known might help you find the right cable via voltage detection, or will that short the PSU causing damage? - What's the best wire to use. I'm guessing the 5V and 12V respectively can use different wires, but assuming you just wan't to go the easy route and order one type which rating/cross section should it have? Thanks in advance for any help :)
Is the wiring really the same for all corsair PSU series? Because cablemod for example sells two different types of cables for different corsair PSU series, so it seems they used diffferent pinouts
LRM12o8 They may have two sets, but at least they are standardised. I have used mine interchangeably between 3-4 year old units and brand new once. Please note that for the older once compatibility was not listed on the replacement kit, but Corsair support confirmed that they were basically the same. I believe the cable set only listed their latest iteration of the same PSU that I had.
***** Thank you. This is really useful. No I just need to find some shop (preferably online and in china) that sells the actual molex connectors I need :)
Thank's for the information, it's much appreciated. I'll save me the trouble, however and just gonna stick with my non-modular PSU and use some custom sleeved cablemod extensions. That's mainly for cost reasons and since every case now has a basement with PSU shroud you can't see it anyway. ;-)
And of course EVGA uses their own standard that is opposite of this so using a corsair cable will fry you components. YAY! Thanks EVGA, your bullshit just fried an SSD and HDD. And of course the warning about using different cables was in small red print below another warning, and was worded to sound like some boilerplate liability statement. PUT THE WARNING IN BIG LETTERS AND SPELL OUT WHY YOU SHOULD LISTEN, TELL ME YOUR PINS ARE DIFFERENT! Modular should mean modular, the damn connectors on the end are standardized why in the fuck wouldn't the plug be standard? This is like making something with a wall plug but making ground positive and neutral ground and expecting people to know not to plug it into the wall!
What would be nice is if PSU manufacturers would change the keying on the slots to match the power being output from that pin. So a fully square slot could be a ground wire. Top left corner cut off could be the +5v, both top corners +12v, top right corner +3.3v, and then bottom corners could represent negatives of those same numbers. (e.g., bottom left -5v) With this layout, a 3.3v and 5v could never be inserted into anything but their own slot or a ground slot. A 12v however could be inserted into any of those slots and end up being undervolted. I think it's too late to make this change as a universal standard. Too many components rely on backwards compatibility. Since there's 4 corners to choose from, there's actually 16 different variations that could be used to indicate exactly what that wire is being used for. That's more than enough even for the pin layout on the 24pin connector since there's many repeats.
I watched this video a while back and thought, how strange. Well, I just hit this problem on a system with an EVGA PSU that wouldn't boot up when I connected a fan controller. Of course I was making multiple changes so it took a while to isolate to attaching the controller's molex cable for power. After going through the stages of denial I remembered this video. Thanks. I'd suggest calling out unlabeled cables for modular power supplies as an area for improvement in reviews... Also can we just stop with the Molex.
This is why cable mod NEEDS to know what PSU you want custom cables for. Those are not interchangeable either. Extensions are a safer bet but have probably made people think anything will work.
Does anyone know a reputable sight to buy modular cables specific to a PSU? I recently bought a used PC and a few of the unused cables did not come with it, but I would like to have them for future use.
Yeah I went and looked there when I first noticed they were missing, I didnt see my model number so I am going to assume my PSU is a bit older and no longer catered to. (Corsair TX650M)
noted so if I don't have the cables for the current power supply(750w) I'm using in my pc and instead using ones for the 650w that is the same brand/model in this case evgas GQ 750w and 650w power supplies. would it be a better idea to buy a new power supply and start fresh if I can't order cables from evga for the 750w power supply? I'm still pretty new to pc building.
You could order custom cables from a reputable third part source like cablemod. They need to ask you for what power supply. Even cheaper would be to check the pin out or take the power supply and cables to someone who can do that for you. If you are building your own computer you should know how to do that. DO NOT take the cover off you PSU unless you really know what you are doing. Building computers maybe be like lego but lego with electricity.
you can often pretty trivially depin modular psu cables and reconfigure them to match your new power supply. I've done this a few times making my old antec cables match newer power supplies.
I think I just killed two SSD drives 2 TB each when I replaced my PSU 😫. I left the cable that came with my computer and I plugged it in a SATA slot available in the new PSU. My computer wouldn’t start until I disconnected this cable, then replaced it with the one that came with the new PSU and removed the two SSD, I tried a different HDD and it works fine but if I connect any of the SSD it doesn’t start. Any way I can fix this? Did I really killed my SSD? 🥺
I was wondering how this happens so I looked at a PCI-E cable. I was thinking well one end is standard and other is not but also the wires are always straight and don't cross but they actually do... right at the PSU end. At the PSU end they all cross and go to whatever pin it's supposed to on the PSU. Why don't they match the standard from one end to the other?
Help!!! Umm so i use a third party pcie cable and plug it into the psu, the system starts for a second then turns off. My psu has light indicators when there is power but now there is nothing at all. I tried to off and on and check everything but nothing seems to work. Please help
I wish I had seen this earlier... I've been going BONKERS these last few days because of exactly this! I was using different psu cables on the wrong PSUs. I was building custom gaming PCs and they kept rebooting non-stop continuously. I was very fortunate that the devices I had connected to it did not fry! And the only issue was that BIOS would not POST. Once I had removed the extra psu cables everything came up just fine. With these newer Semi-Modular PSUs it's so easy to mix up the cables too because you can't identify the wire colors because they're all black. On models like, EVGA, Cooler Master, Corsair, etc.. Going forward going I'll be labeling all my PSU cables so that they never get connected to the wrong PSU.
I ran into this problem recently about a month ago. I did some appearance upgrades to my PC and bought some new cable mod cables, plugged them into my thermaltake psu and I heard the psu beep. Confused as I was because I’ve never heard a psu beep and no power was pushed to the system. googled it and nothing was out there on this problem, nothing in the manual just emptiness on the internet. It took me 2 hours of trouble shooting to come to the conclusion that I should check the cables and plug the previous ones in, and sure as shit it was the cables.
This happened to me, where I used a molex connector from my old PSU to a new one. I thought its standardized why I did it, however I did not know that the PSU side configurations were different. Good thing the device I am connecting is only a lighting system.. so I burned my RGB lighting.. however I am lucky as only the ground wire and connector where burnt.
Wait I cannot figure how it can possibly happen. Gpus all have the same connector layout. That means you either need to have an exact same layout on a psu, or re-arrange channels but then you have to crisscross wires inside the cable sleeve, so that you get a correct output in the end. Who on earth (and why?!) would go for the second approach?
I have two power supplies, two different manufacturers (corsair and evga) and both have standard shaped plugs and identical color and sleeving (all black, same material) so its next to impossible to tell them apart, and none of the cables are cross compatible
im have to disagree with manufacturers not standardizing. a 6pin connector is pinned for a specific set up. if you wanna move it. spend the 5 cents each on connectors to have them keyed properly. id spend 5 bucks to make sure it was right
This might be an issue with some manufacturers. Most of the reputable ones ( Seasonic, EVGA, Corsiar, Antec, etc ) label cables and connectors properly so you see where something is meant to be connected. Why there isnt color standard for connectors is beyond me. This could be solved easily as you can either color insides of connectors, or add colored line on top of the connector.
I just made a noob mistake transferring parts from an old case to a new. Wanted to use an 850W changing from a 750W, problem was I was missing the fan cables, so my stupidity came up using one of the fan cables from my 1000W then something from the motherboard started smoking and immediately disconnected the power. Thankfully, being ASUS motherboard, everything seems to be working when I used the 750W brick again-now the questionnaire: I wonder if I truly damaged something as I could not determine where the smoke originated?
So this is not something you have to worry about with extension cables right? I assume that all the cables dont cross into different spots and go to the same spot on the other end of the atx connector?
can we not just swap the wires around to match up with the power supply as if a / b should be b/a then swap over to b/a and then you have a cable that can now work with that power supply ? Thanks for all your hard work sorry for the daft question :( thanks
Wow, this kinda blew my mind! Who the eff would actually use a standard connector and Not connect the pins according to standard!!! The engineers responsible for that should not be working in this field anymore. Non-standard pinouts on PSU's should mean those PSU's can not be sold. it is unsafe. They want you to use "their" brand cables, they can bloody well use a different connector for it. I can guarantee you that 99,9% of everyone building a computer wouldn't even suspect the standard connector wouldn't have standard pin-outs. The other 0,1% probably learned it the hard and expensive way. A quick PSA is .. just not enough. you guy's should be blacklisting any PSU's doing this, and display a list of PSU's to avoid. with skulls and crossbones.
did you not watch the video at all? do you fail to understand what the point of a standard is? When a manufacturer uses 8 pin PCIe connectors in PSU, and does not follow standard pinouts, and does NOT label the cable as a non-standard cable. What do you think will happen when someone tries to build a PC and uses their own custom sleeved cables or simply need a longer cable? Standards are there for a reason, so that we can safely use any parts we want to build or repair a PC. it's that simple. If manufacturers wants to have their own special pinouts, they should use their own connectors for it, not rewire established standard connectors.
Is this video for those who use cables for one psu branch into another different? or what? because psu has layout for every cable so you connect them correctly, also theyre have different pins so you cant connect it wrong
So if I buy custom cables, do I have to change the pins so that the part that goes into the PSU and the part that goes into the component has the correct layout respectively?
So basically in short terms, just use the cables that match the power supply. Like don't use a powerchord from X to put in with Y, just use Y psu and the Y powerchord Am I right?
I saw someone wrecking an x99 because of this! I feel sorry for him! He learned from the mistake i learn from the video. Ive learned even more from this video thank you! And what about cable mods with sleevings? If cable plugs are universal and cable placements are not, choosing a custom cable for my rig will be not so cheap or simple as i thought.
I have many corsair Hx and Txm power supplys ranging from 650 -1050w and they all seem to be compatible as the connectors say "HX/TXM ONLY". Any idea if I am wrong?
Best just to first check with a multi-meter any way. I've received wrong-pin-out PCIe cables included with enthusiast power supplies, and I've also had dud rails on some brand new server units (+6v on the +5v rail, etc). And don't get me started with the aluminum wires with copper connector pins. There is no such thing as an infallible Power supply manufacturer, they All have some spectacular junk these days.
So not all cables run parallel with one another, some cross and land on a different pin than they started? Right? Seems crazy that wouldn't be the case, which is why it took me so long to figure this out, otherwise it'd be the case that devices could receive any arbitrary voltage or polarity and be able to route and utilize it however it needed to.
RIP my SSD and HDD. The worst part Is I mixed my PSU cables up cause I was unaware of this issue. So now Idk what cables go to my old PSU and my new PSU.
i have a fully modular power supply a Cooler Master MWW 750w gold , i need an extra eps 4+4 pin Cable for the mother board, can i use a Corsaire eps 4+4 pin cable insted?
What did I fry on my motherboard ? the Ryzen processor ? or much more ? Would the 24-pin connector, be totally different too ? My motherboard still has the LED logo ? Is the motherboard salvageable ? Does that mean the PSU is okay ?
These mistakes can be really costly! Just a heads up; a friend of mine used the wrong cable from a peripheral socket on PSU to sata power on a DVD drive. Result? Not quite what you expect: DVD drive burnt something, allowed reverse current through the PSU and ended up frying the CPU and motherboard socket. Seriously, never use cables unless you know 100% they are the correct ones.
"Why are those not standardized?" - "Some Men just want to watch the PC burn!"
Hey everyone! Just a quick educational video on an important topic. You can quickly learn this information in our article, if you prefer! www.gamersnexus.net/guides/2702-psa-on-mixing-modular-psu-cables-dont-do-it
Hey Steve nice video. Didn't know that the PSU cables are not universal. But does this goes for these custom made sleeved (colorful) cables?!?
Georgi Nedyalkov there are 2 kind of sleeved cables. extension and full replacement. extensions are compatible with all psu model.
Been there, done that. My PC just wouldn't turn on.
The extension ones should work on all as it literally is a 1:1 pin-out and extension. Typically, the full replacement custom sleeved cables will specify which PSU it is meant for usually sold in a kit.
Great video, there should definitly be a standard for the cables on the psu side as well. This would also benefit cable shops for the custom sleeved cables, as they could potentially offer much higher colour variety.
I support this message. Its even harder to tell when you have the black "ribbon style" cables from many PSU suppliers
Hey everyone, it's BS Mods! They're amazing. Go check them out.
And yes. The black sleeving is nice visually, but it's nice to have the colors for certainty.
oh ...those are the guys from that one scrapyard wars episode from Linus...
SUBBED
Thanks :)
I don't understand why this can't be standard. If I have a 6 pin to 6 pin cable for example, the wires should just be straight thru. The F plug on the psu should match the F plug on the device. Otherwise, use a completely nonstandard connector on the psu. I fried an SSD over this crap.
I have too Blue smoke is bad, so now i have a 120gb coaster.
This must be a standard. WTF is this crap.. If they use another 6-pin configuration then it must be NOT compatible with the standardized 6-pin connector.
DavidFrostbite sheer stupid laziness
proprietary greed
I'm sure Cablemod doesn't care, that's for sure...
Yep, that -8V example is exactly what happened to Greg from Salazar Studio! :D
Hi guys, thanks for this video. So I just bought a Seasonic TX1000 to replace with my Corsair HX750. I called a friend who said you can definitely use the same cables, but there was one cable that didnt fit so I ended up thinking something was off. So I ended up changing all the cables just to be sure... However there was one SATA splitter that would be a huge job to get out, so I left it and thought ”well, a SATA is a SATA...”. I turned on my computer and was happy how everything worked first try. Suddenly after about 5-10 seconds I feel a smell of burned plastic, I witness a FIRE in my SATA powered fan hub, and smoke coming through all fan cables. Luckily I was able to pull out my power chord quickly, and my computer still works - however the voltage regulator on most fan cables are toast, and the computer is having issues to boot sometimes... This PSU was my final piece of my dream PC and I looked forward on finally taking it for a spin - and now instead I’m looking at spending hundreds of dollars, including a new Motherboard. I’m so surprised how this was not more clear in the manual or in the community in general - I even googled it before and it seemed fine. GUYS dont mess around with PSU cables - use the one that comes with the PSU, otherwise you’ll end up looking like an idiot like me... :(
I have only one modular psu, very good to know before I screw it up. this channel is very informative, thanks man. I love technical videos.
I can't imagine what prompted this video ;P
Exactly what I was thinking. +1
Oh boy, here we go :D
NZXT HUE+ ????
HUE+
No huein clue
Still mind blown your channel doesn't have +500k, with all the detailed videos I literally binged through.Time to start throwing your channel name around.
Not enough Linux content to get more subs.
7 year later they have!
I can't believe that this is the ONLY video about this topic! I didn't know about this when I built my latest system. I ended up using a Silverstone PCIE cable on my EVGA PSU for numerous reasons. It fits the socket on the PSU. Everything seems to be working fine, but I have decided to go back to the original flat EVGA cable, and use a PCIE extension cable to complete the run.
This video was very timely, I just bought my first modular PSU. Thanks a bunch for taking the time to let everyone know the potential issues. I will definitely bag my cables, and maybe even label them individually.
I am confounded by the lack of subscribers for this channel (well 73k isn't exactly nothing). I've been a Linus Tech Tips sub for years and I've found that I'm learning a hell of a lot more about tech from this channel and actually hardcore overclocking. love your stuff guys :)
not enough memes and fuckery here, it's aimed for older teenage enthusiasts and adults. linus' target audience is children.
thanks for the perspective; so it's taken them about 6 years to reach nearly 2mm subscribers, though idk what to do with that info now that I want to start my own channel
this smells like Salazar Studio magic smoke
It was. Salazar admitted it and posted a video about GN/NZXT helping identify the actual PSU cabling problem.
LC 7INEO it's just a general psa.. ffs people read the description..
It is a PSA, but it's coincidentally immediately after Salazar (forrmerly YT ScienceStudio) worked with GN to understand the problem with his blown systems due to incorrect cabling of a modular PSU. It's just a coincidence :)
Matt McGregor ..I already knew that, anybody who follows salazar studio would know(why'd he change his name anyway... I like the previous one...)
+Bashir Wada Because hes really bad at taking a scientific approach to things.
Reminds me of Salazar Studio.
Lord Casodi ........yea, Gamers Nexus are the ones that pointed out Salazar's oversight in making videos blaming nzxt before truly tracing down the real problem and hurting nzxt's bottom line.
Came here to say this. Damn you lol.
Well I said it on his channel but apart from responding to the smallest of points, he veered clear of the main point, that if he were as adept as he claims to be, checking a resistor and being certain of your conclusions before doing something so irresponsible seems.... well... The obvious thing to do. That being said, I attempted to talk to him and he would only speak to how it was a simple cable swap (which I has already conceded) but again, would Not say anything further and told me to block him...I assume that he blocked me because he never replied to me after his first comment that side stepped mine. It seems everyone is just so "impressed" with the "guts" it took for the rich kid to do what he was at that point legally bound to do. Anyone could have made that mistake... ANYONE.... but not just ANYONE would have made a play for views and subs and made 3 videos based on an extremely questionable "diagnosis" .
I frankly see more praiseworthy character in someone that DOESN'T hurt someone else because they were thorough and more conservative in their approach.... Than to big up someone's ego by telling them how adult they are because they were reckless in their accusations and now have to "apologize".
I'm not even surprised. He seems like the kinda person to do that.
It just made me cringe more and more when he constantly tried to turn on his PC. I just wanted to jump through the screen and be like stop!!!!
Good advice. I would also add that never ever work on computers when you are tired or burnt out. That is the time when you can make expensive mistakes. Go take a nap or such and come back fresh.
Yup, it's usually in the heat of the moment too when things aren't thought out too well (speaking from experience).
Good point. I built a rather large system recently and it was a big job, taking several hours at the end of a long day.
I got only one thing wrong because I was tired... forgot to connect the power up to the CPU pump.
(There were so many cables running in there that I though I had clicked them all together.)
The CPU hit almost 100 degrees by the time I entered the bios menu after the first post.
Fortunately I spotted this straight away - before any damage was done. I went straight to bed without installing Windows!
Is this related to the salazar studio incident?
Most likely
Just a general PSA :) We have done these before, if anyone likes this format! Here's a good one on fake DVI cables:
ruclips.net/video/4lwwO-eNJPc/видео.html
(Wow. 2013!)
Directly!
i was just about to ask that haha
I think that many people would assume if it fits in the PSU plug it works. Most people don't have enough PSUs to make the mistake. It is a shame how NZXT got in the crossfire however. He did apologize and presumably took down the videos. The issue for NZXT was short lived and had limited viewing.
In Serbia there are not many modular cables makers , so I got one from my friends suggestion and got what I wanted . Man is working on it in last 4 years and he knows for which psu to make right cables !!!! I bought black-red cables for my Seasonic Focus GX-750 !!!!
In 5 years this channel is going to have over 1 million subs. Calling it now.
TheLittleDetails CR Seeing techsource hit 1 million while GN sits under 100k is mind boggling.
AMEN! Techsource is sh%# and this is actually informative.
he's not bad but i guess it is completely different content
They ought to have at least more than the idiots nuking their own equipment
Only 4 year's to go.
Aha! The old Salazar Sizzle.
10/10, made me EFTN.
you guys rock... nice to see some smart, informative computer tips...
What a coincidence... I just so happen to be upgrading from a 750 Ti to a Strix 1060, but I lost the original PCIE 6+2 cable that came with my Corsair PSU at some point a year or two ago and bought a Silverstone PCIE cable around the same time thinking it would work. Good thing this video came along, otherwise I'd be losing my shit trying to understand why the cable doesn't fit into the PSU and what could go wrong even if it did fit. So big thanks to GN for allowing me to keep what little sanity I have left. Shame that I can't play with my Strix just yet, but it's better than having a dead PC.
Salzar somewhat ruining the reputation of the NZXT Hue+ because of his mistake in using the wrong cable is my guess as to why they made this video.
I think it probably increased their sales in the end
ratchet256 that's how I know that he used the wrong cable
He actually said that gamers nexus helped him figure out the issue. Or maybe it was NZXT reps that said that?
John Gray Exactly, I think so, too. I saw one guy on the apology video say that he bought a hue+ just to support NZXT. With how cool they were during the process, and Greg showing his audience that, it may very well have increased sales in the end.
It is a shame how NZXT got in the crossfire however. He did apologize and presumably took down the offending videos. The issue for NZXT was short lived and had limited viewing. Most who saw the first would have watched the second. I doubt the impact was that bad!
i feel like Patrick is being sarcastic the entire time. and i like it!
He's not! He just puts on his "teacher voice" for educational videos. Patrick teaches computer engineering topics at a local school.
Gamers Nexus that would be an awesome class!
I just don't understand how Salazar has so many subs and he is clearly not on the same level as Steve
He doesn't have too many, but he has more than 5 for sure and probably MUCH less the GN. Check out Salizar's studio tour and inventory video shots a few months back where you can see the piles of "stuff" he has around through purchase or for review. His organization was not perfect apparently, and he just reached for a cord. I think that many people would assume if it fits in the PSU it works.
"he is clearly not on the same level as Steve" Noone is on Steve's level, though.
But yeah, Salazar is definately not the most tech-savvy tech-youtuber and is also quick to blame companies for his own mistakes. Remember his RX 480 budget build, where the RX480 fried his Board? Any halfway recent Motherboard wouldn't have gotten fried and there are a lot of GPUs out there that would also have fried his particular Board, but he put it as though AMD made a huge oversight, while it just wasn't a good idea to build a high-performance gaming-PC with a power-hungry 250$ GPU around a five years old 20$ MOBO.
Agreed that he is not at Steve's level, but I would respectfully disagree with the MB/GPU comment. Yes, there are better MBs out there and that was an OLD board, but the RX 480 was supposed to be a less-power hungry (turned out not so much) lower cost alternative for 1080P gaming. Those that would purchase this would not have the latest and greatest MB/HW but would typically try to put that card as an upgrade into older machines to improve FPS. I thought the test was legitimate unless the MB was known to be a problem; which I don't think it was.
Matt McGregor would you really put 250$ GPU into a 20$ PSU? I think that's adventurous, to say the least.
However, The 75W limit only exists on paper today and other cards, like the GTX 750(ti, was it?), the 960 strix and the 950 slot powered card and about any manually overclocked card also exceeds that limit. Thus I'd rather blame the MOBO. After all, what CPU is there on AM2, that wouldn't be a huge bottleneck to the RX 480? I think he cheaped out way to much on the MOBO
Of course it would've been better if the RX480 had an 8-Pin to not cause this issue, but saying this is solely AMDs fault and you shouldn't buy the reference card because it this, like he did, was way over the top
Well it probably was not $20 when someone bought it new 5-6 years ago. You would have to talk to Brian @ Tech City about that. He lives for that kind of "score"; though typically he would use a $20 GPU. I have a 6 year old machine (I7 950 DDR3) with a very old power supply. I dropped in a 1070 for testing and benchmarking against a 1070 in my recent SkyLake build. That would have been the upgrade machine if I did not just bite the bullet and built a new one. The PSU in that older machine is probably worth $20 at best now. It's not even 80+ rated. People without the funds might only have enough for a new GPU and if the PSU has a 6-Pin (or extra molex) ... they will do it.
The only time this is an issue is if you have multiple modular PSU's or you are changing out PSU's. You just need to be able to separate the old and the new and label them. I will say that until this issue came up on youtube I wouldn't have know about it so for me at least his mistake was educational.
I never considered using other vendors cables with my power supply. Great content guys!
Here in 2022 I learned this lesson the hard way. Wish I had seen this video back in 2016. Just burnt out my Corsair Sp Lighting Controller. Definitely could have been a worse component, but the smoke coming from it when I turned on my computer was not a pleasant experience.
Never thought about this! Thanks for the information!
OK so, 4 years later, is this still a problem that there aren't connector standards for Modular PSUs?
ALLLLmost screwed this up recently between EVGA and Antec - glad I took a closer look because they WILL plug in with no modification but whew boy would it have blown stuff up...
Always unique content on this channel. I really enjoy it.
Hey guys, I have a modular PSU that has no PCI-e cables. How could I make one? I can’t seem to understand the pinout or diagram in the manual.
Thanks.
There are time when this feels like an SNL skit. Steve looks like he's going to break character and laugh.
I did not know this. This might be a life saver.
You guys are doing such incredible work. Keep it up!
Gamers Nexus is the best. The best.
Can i use corsair cx750m 3 pin power cord with xpg core reactor 750 watt psu?
This channel is underrated
Clint Eastwood sure knows how to stay young.
Also remove all the old PSU modular cables and bag them if you're replacing it with another modular PSU even if it's the same brand! Discovered this very issue when the first modular PSU I had, an Antec, died. Fortunately it was physically impossible to interchange cables from the old PSU to the 3yrs newer Antec PSU!
Up until now I've only ever had Antec PSU's so no issue's but thanks for the info guys!
Just a heads up. Corsair pretty much use an internally universal wiring scheme for their connector on the PSU. Propably to avoid producing a large range of replacement kits. This is a pretty nice bonus for us consumers assuming you own 2-3 computers as you can replace cables from one unit with those of another.
So a couple of other questions:
- For those of us over seas is there a good place to pick up molex connectors (ideally from asia) in order for us to make custom sleeved cables.
- Assuming you don't have the connector you need for any given PSU can you do a check to probe your connector on the PSU side. I would guess having a single cable where the ground cable is known might help you find the right cable via voltage detection, or will that short the PSU causing damage?
- What's the best wire to use. I'm guessing the 5V and 12V respectively can use different wires, but assuming you just wan't to go the easy route and order one type which rating/cross section should it have?
Thanks in advance for any help :)
Is the wiring really the same for all corsair PSU series?
Because cablemod for example sells two different types of cables for different corsair PSU series, so it seems they used diffferent pinouts
LRM12o8 They may have two sets, but at least they are standardised. I have used mine interchangeably between 3-4 year old units and brand new once. Please note that for the older once compatibility was not listed on the replacement kit, but Corsair support confirmed that they were basically the same. I believe the cable set only listed their latest iteration of the same PSU that I had.
***** Thank you. This is really useful. No I just need to find some shop (preferably online and in china) that sells the actual molex connectors I need :)
Thank's for the information, it's much appreciated.
I'll save me the trouble, however and just gonna stick with my non-modular PSU and use some custom sleeved cablemod extensions. That's mainly for cost reasons and since every case now has a basement with PSU shroud you can't see it anyway. ;-)
And of course EVGA uses their own standard that is opposite of this so using a corsair cable will fry you components. YAY! Thanks EVGA, your bullshit just fried an SSD and HDD. And of course the warning about using different cables was in small red print below another warning, and was worded to sound like some boilerplate liability statement. PUT THE WARNING IN BIG LETTERS AND SPELL OUT WHY YOU SHOULD LISTEN, TELL ME YOUR PINS ARE DIFFERENT!
Modular should mean modular, the damn connectors on the end are standardized why in the fuck wouldn't the plug be standard? This is like making something with a wall plug but making ground positive and neutral ground and expecting people to know not to plug it into the wall!
cc: SalazarStudio
I can't up vote this enough. This is extremely important information.
This must related to what happened to Salazar Studios and Hue+
What would be nice is if PSU manufacturers would change the keying on the slots to match the power being output from that pin. So a fully square slot could be a ground wire. Top left corner cut off could be the +5v, both top corners +12v, top right corner +3.3v, and then bottom corners could represent negatives of those same numbers. (e.g., bottom left -5v) With this layout, a 3.3v and 5v could never be inserted into anything but their own slot or a ground slot. A 12v however could be inserted into any of those slots and end up being undervolted.
I think it's too late to make this change as a universal standard. Too many components rely on backwards compatibility.
Since there's 4 corners to choose from, there's actually 16 different variations that could be used to indicate exactly what that wire is being used for. That's more than enough even for the pin layout on the 24pin connector since there's many repeats.
I watched this video a while back and thought, how strange. Well, I just hit this problem on a system with an EVGA PSU that wouldn't boot up when I connected a fan controller. Of course I was making multiple changes so it took a while to isolate to attaching the controller's molex cable for power. After going through the stages of denial I remembered this video. Thanks. I'd suggest calling out unlabeled cables for modular power supplies as an area for improvement in reviews... Also can we just stop with the Molex.
This is why cable mod NEEDS to know what PSU you want custom cables for. Those are not interchangeable either. Extensions are a safer bet but have probably made people think anything will work.
Does anyone know a reputable sight to buy modular cables specific to a PSU? I recently bought a used PC and a few of the unused cables did not come with it, but I would like to have them for future use.
We generally recommend straight from the manufacturer, as they often have replacement kits.
Gamers Nexus Thanks GN, I'll go have a look. Love the vids, keep it up!
CableMod
Yeah I went and looked there when I first noticed they were missing, I didnt see my model number so I am going to assume my PSU is a bit older and no longer catered to. (Corsair TX650M)
This is why I hate that modular PSU's usually don't have the pinouts defined. Also makes creating custom cabling more tedious then it should be.
It'd be great if they had the pin-out/coloring directly on the back of the PSU. Way too easy to make mistakes.
Salazar Studios, I guess, is the cause for this video. ;-)
I was really _really_ hoping youd show an example of a component exploding just to add to the effect. Its not to late to make a follow-up!
SoCalledDante He took them down
SoCalledDante Yeah took anything that talked bad about NZXT down
Simple but informative. Thanks for the heads-up guys!
Does this apply to non modular PSUs and cable extenders?
I know where this PSA came from. Some you tuber killed 2 rigs cause of this .
All we need is an industry standard for this.
Thanks GN!
Thanks for watching! Always good to see familiar names in the comments. ^SB
Gamers Nexus i watch all the videos you guys make. GN and PcPer are my go to channels!
so what if you take a cable from the same brand and model power supply just different wattage? would this still be a problem?
Yes. It definitely can be.
thank you.
noted so if I don't have the cables for the current power supply(750w) I'm using in my pc and instead using ones for the 650w that is the same brand/model in this case evgas GQ 750w and 650w power supplies. would it be a better idea to buy a new power supply and start fresh if I can't order cables from evga for the 750w power supply? I'm still pretty new to pc building.
3en6ie 3en6ie awesome thank you for the help.
You could order custom cables from a reputable third part source like cablemod. They need to ask you for what power supply. Even cheaper would be to check the pin out or take the power supply and cables to someone who can do that for you. If you are building your own computer you should know how to do that. DO NOT take the cover off you PSU unless you really know what you are doing.
Building computers maybe be like lego but lego with electricity.
you can often pretty trivially depin modular psu cables and reconfigure them to match your new power supply. I've done this a few times making my old antec cables match newer power supplies.
I think I just killed two SSD drives 2 TB each when I replaced my PSU 😫. I left the cable that came with my computer and I plugged it in a SATA slot available in the new PSU. My computer wouldn’t start until I disconnected this cable, then replaced it with the one that came with the new PSU and removed the two SSD, I tried a different HDD and it works fine but if I connect any of the SSD it doesn’t start. Any way I can fix this? Did I really killed my SSD? 🥺
I was wondering how this happens so I looked at a PCI-E cable. I was thinking well one end is standard and other is not but also the wires are always straight and don't cross but they actually do... right at the PSU end. At the PSU end they all cross and go to whatever pin it's supposed to on the PSU. Why don't they match the standard from one end to the other?
Brought to you by Salazar Studio....
Help!!! Umm so i use a third party pcie cable and plug it into the psu, the system starts for a second then turns off. My psu has light indicators when there is power but now there is nothing at all. I tried to off and on and check everything but nothing seems to work. Please help
I wish I had seen this earlier... I've been going BONKERS these last few days because of exactly this! I was using different psu cables on the wrong PSUs. I was building custom gaming PCs and they kept rebooting non-stop continuously. I was very fortunate that the devices I had connected to it did not fry! And the only issue was that BIOS would not POST. Once I had removed the extra psu cables everything came up just fine. With these newer Semi-Modular PSUs it's so easy to mix up the cables too because you can't identify the wire colors because they're all black. On models like, EVGA, Cooler Master, Corsair, etc.. Going forward going I'll be labeling all my PSU cables so that they never get connected to the wrong PSU.
I ran into this problem recently about a month ago. I did some appearance upgrades to my PC and bought some new cable mod cables, plugged them into my thermaltake psu and I heard the psu beep. Confused as I was because I’ve never heard a psu beep and no power was pushed to the system. googled it and nothing was out there on this problem, nothing in the manual just emptiness on the internet. It took me 2 hours of trouble shooting to come to the conclusion that I should check the cables and plug the previous ones in, and sure as shit it was the cables.
All components tested fine? I just did this with my Corsair 750 and wanted to know if there are any long term negatives.
hey bro is the new power supply working after the beep ? i need to know that please .
This happened to me, where I used a molex connector from my old PSU to a new one. I thought its standardized why I did it, however I did not know that the PSU side configurations were different. Good thing the device I am connecting is only a lighting system.. so I burned my RGB lighting.. however I am lucky as only the ground wire and connector where burnt.
Wait I cannot figure how it can possibly happen. Gpus all have the same connector layout. That means you either need to have an exact same layout on a psu, or re-arrange channels but then you have to crisscross wires inside the cable sleeve, so that you get a correct output in the end. Who on earth (and why?!) would go for the second approach?
Quality vid, good PSA. you guys are the best :)
What about custom cables from cablemods, etc
3en6ie 3en6ie but they are linear having all straight cables, no criss-cross and the psu connections are not standard but is standard for gpus
I have two power supplies, two different manufacturers (corsair and evga) and both have standard shaped plugs and identical color and sleeving (all black, same material) so its next to impossible to tell them apart, and none of the cables are cross compatible
im have to disagree with manufacturers not standardizing. a 6pin connector is pinned for a specific set up. if you wanna move it. spend the 5 cents each on connectors to have them keyed properly. id spend 5 bucks to make sure it was right
This might be an issue with some manufacturers. Most of the reputable ones ( Seasonic, EVGA, Corsiar, Antec, etc ) label cables and connectors properly so you see where something is meant to be connected.
Why there isnt color standard for connectors is beyond me. This could be solved easily as you can either color insides of connectors, or add colored line on top of the connector.
can i ask if i can use the psu cables of silverstone strider gold s 650w on silverstone strider gold s 750w because i lost the cables on 750w psu
I just made a noob mistake transferring parts from an old case to a new. Wanted to use an 850W changing from a 750W, problem was I was missing the fan cables, so my stupidity came up using one of the fan cables from my 1000W then something from the motherboard started smoking and immediately disconnected the power. Thankfully, being ASUS motherboard, everything seems to be working when I used the 750W brick again-now the questionnaire: I wonder if I truly damaged something as I could not determine where the smoke originated?
Small props to corsair for making their modular cables across different generations standard. Used them for a mining rig with no problems.
So this is not something you have to worry about with extension cables right? I assume that all the cables dont cross into different spots and go to the same spot on the other end of the atx connector?
Yeah, you'll be fine with extensions.
can we not just swap the wires around to match up with the power supply as if a / b should be b/a then swap over to b/a and then you have a cable that can now work with that power supply ?
Thanks for all your hard work sorry for the daft question :(
thanks
what if i lose my extra psu cables? how do i go about getting new ones?
Wow, this kinda blew my mind!
Who the eff would actually use a standard connector and Not connect the pins according to standard!!! The engineers responsible for that should not be working in this field anymore. Non-standard pinouts on PSU's should mean those PSU's can not be sold. it is unsafe. They want you to use "their" brand cables, they can bloody well use a different connector for it.
I can guarantee you that 99,9% of everyone building a computer wouldn't even suspect the standard connector wouldn't have standard pin-outs. The other 0,1% probably learned it the hard and expensive way.
A quick PSA is .. just not enough. you guy's should be blacklisting any PSU's doing this, and display a list of PSU's to avoid. with skulls and crossbones.
"There is no standard"
Feels good to be in the 0%. ;)
did you not watch the video at all? do you fail to understand what the point of a standard is?
When a manufacturer uses 8 pin PCIe connectors in PSU, and does not follow standard pinouts, and does NOT label the cable as a non-standard cable.
What do you think will happen when someone tries to build a PC and uses their own custom sleeved cables or simply need a longer cable?
Standards are there for a reason, so that we can safely use any parts we want to build or repair a PC. it's that simple.
If manufacturers wants to have their own special pinouts, they should use their own connectors for it, not rewire established standard connectors.
will a Dr Power detect this? and if you test a psu with mismatched cables, will it fry the Dr Power itself during the test?
Is this video for those who use cables for one psu branch into another different? or what? because psu has layout for every cable so you connect them correctly, also theyre have different pins so you cant connect it wrong
would it matter if i have a corsair cx450m and a cx550m and mix the cables?
So if I buy custom cables, do I have to change the pins so that the part that goes into the PSU and the part that goes into the component has the correct layout respectively?
thanks, didn't know this at all. It thought it is standardised!
So basically in short terms, just use the cables that match the power supply.
Like don't use a powerchord from X to put in with Y, just use Y psu and the Y powerchord
Am I right?
You guys should have 10x the amount of subs you have. Js beard FTW
I saw someone wrecking an x99 because of this! I feel sorry for him! He learned from the mistake i learn from the video. Ive learned even more from this video thank you! And what about cable mods with sleevings? If cable plugs are universal and cable placements are not, choosing a custom cable for my rig will be not so cheap or simple as i thought.
I have many corsair Hx and Txm power supplys ranging from 650 -1050w and they all seem to be compatible as the connectors say "HX/TXM ONLY". Any idea if I am wrong?
Love you Stevey!!!!
Best just to first check with a multi-meter any way. I've received wrong-pin-out PCIe cables included with enthusiast power supplies, and I've also had dud rails on some brand new server units (+6v on the +5v rail, etc). And don't get me started with the aluminum wires with copper connector pins. There is no such thing as an infallible Power supply manufacturer, they All have some spectacular junk these days.
So not all cables run parallel with one another, some cross and land on a different pin than they started? Right? Seems crazy that wouldn't be the case, which is why it took me so long to figure this out, otherwise it'd be the case that devices could receive any arbitrary voltage or polarity and be able to route and utilize it however it needed to.
RIP my SSD and HDD. The worst part Is I mixed my PSU cables up cause I was unaware of this issue. So now Idk what cables go to my old PSU and my new PSU.
i have a fully modular power supply a Cooler Master MWW 750w gold , i need an extra eps 4+4 pin Cable for the mother board, can i use a Corsaire eps 4+4 pin cable insted?
Is there a way to know without a doubt a custom sleeved cable kit will work with my modular PSU?
is this a response to salazar studio?
What did I fry on my motherboard ? the Ryzen processor ? or much more ? Would the 24-pin connector, be totally different too ? My motherboard still has the LED logo ? Is the motherboard salvageable ? Does that mean the PSU is okay ?
These mistakes can be really costly! Just a heads up; a friend of mine used the wrong cable from a peripheral socket on PSU to sata power on a DVD drive. Result? Not quite what you expect: DVD drive burnt something, allowed reverse current through the PSU and ended up frying the CPU and motherboard socket. Seriously, never use cables unless you know 100% they are the correct ones.
Any chance you could test out what happens worst case scenario ?
Also it would be a good idea to do it outside since of the potential fire hazard.
Salazar Studio already did, lol.
But he apparently took the videos down.
Voltages aside, is there any detriment to mixing cables based on whether they have integrated capacitors?