Couple of questions about Corsair HX1000 connectors and 12v rails

[Nozyspy]

Hi everyone,

 

So im installing a Corsair HX1000 into my case at the moment with some nice Cable Mod cables. There were some things i wanted to ask about thought;

 

First off, from my other builds in the past i seem to remember that the advice used to be that if a component required more than one cable to power it (like a GPU) that those cables should be plugged into different banks of connectors (i.e different 12v rails) on a multi 12v rail PSU. Is this still something worth doing? I have included a diagram of where i have plugged the cables in at the moment, should you wish to critique it.

 

Secondly, the HX1000 has a manual switch to change between a single and multi 12v rail setup. Despite reading and watching videos about it I'm still not really clear what the advantage of either is, other than that multi rail has over current protection on each of the 12v rails and single rail allows the full 1000w to go to a single component.

 

Thirdly, how would having a component plugged into multiple banks of connectors on the PSU, be affected between single and multi rail setups?

 

Other components:

 

Asus Maximus Z690 Hero

Intel i7 12700k

Asus Strix 3080Ti OC

Corsair Dominator Platinum DR5 5600 - 32gb

 

Thanks for any advice anyone can offer!

 

Nozy

[Spotty]

24 minutes ago, Nozyspy said:

First off, from my other builds in the past i seem to remember that the advice used to be that if a component required more than one cable to power it (like a GPU) that those cables should be plugged into different banks of connectors (i.e different 12v rails) on a multi 12v rail PSU. Is this still something worth doing? I have included a diagram of where i have plugged the cables in at the moment, should you wish to critique it.

The HX uses virtual multi rail. Unlike true multi rail power supplies which may have multiple connectors on each rail, with the HX each connector has it's own 40A limit when in multi rail mode. Basically means each connector acts like its own rail. Because of that it doesn't matter which "rail" you plug in to as they're all independent. 

Though, if it was a true multi rail unit you are right that you would want to spread the cables out over different rails if possible.

 

27 minutes ago, Nozyspy said:

Secondly, the HX1000 has a manual switch to change between a single and multi 12v rail setup. Despite reading and watching videos about it I'm still not really clear what the advantage of either is, other than that multi rail has over current protection on each of the 12v rails and single rail allows the full 1000w to go to a single component.

You nailed it. Multi rail mode enables that 40A current limit per connector. You shouldn't be drawing >480w through a single cable so you may as well leave multi rail on. 

 

29 minutes ago, Nozyspy said:

Thirdly, how would having a component plugged into multiple banks of connectors on the PSU, be affected between single and multi rail setups?

It doesn't matter.

[AnonymousGuy]

Rail isn't really the right term, it's more like a connector current limit on/off switch.  If you're exceeding 40A on a connector then something has gone wrong.

[Nozyspy]

31 minutes ago, Spotty said:

The HX uses virtual multi rail. Unlike true multi rail power supplies which may have multiple connectors on each rail, with the HX each connector has it's own 40A limit when in multi rail mode. Basically means each connector acts like its own rail. Because of that it doesn't matter which "rail" you plug in to as they're all independent. 

Though, if it was a true multi rail unit you are right that you would want to spread the cables out over different rails if possible.

 

You nailed it. Multi rail mode enables that 40A current limit per connector. You shouldn't be drawing >480w through a single cable so you may as well leave multi rail on. 

 

It doesn't matter.

Thanks! Obviously my knowledge is a bit out of date haha.

 

I appreciate the clear explanation!