Psu Help

[fate333]

I bought stuff for a new PC, and I would really appreciate if someone just pointed out where I'm supposed to plug the cables into my PSU? There's an image of the PSU and from pcpartpicker showing the things I'd need to plug in. But I'm quite confused. If someone were to just point out where to plug the things in I'd really appreciate it. thanks. 

 

[johnt]

I mean they are labeled... You can see the top right says "motherboard" and it should be a cable that has two ends that plugs into the PSU, and it plugs (usually) into the right side of your mother board as one large connector.

 

Depending on your CPU, you may need to connect an 8-pin wire to the top left of your motherboard. This provide ancillary power to the CPU. Sometimes you might need more than one wire if you have a higher end CPU. Also, if you have a cheapo motherboard, you may only need one wire, but it will terminate to a 4-pin connector near the CPU instead of a single 8 pin connector or two 8 pin connectors. As you can see, all 8 pin connectors on the PSU are the same now-a-days. The port on the motherboard is keyed, so you won't be able to insert it the wrong way.

 

The video card also uses an 8-pin connector. That should be straightforward. Some cables are 8-pin to 8-pin, which are the preferred wires. If your GPU has more than one power connector, you can either use multiple 8-to-8 wires, or some cables have two 8-pin connectors on one side. That dual port, daisy-chained, or parallel connection should only go into the GPU side. Do not plug that into two ports in the PSU to a single port on the GPU. Also, never use a daisy chain connection for the CPU if your motherboard has more than one port for the CPU. Some video cards may have a 6-pin connector, or an 8 and a 6 pin connector. Always use the 8-pin cables for the GPU. If it's a 6-pin port, there will be two extra on the end that won't need to be plugged in. It's funky and old fashioned, but that's how it used to be.

 

The 6-pin connectors on the PSU are purely used for SATA drives and other internal things, like LED or fan controllers, CD drives, floppy disks (just saying lol). They are not used to power the motherboard, CPU, or GPU.

 

I am not sure if that helps. It's pretty hard to screw up the wires because they are all keyed and now the GPU and dedicated CPU are the same (they weren't always). The 8-pins always leads to 8-pin cables, and the 6-pin cables from the PSU terminate into SATA or floppy.

[fate333]

14 hours ago, johnt said:

 

 

The video card also uses an 8-pin connector. That should be straightforward. Some cables are 8-pin to 8-pin, which are the preferred wires. If your GPU has more than one power connector, you can either use multiple 8-to-8 wires, or some cables have two 8-pin connectors on one side. That dual port, daisy-chained, or parallel connection should only go into the GPU side. Do not plug that into two ports in the PSU to a single port on the GPU. Also, never use a daisy chain connection for the CPU if your motherboard has more than one port for the CPU. Some video cards may have a 6-pin connector, or an 8 and a 6 pin connector. Always use the 8-pin cables for the GPU. If it's a 6-pin port, there will be two extra on the end that won't need to be plugged in. It's funky and old fashioned, but that's how it used to be.

The PCIE cables I got is an 8-pin into the PSU and then splits into two 6+2 pins. Do I plug those both into the cable that came with the GPU? The cable that came with the GPU has one end with two 8-pin slots and then the other end plugs into the GPU.

[johnt]

39 minutes ago, fate333 said:

The PCIE cables I got is an 8-pin into the PSU and then splits into two 6+2 pins. Do I plug those both into the cable that came with the GPU? The cable that came with the GPU has one end with two 8-pin slots and then the other end plugs into the GPU.

That's a good question. Typically you plug the solid 8-pin connector into the PSU, and the 6+2 pin connector(s) into the GPU. You do not have to use the splitter cable that came with your video card if you have enough wires for your PSU. It's normal to run 2 or 3 cables from your PSU to the GPU.

[fate333]

1 hour ago, johnt said:

That's a good question. Typically you plug the solid 8-pin connector into the PSU, and the 6+2 pin connector(s) into the GPU. You do not have to use the splitter cable that came with your video card if you have enough wires for your PSU. It's normal to run 2 or 3 cables from your PSU to the GPU.

The PSU cable has a splitter that goes from 8-pin to two 6+2 pins, and the GPU cable is two 8-pins to one 12 pin which goes into the GPU. So I don't really have an option besides using the cable that came with the GPU along with the splitter with PSU that goes from 8 to two 6+2s. I'm also confused about molex cables. I have a total of 7 case fans and 2 fans for my AIO. Where do I connect the molex cables?

[johnt]

1 hour ago, fate333 said:

The PSU cable has a splitter that goes from 8-pin to two 6+2 pins, and the GPU cable is two 8-pins to one 12 pin which goes into the GPU. So I don't really have an option besides using the cable that came with the GPU along with the splitter with PSU that goes from 8 to two 6+2s. I'm also confused about molex cables. I have a total of 7 case fans and 2 fans for my AIO. Where do I connect the molex cables?

Oh okay so you have a fancier 3000 or 4000 RTX card. So in that situation, you should consider two wires from your PSU to the Y-cable that came with your GPU for the 12-pin connector. You are correct in that you don't have another option. Don't use the daisy-chain connectors that comes with each GPU wire from the PSU. Use two separate ones so the GPU gets enough power. Each wire will have a 6+2 connector that is not utilized.

 

Your AIO fans should come with 4-pin fan connectors. They are a lot smaller than the PSU connectors. There should be at least two fan connectors directly on your motherboard for the AIO fans... somewhere around the CPU socket.

 

The other case fans are going to be tricky... you probably need a fan controller to use them all. Usually motherboards have between 3 and 5 fan connectors depending on how large and what tier it is (cheap motherboards only have 1 to 2, etc.). Unless they are all cheapo fans and all have molex cables. The molex cables are the really large 4-pin connectors.

 

You should probably watch a tutorial from LTT on one of their recent computer builds... I also wouldn't worry about the case fans until you get the computer up and running first. Gets the electricity flowing through the devices first to make sure they are working. The fans are just going to turn the case into a spider web of wires and confuse you at first.

[fate333]

13 minutes ago, johnt said:

Oh okay so you have a fancier 3000 or 4000 RTX card. So in that situation, you should consider two wires from your PSU to the Y-cable that came with your GPU for the 12-pin connector. You are correct in that you don't have another option. Don't use the daisy-chain connectors that comes with each GPU wire from the PSU. Use two separate ones so the GPU gets enough power. Each wire will have a 6+2 connector that is not utilized.

 

Your AIO fans should come with 4-pin fan connectors. They are a lot smaller than the PSU connectors. There should be at least two fan connectors directly on your motherboard for the AIO fans... somewhere around the CPU socket.

 

The other case fans are going to be tricky... you probably need a fan controller to use them all. Usually motherboards have between 3 and 5 fan connectors depending on how large and what tier it is (cheap motherboards only have 1 to 2, etc.). Unless they are all cheapo fans and all have molex cables. The molex cables are the really large 4-pin connectors.

 

You should probably watch a tutorial from LTT on one of their recent computer builds... I also wouldn't worry about the case fans until you get the computer up and running first. Gets the electricity flowing through the devices first to make sure they are working. The fans are just going to turn the case into a spider web of wires and confuse you at first.

Alright I got the GPU cables sorted out. The case fans plugging into the motherboard I also got figured out and plugged them into an RGB hub. But there are still empty molex connecters. Since they're all already plugged into the mobo, will I still need to deal with the molex cables?

[johnt]

6 minutes ago, fate333 said:

Alright I got the GPU cables sorted out. The case fans plugging into the motherboard I also got figured out and plugged them into an RGB hub. But there are still empty molex connecters. Since they're all already plugged into the mobo, will I still need to deal with the molex cables?

I'm not sure? The molex cables are for much older devices like CD drives and 3.5 spinning drives from the early 2000's. The newer devices use SATA power cables (thin, long L-shape connectors). The SATA power cables power modern RGB hubs, fan hubs, SATA drives (not M.2 drives), and other internal accessories. It is not a requirement to use every one.

[johnt]

The wire labeled "HDD" in this photo is a molex cable. The FDD is a very old wire for floppy disks. The S-ATA cable is the modern go-to power cable for drives and devices (rgb hubs, fan hubs, etc.)

 

[fate333]

1 minute ago, johnt said:

The wire labeled "HDD" in this photo is a molex cable. The FDD is a very old wire for floppy disks. The S-ATA cable is the modern go-to power cable for drives and devices (rgb hubs, fan hubs, etc.)

 

Yea I knew which ones were the molex cables. But I have a bunch of em left because idk what to do with them. Like I said all the fans are plugged into the mobo, so do I just not need them? The RGB controllers were all connected using SATA cables already. So I'm gonna assume I don't need them then?

[johnt]

3 hours ago, fate333 said:

Yea I knew which ones were the molex cables. But I have a bunch of em left because idk what to do with them. Like I said all the fans are plugged into the mobo, so do I just not need them? The RGB controllers were all connected using SATA cables already. So I'm gonna assume I don't need them then?

Correct. You won’t need the molex cables if you don’t have anything that needs it. 

[fate333]

11 hours ago, johnt said:

Correct. You won’t need the molex cables if you don’t have anything that needs it. 

I got the build completed last night and everything works fine. Thanks for all the help. 

[johnt]

44 minutes ago, fate333 said:

I got the build completed last night and everything works fine. Thanks for all the help. 

You’re welcome!! Glad you got it.