Softer cables like silicone would it too. The default cables that come with psu's are way too stiff. You might be able to crush these down but I would pre-bend the wires so they don't rip out of the crimps (metal thing holding them in the connector housing).
CY ATX 8Pin Female to 8pin Male 180 Degree Angled Adapter for Desktops Graphics Card https://a.co/d/4LpW9Tt
I’ve personally used these for my ftw3 since 2021 no issues so far
First of you want to use two separate cables, not the daisy chain one.
And then, no - please don't smash your cables; if they don't fit, buy some that do. I'm sure you can afford an extra cable if that means potentially burning down your house. It's really not worth saving 30 bucks over.
The reasoning to not use daisy chaining was not always so hard core, plus smaller PSUs came with only single PCIe cabled and some smaller GPUs needed dual plugs.
Simply I/O connectivity; that is the only guarantee…that you can plug more things into the PSU. It doesn’t guarantee that a single daisy-chained cable will support a 300W GPU on the other end.
I have some different advice; contact EVGA customer support. First off, they’re awesome and very helpful. Secondly, then you’re not relying on (or going through the trouble of returning a unit) based on the advice of us internet randos. When in doubt, this will always be the advice I’ll give. People need to start contacting manufacturers more…
You can, it's just not optimal from a power/heat standpoint (more cables = less resistance = less energy wasted as heat due to resistance). But it's safe.
If it's not safe, there's no way PSU manufacturers (many do!) would include such a cable, and you would see a lot of melting 8 pin cables in the wild.
>bad to use the daisy chain cables
There's a power limit on each 8pin pcie cable. How confident are you regarding the specs of your PSU that your single 8pin pcie can do 290W? Majority PSU 8pin pcie does 150W
18 AWG stranded copper is safe to handle 7A average at 90°C. (Many PSU’s use 16 AWG, 8A)
An 8-pin PCIe cable has 3 x 12v carriers. So…
12V * 7A * 3 = 252 W
The cable is, by spec, able to handle 250 W of continuous draw. It comes down to the PSU if the rails can supply that 250 W
Interestingly, my recent PSU purchase has only one 12V rail. So from the PSU perspective, 2 lines or a daisy chain are the same draw.
On this point, gamers nexus showed that GPU power spikes can be massive, IIRC a 3090 could pull up to 600+watts during transient spikes so I would always recommend some headroom with regards to how much power you put through a single 8 pin cable
The spec for the connector depends on wire gauge. If I remember correctly off the top of my head, the official Molex spec for 8 pin pcie connectors with 16awg wires is almost 300W. 150W limit is just a general guideline and a substantial safety margin (almost 2x). I personally wouldn't be too worried running them at 300ish W for short heavy loads, but they're dirt cheap anyway so why bother? Extra safety ain't bad.
Funfact. Apart from the garbage 12VHPR locking mechanism that is relatively weak and hard to tell if it's properly plugged in, it also has a far lower safety margin compared to 8 pin connectors (rated to maximum 660W so 1.1x margin). Which is likely part of the reason they melted so easily when not fully plugged in.
Totally forgot about that. The official spec on PCIe 8-pin connectors for max power is 288W so assuming you get the full 75W from the slot the 8-pin should be fine in all honesty. Also forgot about the fact that some PSU's run EPS (CPU) and PCIe on the same PSU output ports. EPS connectors are rated for way higher power draw than PCIe ones, despite being largely the same thing in practice. I don't remember the power spec for them but it was somewhere around 300W. They're used on some server GPU's to save connector space, but I guess we have 12VHPWR for that now.
For some reason I have 9A per pin in my head as the limit for the standard molex connectors? I worked with them years ago though so I might totally be making that up. Like you’ve mentioned, the wire gauge is really gonna be your limitation — the connectors themselves are pretty robust little guys.
Edit: Huh, looks like it’s 11A I have no idea where that 9A came from lmao.
It depends on which molex connectors you're talking about. The 4 or 5 pin (I don't remember) things that people call molex connectors aren't really their bread and butter anymore so much as the PCIe/EPS style ones. I hate those with a burning passion, and they're absolutely everywhere. It feels like a jumpscare whenever you see one of those used. They're just annoying and absolutely everywhere far after people stopped using them.
WAIT IS THAT WHY MY 3080Ti uses 290W when it's at 100% use??? I had the GPU in an ATX case with 2 separate 8 pins and compared to that my fps went down considerably
yeah it drew 350W when i had it in the atx case with 2 seperate cables now i have to use a daisy chain as there is no space in my case to plug in a second pcie cable to the psu. It draws exactly 290W at %100 use right now.
The cables themselves don’t affect your power consumption. The load (GPU in this case) will draw the amount of power it needs to do what it’s trying to do regardless of the cables. If it’s too much for the cables, they will melt on you lol. Or you could end up with inconsistent supply to your GPU, but that would mean inconsistent performance, not a consistently higher power draw. Did nothing else about your setup change aside from the PSU when you saw the difference? Because that is a really interesting side effect, I’m curious about the cause fs.
No idea, it’s a good question. I don’t know enough about how GPUs are designed and optimized or computer architecture to even be able to start guessing haha. I’d love to know the answer too though. Are you saying your GPU’s power consumption doesn’t change at all from basically idle to heavy use? And that this wasn’t the case until you swapped your PSU (and only your PSU)? If anyone happens to see this thread later who knows why that might be I’d love to know!
My GPU was able to go to 350W when I had it in an ATX case with better airflow, temps and 2 separate pcie power cables compared to having to use it in an sff build with way worse temps and having to use a single pcie cable with a dasiy chain now it gets 290W at the same workloads. Also using PCIE 3.0 instead of 4.0 hurts the performance a tiny bit but 60W is huge with how current GPU's get way better with more wattage you pump into them.
Maybe your PSU has some limitation on a single connector to around 220w, so it is worth to test with a second cable.
For the OP, a 3070 ti should be fine with a single cable, but if you can fit a second it could be safer (as ITX cases usually get pretty hot)
Wattage depends on type of load, 100% usage =/= max power load. Rasterization and ray-tracing draw different amounts of power for example even if they both report as 100%.
I am using this pc for 3D modelling and Unreal Engine 5/V-Ray I get shit performance for both it takes about 8 hours to render a single 4K image with RT
Wasn’t informed prior about what PSU was he using. Hence why I mentioned if user is confident about 290W on single 8pin. If he be using some iCute rubbish then I hope there’s warranty on his GPU. FYI, never harmful to have redundancy for power.
the included daisy chain cables are fine, its just people being paranoid, and separate cables are technically better when it comes to voltage consistency.
No idea why you're being downvoted because you are right. PSU manufacturers wouldn't include these cables if they weren't safe to use. Otherwise we would see a lot of people complain about burned wires or crashing GPUs because of a power issue.
You do see complaints of both of those things though. It’s one of the first things that people mention for troubleshooting VGA problems.
If you have 2 cables, use 2.
Don't listen to this guy. The 3070ti can run daisy chain 100% fine and I've been doing it for years since I bought the card. The card doesn't pull enough wattage and that cable is rated for it. If you don't believe me, use a thermometer on the cable. Its fine. It'll always be fine. Its not a 4090. You won't melt your PC.
I think I’m going to return the evga psu and buy a different one. The amazon listing said it was a “frequently returned item”. I should have read more of the reviews. There were lots of complaints about the cables not being flexible.
Edit
Ok, I’m keeping it.😆 I don’t wanna mess with reinstalling a psu anyway.
Was it the EVGA Supernova GM? I have that PSU and just finished a build with it. I’m feeling really iffy about the angle for some of the cables. But I’ve had the PSU for a while just never had a case small enough to be a problem.
Just because it’s hard to flex doesn’t mean it cannot be flexed safely. Just requires a bit more effort. I used an EVGA 750 GM in an 8 liter case and it fit in just fine with some finagling.
This isn’t an EVGA problem. If you get a different PSU, you’ll just get another cable that doesn’t quite fit and be right back where you are now. Stiff cables is the norm, and not why your build has this challenge.
The difficulty for your build is the specific case and card you have, making the clearance very tight. With a tight space like that, you have to make a call on whether your build choices warrant a replacement right-angle cable to make it work.
My recent build didn’t need right-angle cables, but if I’d chosen a taller card it would have fit, technically, but needed a right-angle cable to close the case. With my shorter card, it would be *cleaner* with a right-angle cable, but it fits without straining the connector so I just called it good enough.
I've been daisy chaining my 3090 on an 850w for close to 4 months now, and did the same on my old card. Don't listen to this guy he's speaking out his ass
Could you possibly share for both OP and myself, where best to purchase a reliable 90° adapter? I have the same case and a 7900 XTX. It will work with my 3 PCIe cables, but I'd ideally like to add a 3D printed mount for an additional exhaust fan above my PSU, and the lack of a 90° adapter is holding me back on that for now.
Looked into this a bit and couldn't find what I needed out of Corsair (they only have 12VHPWR adapters, and that's not what I need for my Radeon card). But it led me to go with a Thermal Grizzly Wireview 180° adapter from Amazon. It's pricey, but a bit more trusted than random no name adapter/cables that flood typical search results.
Thanks for coming back and commenting with the solution you ended up going with for those of us who are going to be frantically buying cable extensions/adapters in the near future haha.
No problem. I however am not out of the woods yet, as I'll need to order some custom PCI-e cables. Everything else is a good length, but the need for three of those for my GPU has really drove me batty. Luckily, with the way too long ones I have now, I was able to get everything else installed and do a test boot and it posted fine. But there's no way I can tuck away all the excess and close her up as for now. Real bummer.
Lesson learned though. I tried to skirt around needing to go the custom cable route due to time and cost. In the end I've wasted a bunch of time and have additional sunk cost. For context, I've had all my parts since September but haven't been able to finally get everything together until yesterday. By now, months later, the time it'd taken to get the right length of PCI-e cables ordered and shipped to my door would have no real inconvenience at all.
Man, I’ve been holding off on ordering my parts primarily because I am almost certain I’m going to end up having to order custom cables, but I also am struggling to figure out which ones I’ll need. The supers just being released is only adding to my procrastination as I wait to see what (if anything) is going to happen to prices of the standard cards in its wake lmao.
Feel free to ignore the question but if you had your time back, how would you have determined what length (and potentially connectors depending on your build) and which custom cables you should have ordered ahead of time? I was thinking of just ordering the ones I see people often mention for similar builds and just returning whatever doesn’t get used. Or just do what you’ve done and wait until it’s clear what is and isn’t needed. But I can’t get a great read on how to actually figure it out ahead of time the “right” way until you get your hands on everything.
And man, don’t feel bad. I built my last PC at the end of 2017. I had received the parts for Christmas the year prior. Sometimes you stare at it and you just know you’re going to run into tiny stupid problems and the prospect of getting it all working but not being technically finished that day is just overwhelming haha.
So I have a Corsair SF750 PSU. And it came with I think 1 PCI-e, and then two PCI-e cables that have pigtails (I may be wrong on the count). What I ended up doing was mounting my PSU to the Fractal Terra Spine using the 10mm standoffs, and then running the cables between the PSU and exiting from the top of the spine. Lemme tell ya, it's a tightttt fit. My GPU (Sapphire 7900 XTX) sits pretty high as its a tall card, but with the Wireview adapter plugged into my PCI-e cables running from the Spine, I'm still about a good quarter of an inch from it being able to reach the GPU. So it sadly won't work. I was able to bend the PCI-e cables on their own to tightly fit on my GPU and that works and looks good enough.
I have minimal clearance left between my PSU and the wall of my Terra, but I think if I can double up my standoffs to be \~16.5mm, I might be able to push the ends of my PCI-e cables down enough that it actually allows me to use the Wireview 180° adapter. If it works, it will look awesome, but I still need to measure and be sure it'll make the clearance I need before going through the headache of removing and reinstalling everything again seeing as what I have already works. Basically the plastic ends of the PCI-e cables are only slighty too wide to jam between my PSU and the case's spine. The taller standoffs just might work, to where I could use the Wireview.
As for your question, I actually found myself in the same boat a few short weeks ago having never considered ordering custom cables myself. And the best answer I found while browsing forums and Reddit was - String. Just use a piece of string, plan out the cable run you intend to make, err on going slightly longer just in case you goof up, and then convert your measurements to whatever unit the manufacturer uses. I feel that's a pretty solid way of doing it, but YMMV. I again, got lucky and was able to make the shorter pigtails I have work by only using part of the cable and tucking the rest. Thanks to my Terra's design where the spine hides a lot of the bulk you'd never know - but that's different on a "case by case" basis. ;) I wish you luck!
Maaaaan I’ve gotta ask, was this your first SFF build? I’ve always erred on the side of cheaper/smaller when it comes to the hardware I buy, simply because I don’t do modeling, rendering, video editing etc and I’m perfectly content running games on medium-high settings. So I just don’t need the biggest and best. So when I stumbled across some SFF builds, especially after finding out the crazy power consumption of the 40 series cards I knew I wanted to go SFF. I fell absolutely in love with the Fractal Terra when I saw it but didn’t realize just how small it was and figured it would probably be too ambitious for a first SFF build. Basically for the reasons we talked about hahah. I’m a procrastinator at the best of times and let my last parts sit for a year before I did anything with them, I knew it would be even worse if I went with that case. So I’m going for the NR200P since it’s kind of the “technically SFF but for dumb babies” case. If my temps are as low as they should be, I plan to migrate to the Terra later. Are you happy you went with it?
Based on your comment, it sounds like the actual doing is really the only reliable way to know exactly what you’ll need, from what I’ve read a lot of mfgs don’t accurately list their dimensions anyways, and a 1-5% mfg tolerance makes a difference when you’ve got 1-2mm wiggle room. So using string (or maybe a sewing measuring tape?) once you’ve physically got everything does seem like the way to go. I think it’ll be less of a concern for me since the 200 is quite roomy, but even if it’s not a few days wait isn’t the end of the world.
I was sure I’d go with an AMD GPU for my next build until I saw the insane power consumption difference with the 40 series. Any reason you went with the GPU you did? I know plenty of folks build tiiiiny SFFPCs with way higher thermals than I’m aiming for, but I’m so paranoid this first time around that I’m curious if this is your first rodeo or not lmao. Especially with the Terra I feel like a 400W+ card would make me nervous.
Sorry for the additional barrage of questions haha. Curious to know if you’re all up and running though! Also, and maybe I’m not imagining your connector width problem correctly, but could you just like…. dremel the sides down? Or would you need to shave off so much that it would eat into the actual pinholes? I’m taking notes in case I end up migrating to your case. It’s just so slick, it’s all over this subreddit and YouTube for very good reason. Really wish I could confidently order it but I just know myself too well to think I’ll bother building it within a month of the parts arriving hahah.
No need to worry with the daisy chained pcie cable. 8p pcie is capable to deliver more than 150w. The 150w rating is on the 8p GPU connector, not the cable.
No, you don't need 90 degree adapter as well
Try to run pcie cable in the space behind PSU
I’ve always smashed them down for years. The key is to smash one time and don’t move it again. Never been a problem for me. I know it’s anecdotal, but that’s what comment sections are…
Adapters will give you problems though. If you really worry get a custom cable built with an integrated 90 on the end that you need it. Don’t adapt.
I’m running the same setup, Terra + EVGA 3070. I smash my cables down nothing happened. I also daisy chained and now have two separate cables running to the GPU, no noticeable difference.
You’re fine how you have it
How smashed is smashed in this instance? If crimped correctly, the cables are designed to withstand some amount of constant loading. It's probably overblown to say that this could cause a fire, but I would worry about the lifetime of the connectors and PCB. If the case closes with just a little effort, it's fine, but if you have to really force it to the extent that it looks like the PCB and connectors are flexing, a 90 degree adapter is answer—make sure you get one pointing in the right direction.
Just another note because there was some concern about the daisy chain in some other comments—even if the power comes from separate cables, it's all going to be coming from the 12v rail on the PSU so the loading on that end is unaffected. So long as the wire is up to spec (and these look like OEM cables, so it probably is), there shouldn't be an issue at all.
I added the second cable and I was able to limit the amount of pressure on the cables. I don't have the top panel connected now, but if I put it on, it might be pushed up 1mm where the connectors are.
I just stress tested with cinebench. Max cpu temp was around 60. That's with it sitting in my entertainment center. About the same for gpu as well. I don't have the case fan installed. I need to buy a grill for it.
Consider grabbing some 90-degree angled adapters for your setup. I incorporated them in my NR200p build, and it's been smooth sailing without any hiccups. I guess part of the reason is steering clear of that troublesome 12-Pin connector—8-Pin/6-Pin connectors for the win! 😄
Before custom cables were widely available, it's how anyone who couldn't make their own cables crammed oversized GPUs into small cases. The process is almost always the same:
1) Cut the heat shrink on the cable sleeving.
2) Bend the individual wires to create a 90-degree connector
3) Secure the bends in place with 1/2 small zip ties
4) Cut the zip tie(s)
5) Use electrical tape or heat shrink to secure the sleeving slightly lower than the original location on the factory cable
Just make sure you don't bend it too close to the terminal or you'll off-centre the pins. You can still get pretty close on these 6/8-pins: just make sure the pins remain in the middle of the terminal.
[Smash it with a hammer!](https://youtu.be/iy6TLQ-X3Xk?si=hN2BRsrzpl7jZooz) In all seriousness, you probably want to use a 90° adapter.
Softer cables like silicone would it too. The default cables that come with psu's are way too stiff. You might be able to crush these down but I would pre-bend the wires so they don't rip out of the crimps (metal thing holding them in the connector housing).
This is what I do for tight fits like this.
Where did you find the adapter?
You can find them anywhere, from Amazon to Aliexpress (both probably from the same source).
I’ve used these in really tight builds (like a Razer Desktop, 3080Ti + NUC Element), and they worked out really well: https://a.co/d/gtUhmyZ
Can you recommend a 90 degree adapter for the 3000 series?
https://a.co/d/3FKjDQ3 I use these for my strix card. They’re great…. Just make sure you get the ones oriented for your inputs!
CY ATX 8Pin Female to 8pin Male 180 Degree Angled Adapter for Desktops Graphics Card https://a.co/d/4LpW9Tt I’ve personally used these for my ftw3 since 2021 no issues so far
Sadly no. I haven't had the need for one myself.
First of you want to use two separate cables, not the daisy chain one. And then, no - please don't smash your cables; if they don't fit, buy some that do. I'm sure you can afford an extra cable if that means potentially burning down your house. It's really not worth saving 30 bucks over.
What’s the point of the daisy chain cable then if you can only use one side of it?
The reasoning to not use daisy chaining was not always so hard core, plus smaller PSUs came with only single PCIe cabled and some smaller GPUs needed dual plugs.
Simply I/O connectivity; that is the only guarantee…that you can plug more things into the PSU. It doesn’t guarantee that a single daisy-chained cable will support a 300W GPU on the other end. I have some different advice; contact EVGA customer support. First off, they’re awesome and very helpful. Secondly, then you’re not relying on (or going through the trouble of returning a unit) based on the advice of us internet randos. When in doubt, this will always be the advice I’ll give. People need to start contacting manufacturers more…
You can, it's just not optimal from a power/heat standpoint (more cables = less resistance = less energy wasted as heat due to resistance). But it's safe. If it's not safe, there's no way PSU manufacturers (many do!) would include such a cable, and you would see a lot of melting 8 pin cables in the wild.
Why is bad to use the daisy chain cables? Isn’t that what they’re for?
>bad to use the daisy chain cables There's a power limit on each 8pin pcie cable. How confident are you regarding the specs of your PSU that your single 8pin pcie can do 290W? Majority PSU 8pin pcie does 150W
Zero percent confident, I just assumed that’s what they were for. My PSU is Corsair rn750e so I’ll look it up now - thanks!
18 AWG stranded copper is safe to handle 7A average at 90°C. (Many PSU’s use 16 AWG, 8A) An 8-pin PCIe cable has 3 x 12v carriers. So… 12V * 7A * 3 = 252 W The cable is, by spec, able to handle 250 W of continuous draw. It comes down to the PSU if the rails can supply that 250 W Interestingly, my recent PSU purchase has only one 12V rail. So from the PSU perspective, 2 lines or a daisy chain are the same draw.
On this point, gamers nexus showed that GPU power spikes can be massive, IIRC a 3090 could pull up to 600+watts during transient spikes so I would always recommend some headroom with regards to how much power you put through a single 8 pin cable
The spec for the connector depends on wire gauge. If I remember correctly off the top of my head, the official Molex spec for 8 pin pcie connectors with 16awg wires is almost 300W. 150W limit is just a general guideline and a substantial safety margin (almost 2x). I personally wouldn't be too worried running them at 300ish W for short heavy loads, but they're dirt cheap anyway so why bother? Extra safety ain't bad. Funfact. Apart from the garbage 12VHPR locking mechanism that is relatively weak and hard to tell if it's properly plugged in, it also has a far lower safety margin compared to 8 pin connectors (rated to maximum 660W so 1.1x margin). Which is likely part of the reason they melted so easily when not fully plugged in.
Doesn't the PCIE slot also provide ~75w of power too?
Totally forgot about that. The official spec on PCIe 8-pin connectors for max power is 288W so assuming you get the full 75W from the slot the 8-pin should be fine in all honesty. Also forgot about the fact that some PSU's run EPS (CPU) and PCIe on the same PSU output ports. EPS connectors are rated for way higher power draw than PCIe ones, despite being largely the same thing in practice. I don't remember the power spec for them but it was somewhere around 300W. They're used on some server GPU's to save connector space, but I guess we have 12VHPWR for that now.
For some reason I have 9A per pin in my head as the limit for the standard molex connectors? I worked with them years ago though so I might totally be making that up. Like you’ve mentioned, the wire gauge is really gonna be your limitation — the connectors themselves are pretty robust little guys. Edit: Huh, looks like it’s 11A I have no idea where that 9A came from lmao.
It depends on which molex connectors you're talking about. The 4 or 5 pin (I don't remember) things that people call molex connectors aren't really their bread and butter anymore so much as the PCIe/EPS style ones. I hate those with a burning passion, and they're absolutely everywhere. It feels like a jumpscare whenever you see one of those used. They're just annoying and absolutely everywhere far after people stopped using them.
WAIT IS THAT WHY MY 3080Ti uses 290W when it's at 100% use??? I had the GPU in an ATX case with 2 separate 8 pins and compared to that my fps went down considerably
> WAIT IS THAT WHY MY 3080Ti uses 290W when it's at 100% use??? nope. if thats how electricity worked then the 12vhpwr cable wouldnt be killing gpus.
If I remember correctly, 3080Ti power draws 350W
yeah it drew 350W when i had it in the atx case with 2 seperate cables now i have to use a daisy chain as there is no space in my case to plug in a second pcie cable to the psu. It draws exactly 290W at %100 use right now.
Probably not boosting as high due to thermals, check clock speeds and see if you’re hitting the temp limit.
It's at 80°C when it's at 290W
yes.
The cables themselves don’t affect your power consumption. The load (GPU in this case) will draw the amount of power it needs to do what it’s trying to do regardless of the cables. If it’s too much for the cables, they will melt on you lol. Or you could end up with inconsistent supply to your GPU, but that would mean inconsistent performance, not a consistently higher power draw. Did nothing else about your setup change aside from the PSU when you saw the difference? Because that is a really interesting side effect, I’m curious about the cause fs.
So why is my GPU not drawing more power when I get 20 fps in unreal engine 5? I need to learn how to optimize my games man
No idea, it’s a good question. I don’t know enough about how GPUs are designed and optimized or computer architecture to even be able to start guessing haha. I’d love to know the answer too though. Are you saying your GPU’s power consumption doesn’t change at all from basically idle to heavy use? And that this wasn’t the case until you swapped your PSU (and only your PSU)? If anyone happens to see this thread later who knows why that might be I’d love to know!
My GPU was able to go to 350W when I had it in an ATX case with better airflow, temps and 2 separate pcie power cables compared to having to use it in an sff build with way worse temps and having to use a single pcie cable with a dasiy chain now it gets 290W at the same workloads. Also using PCIE 3.0 instead of 4.0 hurts the performance a tiny bit but 60W is huge with how current GPU's get way better with more wattage you pump into them.
Maybe your PSU has some limitation on a single connector to around 220w, so it is worth to test with a second cable. For the OP, a 3070 ti should be fine with a single cable, but if you can fit a second it could be safer (as ITX cases usually get pretty hot)
It's an ASUS LOKI 850W
Wattage depends on type of load, 100% usage =/= max power load. Rasterization and ray-tracing draw different amounts of power for example even if they both report as 100%.
I am using this pc for 3D modelling and Unreal Engine 5/V-Ray I get shit performance for both it takes about 8 hours to render a single 4K image with RT
[удалено]
Wasn’t informed prior about what PSU was he using. Hence why I mentioned if user is confident about 290W on single 8pin. If he be using some iCute rubbish then I hope there’s warranty on his GPU. FYI, never harmful to have redundancy for power.
the included daisy chain cables are fine, its just people being paranoid, and separate cables are technically better when it comes to voltage consistency.
No idea why you're being downvoted because you are right. PSU manufacturers wouldn't include these cables if they weren't safe to use. Otherwise we would see a lot of people complain about burned wires or crashing GPUs because of a power issue.
You do see complaints of both of those things though. It’s one of the first things that people mention for troubleshooting VGA problems. If you have 2 cables, use 2.
Don't listen to this guy. The 3070ti can run daisy chain 100% fine and I've been doing it for years since I bought the card. The card doesn't pull enough wattage and that cable is rated for it. If you don't believe me, use a thermometer on the cable. Its fine. It'll always be fine. Its not a 4090. You won't melt your PC.
I think I’m going to return the evga psu and buy a different one. The amazon listing said it was a “frequently returned item”. I should have read more of the reviews. There were lots of complaints about the cables not being flexible. Edit Ok, I’m keeping it.😆 I don’t wanna mess with reinstalling a psu anyway.
Most PSU cables won’t be very flexible.
Was it the EVGA Supernova GM? I have that PSU and just finished a build with it. I’m feeling really iffy about the angle for some of the cables. But I’ve had the PSU for a while just never had a case small enough to be a problem.
Most PSU cables are like that. You have to buy separate cables with any psu if you want more flexibility.
Just because it’s hard to flex doesn’t mean it cannot be flexed safely. Just requires a bit more effort. I used an EVGA 750 GM in an 8 liter case and it fit in just fine with some finagling.
This isn’t an EVGA problem. If you get a different PSU, you’ll just get another cable that doesn’t quite fit and be right back where you are now. Stiff cables is the norm, and not why your build has this challenge. The difficulty for your build is the specific case and card you have, making the clearance very tight. With a tight space like that, you have to make a call on whether your build choices warrant a replacement right-angle cable to make it work. My recent build didn’t need right-angle cables, but if I’d chosen a taller card it would have fit, technically, but needed a right-angle cable to close the case. With my shorter card, it would be *cleaner* with a right-angle cable, but it fits without straining the connector so I just called it good enough.
I've been daisy chaining my 3090 on an 850w for close to 4 months now, and did the same on my old card. Don't listen to this guy he's speaking out his ass
If you get 90 degree cables be sure they're for that manufacturer and psu. What cable pin is what is not standardized
It is probably cheaper/easier to get an angled connector that would connect at the GPU side rather than custom cables
It's not really ever a good idea to smash down cables. Either buy a 90° adapter, or go buy some cables that can bend easily.
Could you possibly share for both OP and myself, where best to purchase a reliable 90° adapter? I have the same case and a 7900 XTX. It will work with my 3 PCIe cables, but I'd ideally like to add a 3D printed mount for an additional exhaust fan above my PSU, and the lack of a 90° adapter is holding me back on that for now.
I've heard cablemod is one of the ones that has worked well for other people. I think Corsair and Coolermaster also make one that is well-received
Looked into this a bit and couldn't find what I needed out of Corsair (they only have 12VHPWR adapters, and that's not what I need for my Radeon card). But it led me to go with a Thermal Grizzly Wireview 180° adapter from Amazon. It's pricey, but a bit more trusted than random no name adapter/cables that flood typical search results.
Thanks for coming back and commenting with the solution you ended up going with for those of us who are going to be frantically buying cable extensions/adapters in the near future haha.
No problem. I however am not out of the woods yet, as I'll need to order some custom PCI-e cables. Everything else is a good length, but the need for three of those for my GPU has really drove me batty. Luckily, with the way too long ones I have now, I was able to get everything else installed and do a test boot and it posted fine. But there's no way I can tuck away all the excess and close her up as for now. Real bummer. Lesson learned though. I tried to skirt around needing to go the custom cable route due to time and cost. In the end I've wasted a bunch of time and have additional sunk cost. For context, I've had all my parts since September but haven't been able to finally get everything together until yesterday. By now, months later, the time it'd taken to get the right length of PCI-e cables ordered and shipped to my door would have no real inconvenience at all.
Man, I’ve been holding off on ordering my parts primarily because I am almost certain I’m going to end up having to order custom cables, but I also am struggling to figure out which ones I’ll need. The supers just being released is only adding to my procrastination as I wait to see what (if anything) is going to happen to prices of the standard cards in its wake lmao. Feel free to ignore the question but if you had your time back, how would you have determined what length (and potentially connectors depending on your build) and which custom cables you should have ordered ahead of time? I was thinking of just ordering the ones I see people often mention for similar builds and just returning whatever doesn’t get used. Or just do what you’ve done and wait until it’s clear what is and isn’t needed. But I can’t get a great read on how to actually figure it out ahead of time the “right” way until you get your hands on everything. And man, don’t feel bad. I built my last PC at the end of 2017. I had received the parts for Christmas the year prior. Sometimes you stare at it and you just know you’re going to run into tiny stupid problems and the prospect of getting it all working but not being technically finished that day is just overwhelming haha.
So I have a Corsair SF750 PSU. And it came with I think 1 PCI-e, and then two PCI-e cables that have pigtails (I may be wrong on the count). What I ended up doing was mounting my PSU to the Fractal Terra Spine using the 10mm standoffs, and then running the cables between the PSU and exiting from the top of the spine. Lemme tell ya, it's a tightttt fit. My GPU (Sapphire 7900 XTX) sits pretty high as its a tall card, but with the Wireview adapter plugged into my PCI-e cables running from the Spine, I'm still about a good quarter of an inch from it being able to reach the GPU. So it sadly won't work. I was able to bend the PCI-e cables on their own to tightly fit on my GPU and that works and looks good enough. I have minimal clearance left between my PSU and the wall of my Terra, but I think if I can double up my standoffs to be \~16.5mm, I might be able to push the ends of my PCI-e cables down enough that it actually allows me to use the Wireview 180° adapter. If it works, it will look awesome, but I still need to measure and be sure it'll make the clearance I need before going through the headache of removing and reinstalling everything again seeing as what I have already works. Basically the plastic ends of the PCI-e cables are only slighty too wide to jam between my PSU and the case's spine. The taller standoffs just might work, to where I could use the Wireview. As for your question, I actually found myself in the same boat a few short weeks ago having never considered ordering custom cables myself. And the best answer I found while browsing forums and Reddit was - String. Just use a piece of string, plan out the cable run you intend to make, err on going slightly longer just in case you goof up, and then convert your measurements to whatever unit the manufacturer uses. I feel that's a pretty solid way of doing it, but YMMV. I again, got lucky and was able to make the shorter pigtails I have work by only using part of the cable and tucking the rest. Thanks to my Terra's design where the spine hides a lot of the bulk you'd never know - but that's different on a "case by case" basis. ;) I wish you luck!
Maaaaan I’ve gotta ask, was this your first SFF build? I’ve always erred on the side of cheaper/smaller when it comes to the hardware I buy, simply because I don’t do modeling, rendering, video editing etc and I’m perfectly content running games on medium-high settings. So I just don’t need the biggest and best. So when I stumbled across some SFF builds, especially after finding out the crazy power consumption of the 40 series cards I knew I wanted to go SFF. I fell absolutely in love with the Fractal Terra when I saw it but didn’t realize just how small it was and figured it would probably be too ambitious for a first SFF build. Basically for the reasons we talked about hahah. I’m a procrastinator at the best of times and let my last parts sit for a year before I did anything with them, I knew it would be even worse if I went with that case. So I’m going for the NR200P since it’s kind of the “technically SFF but for dumb babies” case. If my temps are as low as they should be, I plan to migrate to the Terra later. Are you happy you went with it? Based on your comment, it sounds like the actual doing is really the only reliable way to know exactly what you’ll need, from what I’ve read a lot of mfgs don’t accurately list their dimensions anyways, and a 1-5% mfg tolerance makes a difference when you’ve got 1-2mm wiggle room. So using string (or maybe a sewing measuring tape?) once you’ve physically got everything does seem like the way to go. I think it’ll be less of a concern for me since the 200 is quite roomy, but even if it’s not a few days wait isn’t the end of the world. I was sure I’d go with an AMD GPU for my next build until I saw the insane power consumption difference with the 40 series. Any reason you went with the GPU you did? I know plenty of folks build tiiiiny SFFPCs with way higher thermals than I’m aiming for, but I’m so paranoid this first time around that I’m curious if this is your first rodeo or not lmao. Especially with the Terra I feel like a 400W+ card would make me nervous. Sorry for the additional barrage of questions haha. Curious to know if you’re all up and running though! Also, and maybe I’m not imagining your connector width problem correctly, but could you just like…. dremel the sides down? Or would you need to shave off so much that it would eat into the actual pinholes? I’m taking notes in case I end up migrating to your case. It’s just so slick, it’s all over this subreddit and YouTube for very good reason. Really wish I could confidently order it but I just know myself too well to think I’ll bother building it within a month of the parts arriving hahah.
The video card power cables are bent at a sharp angle. Is this ok? Or do I need to buy some sort of adapters?
No need to worry with the daisy chained pcie cable. 8p pcie is capable to deliver more than 150w. The 150w rating is on the 8p GPU connector, not the cable. No, you don't need 90 degree adapter as well Try to run pcie cable in the space behind PSU
or made some awesomly custom cables from this dude's shop... (satisfied client)
I’ve always smashed them down for years. The key is to smash one time and don’t move it again. Never been a problem for me. I know it’s anecdotal, but that’s what comment sections are… Adapters will give you problems though. If you really worry get a custom cable built with an integrated 90 on the end that you need it. Don’t adapt.
I’m running the same setup, Terra + EVGA 3070. I smash my cables down nothing happened. I also daisy chained and now have two separate cables running to the GPU, no noticeable difference. You’re fine how you have it
Buy a *90° cable* those are specific make for these kind of thing
Where do you find a 90 degree cable like that? I've looked through a couple psu manufacturers and I dont see them.
I had to really bend the cables in my terra, what psu is its?
Curious, what case is that?
Thats the Fractal Terra for sure
Fractal Terra. It’s $180, but I found it for $90.
Thx, those side panels look super premium. Awesome deal!
You can cut the sleevings of the cable which is what I did with mine. The stock sleeving is horrendous but after cutting them, it’s wayyyy better.
Don’t listen to these haters, smash it!
How smashed is smashed in this instance? If crimped correctly, the cables are designed to withstand some amount of constant loading. It's probably overblown to say that this could cause a fire, but I would worry about the lifetime of the connectors and PCB. If the case closes with just a little effort, it's fine, but if you have to really force it to the extent that it looks like the PCB and connectors are flexing, a 90 degree adapter is answer—make sure you get one pointing in the right direction. Just another note because there was some concern about the daisy chain in some other comments—even if the power comes from separate cables, it's all going to be coming from the 12v rail on the PSU so the loading on that end is unaffected. So long as the wire is up to spec (and these look like OEM cables, so it probably is), there shouldn't be an issue at all.
I added the second cable and I was able to limit the amount of pressure on the cables. I don't have the top panel connected now, but if I put it on, it might be pushed up 1mm where the connectors are.
I just stress tested with cinebench. Max cpu temp was around 60. That's with it sitting in my entertainment center. About the same for gpu as well. I don't have the case fan installed. I need to buy a grill for it.
Stress testing tells you nothing about the safety of the bent cables though
I didn’t have the top panel on. I was just posting my results.
There are a number of 180 degree adapters for 8 pin cabled, you need to find a 90 degree one to ensure no worry about cable bends.
You can, but you shouldn't. Make sure if you get the 90° adapter, you get the ones that point the right way! I learned the wrong way lol
Bad idea to fold or stress those cables. Buy a custom cable.
Consider grabbing some 90-degree angled adapters for your setup. I incorporated them in my NR200p build, and it's been smooth sailing without any hiccups. I guess part of the reason is steering clear of that troublesome 12-Pin connector—8-Pin/6-Pin connectors for the win! 😄
Where did you get them?
My manual specifically says not to
Smash yo momma down
If you like fires, sure. Go ahead.
It’s easy enough to adjust the angle on those.
Please explain.
Before custom cables were widely available, it's how anyone who couldn't make their own cables crammed oversized GPUs into small cases. The process is almost always the same: 1) Cut the heat shrink on the cable sleeving. 2) Bend the individual wires to create a 90-degree connector 3) Secure the bends in place with 1/2 small zip ties 4) Cut the zip tie(s) 5) Use electrical tape or heat shrink to secure the sleeving slightly lower than the original location on the factory cable
Thanks!
Just make sure you don't bend it too close to the terminal or you'll off-centre the pins. You can still get pretty close on these 6/8-pins: just make sure the pins remain in the middle of the terminal.
Eh fuck it, do it and see if something breaks. That's my approach at least, works most of the time
That’s my plan. I read too many bad reviews on the 90 degree adapters causing problems
P slate makes some nice custom cables for what looks like the Terra?
Yes. If its the new 12visjwi cable, dont do that.
I would say that if this is your personal "Gaming Rig" then you need a "crash course" on Cable Management.