24 & 4-pin mobo cable extensions, faux pas?

[Addikt]

I've seen on a few forums posts that using these is not suggested. Apparently it causes the cable run to be outside the specification lengths of the PSU. Is this true? Can extending the 24-pin and 4-pin connectors lead to damage to the motherboard?

 

[Meghan54]

Apparently it causes the cable run to be outside the specification lengths of the PSU.

What "specification lengths of the PSU" are you talking about....and care to link to the spec?

All I can find on formfactors.org, in the ATX12V Power Design Guide, referring to what I think you're asking is this:

There are no specific requirements for output wire harness lengths, as these are largely a function of the intended end-use chassis, motherboard, and peripherals. Ideally, wires should be short to minimize electrical/airflow impedance and simplify manufacturing, yet they should be long enough to make all necessary connections without any wire tension (which can cause disconnections during shipping and handling). Recommended minimum harness lengths for general-use power supplies are 280 mm for the +12 V power connector and 250 mm for all other wire harnesses. Measurements are made from the exit port of the power supply case to the wire side of the first connector on the harness.

So, I'd hazard a guess and say no....no problem using the extenders. Of course, they do add resistance to the picture, but not enough that a half decent power supply cannot deal with it. And my i7 920 running at 4GHz and using extenders on both the 24- and 8-pin connectors has had no problems in the 1.5 years its been using them.

 

[Addikt]

Thanks, I appreciate the response.

Honestly, I wouldn't be able to link the spec because I didn't even know there was one. I simply remember seeing a massive post on some hardware forum where two sides were battling it out on whether or not to use extension cables on the motherboard power adapters.

A lot of users claimed that it would cause flucuations in current and voltage spikes which could damage the hardware. It didn't really make sense to me, but many maintained doing a power connection over a long run would make the power supply work harder than it should.

That said, maybe it was just one big troll fest and I got sucked in.