I find this ironic about power supply cables!

[Rubycon]

Forever they were loose then they started sleeving them...

Then ribbon ones came out and these are more desirable! Yet when we had parallel ATA and SCSI cables it was desired to "round" them!

 

[Anubis]

TBH ive never seen a PS with ribbon cables, is that the new hotness now?

 

[Martimus]

Forever they were loose then they started sleeving them...

Then ribbon ones came out and these are more desirable! Yet when we had parallel ATA and SCSI cables it was desired to "round" them!

For me it would depend on how wide the ribbon is. If it is only 4 cables, then it would be fine. If it is 40 cables, then cable management becomes a problem just like it was with ribbon IDE cables.

 

[jonnyGURU]

Forever they were loose then they started sleeving them...

Then ribbon ones came out and these are more desirable! Yet when we had parallel ATA and SCSI cables it was desired to "round" them!

That just means rounded PSU cables are next.

 

[Rubycon]

That just means rounded PSU cables are next.

Actually the rounded braid ones used on OCZ ones in the past were very nice.

 

[alfa147x]

Links?

 

[SparkyJJO]

I guess I'm strange. I preferred the flat ribbon IDE cables over the rounded ones. That's because I would fold them to lay flat against the back or side of the case. The round ones always would just do their own thing, stick out, get in the way (especially the fat boots at each plug)....

I still have my trusty old NEC IDE DVD burner from 2006. Connected with a flat black ribbon cable

 

[llee]

That just means rounded PSU cables are next.

If by rounded you mean sleeved, then yes. PSU cables are noticeably thicker than their data counterparts. Making rounded PSU cables would be a pain in the ass to work with around the bends and corners of your case because of their increased diameter.

 

[ehume]

With some cases you can't get behind the MB tray without flat cables. Love to see a psu with flat cables.

 

[WoodButcher]

Links?

When ultra had the free after rebate thing going on most of their modular psu were flat.

I like them.

 

[Rubycon]

I think they are better but I cannot wait for the "molex" style connectors to die.

 

[ehume]

I think they are better but I cannot wait for the "molex" style connectors to die.

What would you recommend replace them?

 

[Rubycon]

What would you recommend replace them?

http://www.amphenol.com/markets/military_aerospace.html

Obviously cost would be an issue.

 

[ehume]

Amphenol. Lots of different connectors. Is there one in particular? Not the metal one, I hope.

 

[SparkyJJO]

I think they are better but I cannot wait for the "molex" style connectors to die.

What's wrong with molex?

I personally don't like SATA connectors. They just aren't very sturdy feeling, I have a friend that broke his off his hard drive by accident when he jarred the connection. The old 4 pin molex never would do that.

 

[Rubycon]

Amphenol. Lots of different connectors. Is there one in particular? Not the metal one, I hope.

Anything is better than the junk nylon ones they have now.

That's proven for decades!

What's wrong with molex?

I personally don't like SATA connectors. They just aren't very sturdy feeling, I have a friend that broke his off his hard drive by accident when he jarred the connection. The old 4 pin molex never would do that.

Plenty. They are not sturdy and the connection can breakdown suddenly leaving you with an unstable/broken system when your components on both sides are otherwise good. Simply unacceptable today with so called high end parts. (don't even get me started on $700 motherboards with junk-tastic realtek NICs. )

SATA cables and the connector parts are rather fragile however all my drives plug into backplanes. Optical drives are the only ones and I've yet to have an issue or break one.

 

[ehume]

I actually agree about the Molex connectors. They often end up failing to connect, and one pin may shove its opposite number out the back of the plug.

But I've had to deal with those metal things and I don't want any of them near my machines.

The availability of Molex has probably retarded the development of a better connector. Or more correctly, availability of Molex has probably retarded the choice of a better connector, since there are so many out there.Who decided on Molex for computers in the first place?

I'd like to see a non-conducting lightweight plug shell that has pins/sockets for the voltages we need, at the current (Amperage) we need it.

 

[SparkyJJO]

Out of all the computers I've had, worked on, etc (and that's a lot, I work in IT) I can count on one hand the number of molex failures

 

[ehume]

You must work with high quality equipment. Perhaps equipment that uses actual Molex "molex" plugs.

 

[Athadeus]

Ribbon cables are quite nice up to a certain width. A full width main power ribbon or PATA cable is too difficult to work with and blocks too much airflow. Similarly, sleeved rounded cables are great up to a certain diameter. Thankfully there are a decent number of choices is PSUs and cases that we can usually get nearly what we want.

 

[Modelworks]

I can't wait for the upcoming switch to 1 voltage for the entire pc. What we have now is holdover from older standards. A friend at a major power supply designer said the change was coming in a few years due to dc-dc conversion being so cheap and easy now. I don't think anything in the pc even uses 5v or 12v anymore except fans. It would mean only two wires for hard drives and dvd , more for motherboard or video card depending on the current needed. I imagine that if the new spec is the rumored 18vdc that the motherboard could run with just 4 or 6 wires.

 

[Rubycon]

You must work with high quality equipment. Perhaps equipment that uses actual Molex "molex" plugs.

Or stuff that's never touched.

Frequent changing of hardware is what's causing the problem. If your connectors are plugged in at initial assembly and never touched rarely will they fail.

The worst offenders are the four pin connectors used on hard drives. Especially plugging a splitter in and the male pins don't go in and when you use force they wind up getting pushed out the back.

I can't wait for the upcoming switch to 1 voltage for the entire pc. What we have now is holdover from older standards. A friend at a major power supply designer said the change was coming in a few years due to dc-dc conversion being so cheap and easy now. I don't think anything in the pc even uses 5v or 12v anymore except fans. It would mean only two wires for hard drives and dvd , more for motherboard or video card depending on the current needed. I imagine that if the new spec is the rumored 18vdc that the motherboard could run with just 4 or 6 wires.

Well it would be nice as it would be nice if the USA would use Metric measurements!

It will take years to get rid of the current system!

 

[Modelworks]

Well it would be nice as it would be nice if the USA would use Metric measurements!

Hey we tried to switch over about 20 years ago but it just didn't take

It will take years to get rid of the current system!

hehe :awe:

 

[ehume]

Re- Molex, I found this in Wikipedia:

Despite its widespread adoption, the connector has problems as a 30-year-old product. It is cumbersome and difficult to remove because it is held in place by friction instead of a latch, and some poorly constructed connectors may have one or more pins become unattached from the connector when plugged in.

Struth.

 

[SparkyJJO]

Or stuff that's never touched.

Frequent changing of hardware is what's causing the problem. If your connectors are plugged in at initial assembly and never touched rarely will they fail.

The worst offenders are the four pin connectors used on hard drives. Especially plugging a splitter in and the male pins don't go in and when you use force they wind up getting pushed out the back.

That's why you don't force things

Well it would be nice as it would be nice if the USA would use Metric measurements!

It will take years to get rid of the current system!

No. Just no. Metric is good for some things but day to day stuff, no.