My video card wiring...

[Mrvile]

Ok, my 460 Enermax PSU wiring is as goes:

1x long string with 3 Molex connectors
2x short string with 2 Molex connectors and 1 floppy connectors
1x 20-pin motherboard connector
1x "extras" string with 4-pin motherboard connector, auxiliary connector, etc.

So I only have three things in my case that need Molex connectors, two optical drives and the video card, so I figure I could get them all onto one string, since they're all within close proximity of one another, so I have all three of them on the long 3 Molex string. Is this cool? I mean, since the video card takes a lot of power, might it need to be on its own string, or is it ok to put it on a string with some other devices? Thanks.

 

[Mrvile]

Hmm...bump.

 

[Kogan]

I like to put as many devices on one set of molexes as I can so I can stuff as many cords as I can out of sight somewhere.

The video card companies like to recommend you put the video card on it's own wire/molex, but they also expect you to be using a cheap power supply. If you did have a cheap power supply with a lot of wattage running through one set of wires, the wires will get hot and possibly melt (typically, they'll melt the soldering job where the wires are connected internally in the power supply).

But with an enermax, you should be ok. I don't expect that optical drives use much power anyway even when in use. And if you can, it's always a good idea to have the video card on the first molex in the string that's closest to the power supply.

I actually run a hard drive and a 6800 on one set of molex's with a 300w enermax and haven't had any problems 🙂

 

[Mrvile]

Originally posted by: Kogan
I like to put as many devices on one set of molexes as I can so I can stuff as many cords as I can out of sight somewhere.

The video card companies like to recommend you put the video card on it's own wire/molex, but they also expect you to be using a cheap power supply. If you did have a cheap power supply with a lot of wattage running through one set of wires, the wires will get hot and possibly melt (typically, they'll melt the soldering job where the wires are connected internally in the power supply).

But with an enermax, you should be ok. I don't expect that optical drives use much power anyway even when in use. And if you can, it's always a good idea to have the video card on the first molex in the string that's closest to the power supply.

I actually run a hard drive and a 6800 on one set of molex's with a 300w enermax and haven't had any problems 🙂

I have the video card on the last Molex of the three...🙂 But rewiring them should be easy. The reason I asked is that I've gotten some random reboots lately while gaming, so I figured it might be this that's causing the problem. Although other people have also said it could be the video card overheating (it's a 6800Ultra running on a 6800GT heatsink). I getting watercooling for it soon anyway.