8 Pin PCIe Cable Capacitors

[wadgra]

I have a Silverstone Strider Gold 1000W and my 8 Pin PCIe PSU cables have a capacitor on them, the 8 pin to dual 6+2 pin cables as well as the regular 8 to 8 pin cables... I want to know if there is any significant purpose for this, or would I be safe to buy some quality extension cables sleeved in the color I want and change over the male connector to female pins and connector.

I suck at sleeving, so I'm trying to avoid this. I've looked all over the net for days, and haven't yet found a straight answer to this question, if anyone could fill me in, this would be great!

 

[mbarnes86]

Hi

are you sure they are capacitors ? do they have any writing on them (farads & volts etc) ?

they may be cylindrical ferrite magnets designed to reduce interference (often found on better quality cables such as:- usb, VGA graphics etc

regards

Mike Barnes

 

[delluser1]

I have a Silverstone Strider Gold 1000W and my 8 Pin PCIe PSU cables have a capacitor on them, the 8 pin to dual 6+2 pin cables as well as the regular 8 to 8 pin cables... I want to know if there is any significant purpose for this, or would I be safe to buy some quality extension cables sleeved in the color I want and change over the male connector to female pins and connector.

I suck at sleeving, so I'm trying to avoid this. I've looked all over the net for days, and haven't yet found a straight answer to this question, if anyone could fill me in, this would be great!

Read the review for another Enhance built psu, should explain it for you
http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story&reid=177

 

[wadgra]

Hi

are you sure they are capacitors ? do they have any writing on them (farads & volts etc) ?

they may be cylindrical ferrite magnets designed to reduce interference (often found on better quality cables such as:- usb, VGA graphics etc

regards

Mike Barnes

There is a ferrite magnet on it, but there is also a capacitor wired onto 2 of the cables, reading
16v, 2200uf, kze
(M)105 celsius (im assuming is temperature threshold), 0(7), 3x

 

[wadgra]

Read the review for another Enhance built psu, should explain it for you
http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story&reid=177

Thanks for posting this!
I'm going to have to look into some reviews of my own strider gold and see if it's the same deal as the "power cache".
I really hope it isn't... It would be hella weak if I either had to use extensions on top of my psu cables which wastes tons of space, or re-sleeve my psu cables just to get the right look... Or the not-a-chance-in-hell option #3 and spend 200 DOLLARS on a sleeved version of my cables that are part of a whole replacement cable pack...

Adding to this thread, does anyone know of a place to buy PCIe cables with said capacitors on them (custom sleeved) that can be bought individually? Everywhere I found them, they are only sold in silverstone cable packs forcing me to buy the whole replacement cable pack... And I only use half of my modular cables anyhow, making a purchase like that a ludicrous waste of money.

 

[sk1939]

Thanks for posting this!
I'm going to have to look into some reviews of my own strider gold and see if it's the same deal as the "power cache".
I really hope it isn't... It would be hella weak if I either had to use extensions on top of my psu cables which wastes tons of space, or re-sleeve my psu cables just to get the right look... Or the not-a-chance-in-hell option #3 and spend 200 DOLLARS on a sleeved version of my cables that are part of a whole replacement cable pack...

Adding to this thread, does anyone know of a place to buy PCIe cables with said capacitors on them (custom sleeved) that can be bought individually? Everywhere I found them, they are only sold in silverstone cable packs forcing me to buy the whole replacement cable pack... And I only use half of my modular cables anyhow, making a purchase like that a ludicrous waste of money.

Do your cables really need to be sleeved?

 

[wadgra]

Do your cables really need to be sleeved?

LOL!
There is always one person in every thread just like you sk1939...
I didn't ask for counter-productive rhetoric, and yea, they do, every single other cable has been purchased, and I like my gear to look as kick ass as it is.

 

[sk1939]

LOL!
There is always one person in every thread just like you sk1939...
I didn't ask for counter-productive rhetoric, and yea, they do, every single other cable has been purchased, and I like my gear to look as kick ass as it is.

I wasn't poo-pooing the idea, merely wondering if it was more trouble than it is worth. The problem with modular cables are that they are manufacture specific, generally in relation to the connections, and in this case it is most certainly so due to the electronics on the cable itself. I also didn't realise that your cables were pre-sleeved and you were looking at extensions. As far as your PSU goes, I found this about it: " Each PCI-E cable includes a filter capacitor on the PSU end to eliminate the buzzing noise that is sometimes experienced with various graphic card combinations." Basically it's a noise filter, meaning that if you add an extension on to the existing cable it should work fine, but replacing the original entirely may introduce EMI into your system.

 

[ko888]

Thanks for posting this!
I'm going to have to look into some reviews of my own strider gold and see if it's the same deal as the "power cache".
I really hope it isn't... It would be hella weak if I either had to use extensions on top of my psu cables which wastes tons of space, or re-sleeve my psu cables just to get the right look... Or the not-a-chance-in-hell option #3 and spend 200 DOLLARS on a sleeved version of my cables that are part of a whole replacement cable pack...

Adding to this thread, does anyone know of a place to buy PCIe cables with said capacitors on them (custom sleeved) that can be bought individually? Everywhere I found them, they are only sold in silverstone cable packs forcing me to buy the whole replacement cable pack... And I only use half of my modular cables anyhow, making a purchase like that a ludicrous waste of money.

It is exactly the same deal as the "power cache" because Enhance Electronics is the OEM for both of those models.

It looks like a platform design screw-up by Enhance Electronics that is being propagated in their customers' products.

 

[delluser1]

Thanks for posting this!
I'm going to have to look into some reviews of my own strider gold and see if it's the same deal as the "power cache".
I really hope it isn't... It would be hella weak if I either had to use extensions on top of my psu cables which wastes tons of space, or re-sleeve my psu cables just to get the right look... Or the not-a-chance-in-hell option #3 and spend 200 DOLLARS on a sleeved version of my cables that are part of a whole replacement cable pack...

Adding to this thread, does anyone know of a place to buy PCIe cables with said capacitors on them (custom sleeved) that can be bought individually? Everywhere I found them, they are only sold in silverstone cable packs forcing me to buy the whole replacement cable pack... And I only use half of my modular cables anyhow, making a purchase like that a ludicrous waste of money.

Like ko stated

It is exactly the same deal as the "power cache" because Enhance Electronics is the OEM for both of those models.

"Power Cache" is just Antecs marketing dept. in high gear

" Each PCI-E cable includes a filter capacitor on the PSU end to eliminate the buzzing noise that is sometimes experienced with various graphic card combinations."

Page 3 of the review gives a better explanation than this

 

[sk1939]

Page 3 of the review gives a better explanation than this

True, although it's basically noise and 12V ripple suppression due to either a design flaw or component limits. Basically, your gear isn't going to be very happy without the OEM cables.

 

[delluser1]

True, although it's basically noise and 12V ripple suppression due to either a design flaw or component limits. Basically, your gear isn't going to be very happy without the OEM cables.

Wasn't coming down on you for your post, sorry if it seemed that way.
What you posted is the generalized version of the reason for the capacitors, I provided the link to the review simply because it provides a better explanation and gives a graphic to help make it easier to understand why it's done.

 

[wadgra]

Sorry If I came off rude sk1939, I really appreciate all the replies! As always tom's hardware is the place to go to find people who can always help with a tech question!

Its disappointing that I have to use extensions on top of the oem cables to get the look that I'm driving for...

Guess I better sharpen up on my sleeving skills!

Still I'm gonna keep this thread open for a couple more days to see if anyone knows of a place that sells custon sleeved silverstone strider psu cables that I can buy individually... Will choose a best answer in a couple days, Thanks guys, you were all helpful! Sorry for any miscommunications!

 

[sk1939]

Sorry If I came off rude sk1939, I really appreciate all the replies! As always tom's hardware is the place to go to find people who can always help with a tech question!

Its disappointing that I have to use extensions on top of the oem cables to get the look that I'm driving for...

Guess I better sharpen up on my sleeving skills!

Still I'm gonna keep this thread open for a couple more days to see if anyone knows of a place that sells custon sleeved silverstone strider psu cables that I can buy individually... Will choose a best answer in a couple days, Thanks guys, you were all helpful! Sorry for any miscommunications!

Try here, although I know nothing about the company.

http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=34_1066_186

 

[wadgra]

Try here, although I know nothing about the company.

http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=34_1066_186

Actually, I can vouch for performance-pc's, I have ordered all my mod gear through here already, unfortunately, the silverstone cable packs are 45 bucks, 99 dollars more for custom sleeved, and 50 dollar delivery... This is where I got my 200 dollar price estimate from! LOL! Thanks for keepin' your eyes open man! But still lookin for a place that's cheaper in the sense that I can order just the 8 pin PCIe cables custom sleeved...

 

[sk1939]

Actually, I can vouch for performance-pc's, I have ordered all my mod gear through here already, unfortunately, the silverstone cable packs are 45 bucks, 99 dollars more for custom sleeved, and 50 dollar delivery... This is where I got my 200 dollar price estimate from! LOL! Thanks for keepin' your eyes open man! But still lookin for a place that's cheaper in the sense that I can order just the 8 pin PCIe cables custom sleeved...

Extensions just in case:

http://www.frozencpu.com/cat/l3/g2/c537/s1538/list/p1/Cables-Bitfenix_Alchemy_Multisleeved-Alchemy_8-Pin_PCI-E_Ext-Page1.html

http://www.frozencpu.com/cat/l3/g2/c537/s1537/list/p1/Cables-Bitfenix_Alchemy_Multisleeved-Alchemy_6-Pin_PCI-E_Ext-Page1.html

 

[wadgra]

Best answer selected by wadgra.

 

[wadgra]

The problem with modular cables are that they are manufacture specific, generally in relation to the connections, and in this case it is most certainly so due to the electronics on the cable itself. I found this about it: " Each PCI-E cable includes a filter capacitor on the PSU end to eliminate the buzzing noise that is sometimes experienced with various graphic card combinations." Basically it's a noise filter, meaning that if you add an extension on to the existing cable it should work fine, but replacing the original entirely may introduce EMI into your system.

I chose this as the best answer, because although reading that PSU review did fill in some blanks, I ended up getting contacted back by Silverstone, and this answer was more or less identical to what they said.