What components do molex cables plug into?

[rohram04]

I am building a Pc and was wondering where I need to use molex cables. Just to make sure molex cables are 4 pin connectors right? Also how many molex cables do power supplies usually come with? I am planning to use an evga 450 watt 80+ bronze certified power supply. I want to put a hue+ in my build and was wondering what other parts rather than hue+ would need a molex connector to make sure I have enough. Also where can i find the "cables included" information for the evga power supply.

 

[why_wolf]

barely anything still uses molex, it's a really really old power standard that's been superseded by the sata power plug style.

In a normal modern build nothing uses molex anymore. Why nzxt used molex on their hue+ line is beyond me.

 

[rohram04]

K thanks. I won't need to use molex in anything rather than the next hue+ right? Also molex is a 4 pin connector right?

 

[why_wolf]

yes molex is the big fat 4 pins in a line connector.

All of your other power needs will be handled by the sata power plug or the traditional plugs that the motherboard and gpu use (they can't be confused or used on anything else)

 

[Eggz]

Molex is a legacy plug that most things don't use anymore, but certain components (e.g. coolers and lighting) still use it. EVGA makes only two 450 watt Bronze power supplies. Here is the instruction manual for one (i.e. B3 Series), and here is the instruction manual for the other (i.e. Bronze Series). Use whichever manual goes with your PSU to find out how many Molex connectors.

Based on a quick look, it seems like the B3 Series has three (3) molex connectors plus one going to an FDD adapter (for old-school floppy disks), and the Bronze Series appears to have the same setup.

Rather than trying to figure out if you have enough molex connectors, you can actually challenge yourself to use all three. I'll give you a high-five if your build needs more than one for your Hue. But in case you do need four or more, you can just buy a SATA to Molex Adapter for about $2 or $3. Your PSU only has two SATA plugs, but you can break each SATA plug out to three SATAs with one Molex using something like this for about $4.

As long as you don't exceed the rated power of your PSU, or of any individual plug (check manual for that), then you'll be fine. There are so many cable adapters that power is your only real limitation. Good luck!

 

[Themastererr]

A decent amount of liquid coolers still use Molex cable for aux power, although like Wolf said, most have converted to SATA power.

Another common use is converting a Molex to a Fan cable. You get a fan that operates at 100% operation without any interference. This is especially helpful on budget board that come with sparse connections.

You can see the connectors on EVGA's website. It looks like that particular model comes with three of them.

 

[rohram04]

K thanks to all of you guys. You are a huge help to me as I am nervous for my first build. Just want to make sure everything works fine and is compatible. You guys respond so quickly too. Thank you so much.