Cheap eBay CPU 4-Pin Power Extensions FAIL

[shovenose]

After two of these in a row melted in my friend's Server 2012 domain controller within six months (a lightly loaded self built 2U server with very good cooling based on a Xeon E3 processor) we upgraded to a higher quality cable. We cut one of the melted ones open (not pictured), and wow, it's maybe four strands of copper! What's amazing is that the wiring melted in three seperate places and at the connector. Ridiculous!



And no, I don't use any of these on my servers, before somebody asks.

[stj]

Re: Cheap eBay CPU 4-Pin Power Extensions FAIL

if your pulling serious current, you should crimp your own.

[kaboom]

Re: Cheap eBay CPU 4-Pin Power Extensions FAIL

We cut one of the melted ones open

Worse than "Deer shit."


Shoulda got extras and cut em open back when for "inspection."

[ChaosLegionnaire]

Re: Cheap eBay CPU 4-Pin Power Extensions FAIL

was this from a china ebay seller? cuz the chinese are infamous for doing shit like that. might wanna examine your supply line to trace where exactly it came from. copper is "expensive" so they penny pinch with that as much as they can. the result? kaboom lives up to the sound of its name. (no offense meant to kaboom, the guy)

its hard to trust stuff on ebay these days. too much chinese shit poisoning the supply lines. if it were me, i'd ghetto rewire some unused 16-18 awg ac cables and make my own cpu 4-pin extension like stj suggested. its even cheaper doing it that way... hahaha~ yea take that penny pinchers... if it still goes kaboom, i will self-terminate my own miserable existence with a 120v-240v transformer.

[shovenose]

Re: Cheap eBay CPU 4-Pin Power Extensions FAIL

was this from a china ebay seller? cuz the chinese are infamous for doing shit like that. might wanna examine your supply line to trace where exactly it came from. copper is "expensive" so they penny pinch with that as much as they can. the result? kaboom lives up to the sound of its name. (no offense meant to kaboom, the guy)

its hard to trust stuff on ebay these days. too much chinese shit poisoning the supply lines. if it were me, i'd ghetto rewire some unused 16-18 awg ac cables and make my own cpu 4-pin extension like stj suggested. its even cheaper doing it that way... hahaha~ yea take that penny pinchers... if it still goes kaboom, i will self-terminate my own miserable existence with a 120v-240v transformer.

yep, they came straight from china

[momaka]

Re: Cheap eBay CPU 4-Pin Power Extensions FAIL

Wow. Was the wire 20 AWG? I'm guessing it probably didn't have any labels either. I've seen this with the really dirt-cheap PSUs.

[ratdude747]

Re: Cheap eBay CPU 4-Pin Power Extensions FAIL

Wow. Was the wire 20 AWG? I'm guessing it probably didn't have any labels either. I've seen this with the really dirt-cheap PSUs.

Probably 22AWG. 20 is legal as per ATX standards IIRC.

[kc8adu]

Re: Cheap eBay CPU 4-Pin Power Extensions FAIL

take a magnet to those.
wait for it......copper washed steel!
i tossed several that came in in buggy machines.+12 ok on drive and pcie cables.
bsod and vrm getting hot on a board that usually runs cool.
+12 at vrm input around 7v!
i snipped a 4 pin off a junk supply and soldered it.

[momaka]

Re: Cheap eBay CPU 4-Pin Power Extensions FAIL

Probably 22AWG. 20 is legal as per ATX standards IIRC.

Oops, that statement of mine above meant to be Was the wire even 20 AWG?

take a magnet to those.
wait for it......copper washed steel!

No way!
That is absolute shit!

I have some really strong Neodymium magnets from a car throttle control - I can pickup a screw driver with them right through my hand. Should come handy if I come across suspicious wires in the future, thanks .

[caphair]

Re: Cheap eBay CPU 4-Pin Power Extensions FAIL

Random curiosity, when a high current supply line is used I've noticed thick multiple thin strands of copper and other times just one thick strand.

Is there a difference? I imagine multiple strands allow better flexibility but other than that?

[stj]

Re: Cheap eBay CPU 4-Pin Power Extensions FAIL

multiple strands will need a larger diameter to handle the same current, but the advantage is flexability.
if the power is not DC then it's a different story and you need lots of strands anyway.

[Topcat]

Re: Cheap eBay CPU 4-Pin Power Extensions FAIL

I havent seen that since the Clawhammer Athlon days....

[momaka]

Re: Cheap eBay CPU 4-Pin Power Extensions FAIL

if the power is not DC then it's a different story and you need lots of strands anyway.

To add to that...
Not only do you want more strands, but also have them isolated from each other. With high-frequency AC current, the electron flow moves almost entirely on the surface of the conductor. Therefore it doesn't matter how thick the wire is but rather its outer surface area size only. So to get more HF AC current through a thinner wire, the wire needs to have more and thinner strands than less strands that are thicker.

I havent seen that since the Clawhammer Athlon days....

Just curious... why that specific time period?