PSU Wire Gauge, CPU Ground

Hello everyone!


First off, I posted this in the PSU section last night but as it's pretty quiet in that section I got told to cheekily post it in here too. (I'm in a slight hurry to get my pc back up and running again..)

I've been trying to sleeve/braid my modular cables with paracord and was failing miserably when I noticed that the reason for me not being able to get the cord (or heatshrink) into the plugs was that my new PSU (Bequiet Straight Power 700W) uses 16 AWG wires.

Of course, after pulling the same wire in and out of the plug two hundred thousand times it got a bit knackered and I had to bin it.

I thought I'd be a great idea (?..) to use the wires from the unused PCIe strand as they'd anyways be a tad shorter. [Top mount Case]

However, I've noticed that the 'double' wires are 18 AWG opposed to the 16 AWG of all the other wires.


Now (finally) my question;
Can I use the 18AWG wires for the CPU power ground after the original ones intended were 16AWG?


I'm assuming I'd be fine using them as the PCIe seems to carry two amps more according the the PSU manual, but I did want to check with somebody that maybe knows a bit more.

Many thanks!


Oh, and whilst I'm already here, can someone tell me if it matters if my grounds get mixed up from their factory config?
On the 2x4pin 12v connector for instance, they twist themselves in slightly confusing ways whilst the signal wires run nicely parallel to each other.
pins
1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8
connect to pins
3 - 4 - 2 - 1 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8

I guess as they're common ground I should be able to run them straight 1-1 2-2 etc?
I'm pretty sure that I'm lost in translation though!

The gauge difference should be fine, especially as it's for a short length so V-droop won't be an issue.

Can't help with the other question though, sorry

Thanks!

Well, it's 60cm, so I guess more likely 'normal' length in PC terms.
I do have the feeling it'd be fine but wanted to hear it from others too before I commit.

That's fine, I'll leave it as it is, can still change it later but unless I look at my cables closely I won't notice anyways. Plus, I hope I'll be looking at my monitor soon again.

Any ground can go to any ground as they'll be all wired to a common ground bus on the PSU.

Tealc said:

Any ground can go to any ground as they'll be all wired to a common ground bus on the PSU.

Click to expand...

Would that also apply to the P4 12V wires? I totally confused myself with the diagram I drew. I'm pretty sure that I took one wire out at the time but my end result doesn't match the diagram I drew before I started. The error could be on either end..

This can only end well.

The 12v for a single connector would likely be common too. All 12v may be common in fact, it depends on PSU and whether it has single or multiple 12v rails.