educate me on molex

Evatron · 27 Aug 2021 at 19:01

Hi,

i am struggling to understand what a 4 pin molex actually is. like i recently bought some fans and the molex adapter appears to support the idea of daisy chains so they can be on the same cable? does that mean it is safe to daisy chain molex between different drives? in my case i have the 2 fans and also a RW-DVD drive. would that be safe to have on 1 power cable? wouldnt the DVD drive have a different draw from the PSU?

Thanks.

demonix · 27 Aug 2021 at 19:26

It's more then likely less of a daisy chain and more of not losing molex connectors if you have another device that has a molex power connector, and the optical drive uses a SATA power connector so it won't be on the same cable (unless the molex connector is on a cable chain that ends with it).

Evatron · 27 Aug 2021 at 20:01

welllllllll actually its pre SATA. uses and IDE and audio cable.

gpuerrilla · 27 Aug 2021 at 20:18

What precision are you after here? It boils down to the gauge of the wire to determine the wattage or amps that line can carry. Its going back a bit as everything now is moving on (SATA, RGB, PCIe is taking over) but generally it supplied a 12v and a 5v cable with ground.

Yes it is safe to chain drives together and even tap off a case fan for neat case wiring.

Evatron · 27 Aug 2021 at 20:25

thanks

Tetras · 30 Aug 2021 at 00:34

Evatron said:
Hi,

i am struggling to understand what a 4 pin molex actually is. like i recently bought some fans and the molex adapter appears to support the idea of daisy chains so they can be on the same cable? does that mean it is safe to daisy chain molex between different drives? in my case i have the 2 fans and also a RW-DVD drive. would that be safe to have on 1 power cable? wouldnt the DVD drive have a different draw from the PSU?

Thanks.

Fans are only a few watts at most unless you're using some Delta monster from the 90s. DVDRW is usually less than 15-20 watts when burning, 5-10 when reading and 1-3 when idle. Laptop-style compact ones will be considerably less. If you want to be 100% safe, give the drive a different molex.

Evatron · 1 Sep 2021 at 06:21

Tetras said:
Fans are only a few watts at most unless you're using some Delta monster from the 90s. DVDRW is usually less than 15-20 watts when burning, 5-10 when reading and 1-3 when idle. Laptop-style compact ones will be considerably less. If you want to be 100% safe, give the drive a different molex.

i think thats best. its a pointless risk for what it is.