Corsair HX1000W PSU

Cables and Connectors

As you'd expect from a 1,000W PSU - it can power a lot. Included there's a whole load of cables so you can power a behemoth of a rig, however does Corsair supply enough and the right types? After all, one of our previous favourites - the Enermax DXX Galaxy 1,000W could power 18 SATA hard drives.

Supplied Cables

PSU Tethered:
• One black braided 60cm 24-pin ATX cable
  
• One black braided 60cm 4+4-pin EPS 12V cable
  
• Two black braided 60cm 6+2-pin PCI-Express cables
  
  Modular:
  
• One black braided 60cm 4+4-pin EPS 12V cable
  
• Two SATA cables with two connectors at 40cm and 50cm
  
• Two SATA cables with four connectors at 45cm, 55cm, 65cm and 75cm
  
• Two 60cm 6-pin PCI-Express cables
  
• Two 60cm 8-pin PCI-Express cables
  
• Two Molex cables with two connectors at 40cm and 50cm
  
• Two Molex cables with four connectors at 45cm, 55cm, 65cm and 75cm and a floppy connector at 85cm.

Corsair's cable braiding is of high quality and the glue used to hold the heatshrink in is stuck very well - no amount of finger tugging could move them.

The variation in cable lengths for the Molex and SATA is a bonus, and the dozen devices on each that it can support is certainly worthy of a 1,000W unit, however there are only six black sockets on the back and potentially eight cables, so a degree of pick'n'mix is needed.

The PCI-Express parts are kept separate though so no sacrifice is needed between graphics and peripherals, however all these cables are the same length and we don't know why Corsair has insisted on including the solid 8-pin connectors here, rather than just more 6+2-pins that are more compatible.

Instead of throwing the floppy connectors at the end of the already long Molex cables, we'd have like to have seen just simple Molex to floppy adapter(s) included in the box instead - at least this way if you never use one (most of us don't) you don't have to waste an entire cable and modular connector, and an adapter means it can put it exactly where you like, rather than have to string 85cm of cable around everything in order to use it.


The modular cables in particular look very smart. We're particularly fond of this all black flat type because it matches the black connectors and blends in well to the back of cases and can be easily folded out the way. Cable braiding restricts movement to a greater degree and to be honest, it's getting a bit too normal, or possibly old hat now.

Cunningly so you don't get confused, all the square plugged modular connectors like the EPS 12V and PCI-Express have a blue end and a black end - the blue goes into the PSU and the black (as usual) goes into the motherboard or your graphics card. This doesn't stop you picking up a black 6-pin cable and trying to plug it into a PCI-Express card, before you realise the other end has SATA connectors on it. Oh well, no real harm done (as long as no one else is looking).


The PCI-Express connectors also get a ferrite core over the cables and glued into place, in an extra effort to reduce voltage ripple on high power lines. The molex connectors have push-release bits of plastic on them and some of the SATA connectors are 90-degrees meaning they should fit more flush when you've hard drives in a row.

The only modular cable that is braided is the extra 4+4-pin EPS 12V cable. Corsair already includes a single 4+4-pin from the PSU itself, but if you use a workstation of server motherboard usually with multi-CPU, this could require an extra EPS cable and a 4+4-pin is the perfect connector for keeping the extra connector mess to a minimum while offering both the basic 4-pin or 8-pin.