Do you enjoy building computers or are you looking for budget solutions when you don’t have the right cable on hand? A YouTuber has shown why this can be really dangerous for you and your hardware.
Your power supply offers enough power for your hardware, but not enough suitable connections? Many users tend to use a SATA to 8-pin adapter here, as power supplies often provide more than enough SATA connections. Using these connections with the help of an adapter for power supply seems reasonable at first.
However, a YouTuber has demonstrated and explained why these adapters can pose a real danger to your hardware. Many users are not even aware of the risks associated with such adapters, especially at a time when graphics cards are extremely expensive or hardly available.
A wrong cable can pose a high risk for you and your computer
What kind of connections are we talking about? Many modern graphics cards require an additional power connection. For this, an 8-pin cable is connected directly from the power supply to the graphics card.
However, if you are using an older power supply and buy a new graphics card, you may notice that the power supply does not provide enough 8-pin connections. An adapter that connects to the power supply via SATA is supposed to be the way out of having to buy a new power supply. This is about SATA power cables and not data cables; the data cables look different.
But according to the YouTuber “Dawid Does Tech Stuff,” such an adapter can have truly fatal consequences. The YouTuber regularly tests PC hardware, such as whether it’s worth buying gaming PCs from Chinese providers.
The adapter cables are not suitable for this purpose:
- SATA connections provide a maximum power of 54 watts.
- 8-pin connections that you connect to the graphics card provide up to 150 watts.
What is the problem? If you now connect an adapter where two SATA connections are supposed to supply the 8-pin of the graphics card with power, you are underpowering the connection. This means that where the graphics card wants 150 watts, it only gets 108 watts with the adapter.
If the graphics card needs significantly more power under full load, it will fully use the 150 watts. However, this is not possible with the adapter since you only get a maximum of 108 watts through the two SATA connections.
The YouTuber also shows this in his video: under load, the adapter becomes warm to hot, and the temperatures of the adapter rise above 50 degrees. But not only the adapter is stressed; the power supply also becomes very hot and is put under pressure by this action. We have embedded the video here for you.
With a wrong cable, at best, the cable will melt
What happens when you use such a cable? In the best case, only the graphics card crashes. But if you are unlucky, the cable will melt, and in the worst case, you will have a smoldering fire in your PC.
On reddit and Amazon, negative reviews about “poorly manufactured” cables are piling up (via reddit.com). In the reddit post, you can also see a melted adapter along with the card.
In most cases, neither the cable, Amazon, nor the provider are to blame. Many users are not even aware that they are subjecting the cable and their power supply to a much too high load. You can accuse the provider of not indicating that the cable is not suitable for that purpose.
Buy a new power supply instead of a cheap adapter
You should never just plug things together without being aware of the possible risks. If you need an additional 8-pin connection for your graphics card, it is best to buy a new power supply with a higher power rating.
The costs range from 40 to 60 euros, but you minimize the risk of ruining your hardware with a wrong cable. This happens quickly when you want to upgrade an old PC and the installed power supply does not provide enough connections.
Can it cause damage if I turn off the power strip at the PC?
