A quick question regarding rails on the PSU

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AzNs3nSaT1On

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#1 AzNs3nSaT1On
Member since 2005 • 921 Posts

Hi, I was wondering that when companies advertise that a power supply have multiple rails, how do you know which modular/cable connection is on which rail. They never label it at the back of the PSU. I personally have the antec TruePower Quattro 1000w power supply and the only difference I see is that some modular PCI-e connections have red modular connection instead of black. This has been bugging me for a long time and any help would be appreciated.

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AzNs3nSaT1On

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#2 AzNs3nSaT1On
Member since 2005 • 921 Posts
bump, anybody? or is it simply because nobody owns this PSU
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illharmonics

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#3 illharmonics
Member since 2005 • 5470 Posts
it's not necessarily that each connection pertains to a certain rail. that psu only has four +12V rails, so i think certain group of components are spread across different rails. i am not going to lie, i don't really know my electrical stuff as well as i should. but to answer your question, the red PCI-e cables probably run on their own rail to efficiently supply them with the proper power that a gpu needs.
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RayvinAzn

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#4 RayvinAzn
Member since 2004 • 12552 Posts
The red connections are for PCI-e, the other black ones are for Molex/SATA power cables, but I don't believe there's any harm in switching them around. Keeping in mind that the red connectors are intended for PCI-e and the black ones are for Molex/SATA power, here's how the rail distribution of the Quattro is set up: +12v1 = CPU power connectors (4-pin ATX and 8-pin EPS) +12v2 = All the black modular connections +12v3 = Main 24-pin cable, one of the modular PCI-e connectors, and one of the attached PCI-e connectors +12v4 = One modular and one attached PCI-e cable It's a bit different than standard, but not too weird.
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LordEC911

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#5 LordEC911
Member since 2004 • 9972 Posts
If it isn't listed somewhere with the PSU the only way you know for sure is to take the unit apart, which you don't want to do. JonnyGuru reviews a lot of PSUs, so it is usually best to check there first even before you buy a PSU.
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AzNs3nSaT1On

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#6 AzNs3nSaT1On
Member since 2005 • 921 Posts
wow thanks a lot for the help guys, I would give +rep if gamespot offered it.