Are you building your first computer?
And you got confused by seeing all the power supply cables?
Among the PSU cables, you see two identical cables marked one PCIe and another for EPS.
As they look the same, you wonder can you interchange these two?
I can empathize with you.
Recently, I built my own PC, and I encountered a dilemma.
So, I scratched through the internet to find the best suggestions and fortunately got one.
So read this article thoroughly, and you will get your answer and also some other valuable things.
Is it Possible to Use a PCI-e Cable for the CPU?
NO, its not possible to use PCI-e cable for powering the CPU.
The main cause is both PCIe cable, and EPS look the same but have different power factors.
When Building a desktop, you have to deal with various types of cable.
Different types of cable are used for different purposes because they all have different types of construction.
For example, The SATA cable is used for wiring the motherboard and the HDD.
The PCI-e connector has 3 12V lines and 5 ground lines.
On the other hand, the CPU power connector has 4 12V lines and 4 ground lines.
So there is a direct shortage of 12V.
So if you do this, in most cases, the CPU wont power up.
But in sudden cases, it can blast into your mouth.
What are the Types of Power Cables?
Cables are like a bridge.
They mainly connect two different components by wiring.
The PSU or the power cables are mainly used for supplying the power to different components.
The power cables are mainly divided intofivetypes.
However, some of them may look similar, but they are not interchangeable.
Most motherboards these days will require or use the 24-pin connector then the 20-pin connector.
But the GPU usually requires additional power.
The 20/24 ATX connectors are keyed and can only fit the motherboard.
The next cable to talk about is the CPU 8-pins or 4-pins EPS.
This connector provides power to the CPU socket.
Your PC will not be able to function without connecting the EPS cable.
There are a few different possibilities of what connectors your board may have.
Its possible to function your pc on 8-pin alone if you dont put too much pressure.
Because it only works with the graphics card to provide power.
Next here is the PCI express Cable, mainly known as PCI-e Cable.
ThePCI express cable is mainly for providing power to the GPU.
Now The ATX connector provides 75watts to the PCIe slots.
But high-end graphics cards will require more than 75w to function and maintain stability.
There are some low-end GPUs that can function at 75 watts.
However, for more Power-hungry GPUs, you gotta connect the 6-pin or 8-pin connector to function properly.
The PCI express cable comes in the form of a 6-pin+2pin connect with your power supply.
Usually, the 6pin provides the power and the additional 2pin for the Ground.
Your High-end GPU can require up to 2 of the 6-pin+2pin connectors.
This Cable power the SSD, HDD, and in some cases the DVD or CD drive.
They also power the RGB and the FAN hubs and also some AIO.
SATA cables usually have 16 pins with i shaped design.
But your M.2 SSD is not powered by it because of the M.2 SSD integrated port in your motherboard.
Molex cables were used for connecting the older motherboard, the fans, and some floppy disk drives.
Technically the Molex connector flows more power than the SATA cable.
It has 2 large pins of 12V and 5V.
But it is not suitable to use as the SATA.
So newer power supply replaces the Molex connector with a SATA cable.
PCI-e Cable vs. EPS Cable: Which One is Suited for CPU?
The PCI-e Cable and EPS Cable are almost identical.
They look so same as if there is no written tag, then you could not identify them.
But the PCI-e cable is for the GPU power, and the EPS cable is for the CPU.
The main reason is both of them provide different types of amounts of a volt.
So you cant interchange the PCIe and EPS cable.
Now you’re able to ask what will happen if you accidentally interchange them?
If you somehow forcefully plug up, either the GPU will fry or the processor will damage.
Types of PCI-e Cables:
The PCI-e Cable is used for powering up the GPU.
Because the motherboard cant fulfill the power need of the high-end GPU.
So the GPU can draw 75+75 watts of power.
The 150 watts is enough for most graphics cards.
The PEG cable used in the computers is also a 6-pin connector.
The 8-pin connector delivers 150watt of power to the GPU with a base of 75 watts.
For example, the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 needs 170watts of power.
So it has both a 6pin connector and an 8pin connector to fulfill the power needs.
There are some exceptional cases where there are two 8-pin connectors in some GPU.
That GPU overclocks better than other types of GPU.
With the release of NVIDIAs RTX 3000 series, the 12-pin connector is introduced into the market.
It is the same size as the 8-pin connector, but it draws more power.
BUT the available PSU in the market doesnt always have a 12-pin connector.
SO NVIDIA also releases the adapter to convert 2 6-pin connectors into one.
You cant technically interchange PCIe & EPS because of different power flow.
If You force them to interchange, then you will damage your system permanently.
And also now you know the consequences of doing so.
If you arise any kinds of questions fill free to ask me.
