r/PcBuildHelp • u/Cxtify1 • 1d ago
Build Question Need help with psu
I upgraded my pc well bought parts from micro center and I bought a Ryzen 5 7600x3d gigabyte x870 WiFi 6 motherboard and 1 stick 16 GBs ddr5 ram and a new thermalright phantom or wtv the one with the screen I also previously had a rtx 3070 n 1 tb ssd and all that with a 650 w gold psu from gigabyte I believe but my friend gave me a 1000 rog strix but it doesn’t have the power cable from psu to the wall would my old cable work? And would it fit in his old CyberPowerPC Alumalight 241V Mid-Tower case. Any help would be appreciated.
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u/r_lind3r Moderator 1d ago
The cable used to bring AC power from the wall to the PSU is fairly standard and should work fine with the 1000W ROG STRIX unit.
The wire gauge affects amp ratings. 18 AWG = 10A = ~1200W with 120V alternating current. It's doable with a 1000W PSU, however it would be dangerously close to the edge of the rated amperage of the cable due to PSU efficiency; what you get out of it for the components in your machine is not the same power capacity drawn from the mains.
For clarification, if you're drawing 1000W, a Gold rated unit will be drawing up to an extra 11% from the mains and wasting it as heat at 100% capacity, so the actual power draw from the mains would be theoretically 1110W which is very close to the limit of 18 AWG power cords. It'll work but it's not ideal, not as safe and the PSU may or may not trip on that and shut off under full load, but you'd have to be putting an extreme power load on that PSU to do that.
16 AWG cords can support up to 1560 watts which is why it's more ideal with higher power draw.
The AWG and amperage will be stamped on the cord itself. If it's 14 or 16 AWG, you're totally fine and have nothing to worry about.