I really hate sleeved PSU cables, but I can't find non-sleeved ones

[Assimilator]

Remember when PSUs used ribbon cables for everything? Remember how easy it was to route those cables because of their smooth plastic coating and bendiness?

Now we have the "innovation" of sleeved cables. Which get stuck on any sharp edge or protruding screw on a chassis and tear the sleeving and look atrocious while you're trying to route them, and the sleeving makes them stupidly thick and bulky so it's difficult to bend them into the nooks and crannies you need them to go. It also really helps (/s) that the biggest and bulkiest cables (ATX, EPS, GPU) are the ones that get the sleeving.

What happened to good old ribbon cables? I'm talking about the flat ones that we still get with SATA power connectors. I remember years ago I had a PSU that used those cables for everything and it was awesome. They were simple, looked good, and worked well. You can still find such cables on specialist sites like ModDIY e.g. https://www.moddiy.com/products/Corsair-Style-12-Conductor-Flat-Ribbon-Cable-Wire-(18AWG-Black).html but that obviously has no connectors, is 18AWG instead of 16AWG, and is also not in white.

Does anyone know where I can find these mythical unicorns, fully assembled? Or at least where I can buy 16AWG 12- and 4-strand ribbon cable in white?

 

[Bill_Bright]

What happened to good old ribbon cables?

They got in the way of good air flow through the case. So they did away with them, and frankly, that was smart. Flat ribbon cables could bend, but that also meant they could kink - not good.

If your braided cables are getting stuck on sharp edges, blame the braiding - or the sharp edge.

As for looks, I never thought flat ribbon cables looked good - except, maybe in laptops feeding the monitors where they really served a good purpose.

What you need to do is next time buy a case that supports good cable management.

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi,
Corsair still sells flat cables with all their psu's think the store sells sets to
Think they're cheap looking frankly I perfer bunched sleeving like evga packs in their psu's
Only the custom corsair cables need wire combs.

 

[The red spirit]

Perhaps look for "OEM" PSUs. When I bought my FSP power supply, it was sort of OEM power supply, but at same time it was perfectly standard ATX unit. FSP is still huge in OEM PSU business. There are other OEM brands too, but I'm not aware of them selling such power supplies. The only disadvantage is that they come without any box, meaning no screws, manual, bad, power cable. That also likely means no modular PSUs either.

They got in the way of good air flow through the case.

What? If you route and manage them properly they are exactly the same as unsleeved ones.

 

[Bill_Bright]

If you route and manage them properly they are exactly the same as unsleeved ones.

Exactly the same? Not even. With a quality case that has good behind-the-motherboard cable management options, you can minimize air flow restrictions - depending on the location and orientation of the motherboard's main power connection. But any way you look at it, a flat 24-pin main power cable is much wider than every round main power cable out there. Therefore, they have a greater impact on air flow. Will there be exceptions? Of course. But anecdotal exceptions don't make the rule.

The question asked was, "what happened to... ...ribbon cables". With that question in mind, I stick to my answer. They "got in the way of good air flow". So for that reason, as well as aesthetics, PSU makers got rid of them.

 

[Jetster]

Corsair and Super Flower have flat plastic cables with no sleeve. Hard as F to bend but no sleeve. I like to heat them up a little to route them
I used to know where to get cables. I'll see if I can find it

EDIT" Here ya go for custom cables with no sleeve

https://www.btosinte.com/main.sc

 

[caroline!]

Remember when PSUs used ribbon cables for everything? Remember how easy it was to route those cables because of their smooth plastic coating and bendiness?

Heh. Remember when PSUs used the proper colours for each wire so you didn't had to poke around with a multimeter every time you wanted to know what voltage each wire had? I do.
I know, "just search for the pinout, duh", but it's easier to see a yellow wire and know it's 12V.

I've grown to hate ribbon cables though, particularly SATA ones as the spacing between each connector is always too much or not enough and that's a problem when you have to plug in 9 hard drives and 3 ODDs, I have to start bending it in weird shapes so that it fits and eventually the wires will simply snap off the connectors.

 

[The red spirit]

Exactly the same? Not even. With a quality case that has good behind-the-motherboard cable management options, you can minimize air flow restrictions - depending on the location and orientation of the motherboard's main power connection. But any way you look at it, a flat 24-pin main power cable is much wider than every round main power cable out there. Therefore, they have a greater impact on air flow. Will there be exceptions? Of course. But anecdotal exceptions don't make the rule.

The question asked was, "what happened to... ...ribbon cables". With that question in mind, I stick to my answer. They "got in the way of good air flow". So for that reason, as well as aesthetics, PSU makers got rid of them.

I was talking about ketchup and mustard standard cables, not those weird Corsair flatties. Those are just awful and not standard. And there weren't any ribbon PSU cables ever. Only IDE cables, which were for data only.

 

[Bill_Bright]

I was talking about ketchup and mustard standard cables

So was I but it doesn't matter. Flat ribbon cables are like giant sails.

And there weren't any ribbon PSU cables ever.

What? Total nonsense.

 

[Vario]

I really like the cables on my Seasonic 660 XP2 Platinum, they are all flat, unsleeved, and black, with the exception of the 24pin.

 

[cvaldes]

I really like the cables on my Seasonic 660 XP2 Platinum, they are all flat, unsleeved, and black, with the exception of the 24pin.
View attachment 248942

I have two Seasonic Focus Gold power supplies and they have the same shape cables. Only the 24-pin mobo cable is sleeved and round.

My memory is a hazy but I believe cables on Nineties-era PSUs weren't flat but they were unsleeved often with multi-colored wires (mostly black, red, yellow and maybe white). Most of the ribbon cables were internal data cables: IDE, SCSI, parallel, etc. Those were nearly always light grey.

Pretty ugly but back then PC cases didn't have tempered glass windows. I remember the first PC cases with windows. They were ugly AF with some small plexiglas pane and a huge rubber gasket in the side panel. But yeah, a great novelty.

There are third-party PSU cable extensions that provide this type of cable aesthetic but you need to find room in your case to accommodate them like this:

https://www.amazon.com/Zezzio-Extension-Power-Cable-Supply/dp/B08PKJKFKN

One can order a custom unsleeved motherboard cable from places like CableMod.com.

It looks like a Nineties-style rat's nest unless you use cable combs.

Unless you have the right shaped chassis, the flat 24-pin motherboard power cables are rather annoying, particularly with cases that have cable management channels (like the NZXT cases) that are designed for round power cables.

 

[Athlonite]

The Enermax Revolution XT II has flat cables as do Corsair and Seasonic and Silverstone so there's plenty of choice there

 

[eidairaman1]

Remember when PSUs used ribbon cables for everything? Remember how easy it was to route those cables because of their smooth plastic coating and bendiness?

Now we have the "innovation" of sleeved cables. Which get stuck on any sharp edge or protruding screw on a chassis and tear the sleeving and look atrocious while you're trying to route them, and the sleeving makes them stupidly thick and bulky so it's difficult to bend them into the nooks and crannies you need them to go. It also really helps (/s) that the biggest and bulkiest cables (ATX, EPS, GPU) are the ones that get the sleeving.

What happened to good old ribbon cables? I'm talking about the flat ones that we still get with SATA power connectors. I remember years ago I had a PSU that used those cables for everything and it was awesome. They were simple, looked good, and worked well. You can still find such cables on specialist sites like ModDIY e.g. https://www.moddiy.com/products/Corsair-Style-12-Conductor-Flat-Ribbon-Cable-Wire-(18AWG-Black).html but that obviously has no connectors, is 18AWG instead of 16AWG, and is also not in white.

Does anyone know where I can find these mythical unicorns, fully assembled? Or at least where I can buy 16AWG 12- and 4-strand ribbon cable in white?

Seasonic use ribbon cables

I really like the cables on my Seasonic 660 XP2 Platinum, they are all flat, unsleeved, and black, with the exception of the 24pin.
View attachment 248942

My PSU and focus line are the same way.

 

[Lenne]

Haven't those "liquorice mat" cables been a thing for ages? Even Corsair HX620 from 2006 had its modular cables as ribbon ones, the hardwired ones were mustard and ketchup though.

 

[eidairaman1]

Haven't those "liquorice mat" cables been a thing for ages? Even Corsair HX620 from 2006 had its modular cables as ribbon ones, the hardwired ones were mustard and ketchup though.

For me Since 2014 when I jumped from my Athlon XP to the Sig Rig.

 

[mechtech]

Most cables suck. I’d like to have something like sjoow extension cord. Round. Very flexible. Just use them forever.