CableMod PSU Cable Kit Review

CableMod PSU Cable Kit Review

Manufacturer: CableMod
UK price (as reviewed): £69.99 (inc VAT)
US price (as reviewed): $89.95 (ex Tax)

We've reviewed a couple of pre-braided cable sets here at bit-tech. Shackmods' nylon stranded braided extension cables are pretty awesome-looking and available in multi-coloured options while many manufacturers such as Corsair offer their own pre-braided kits that actually replace the stock cables your PSU came with.

The former might offer plenty of customisation but extension cables aren't ideal as you still need to use your stock cables for things to work. Corsair's own cable sets are perhaps a better option but the colours are fairly limited. We're pretty sure that you're reading this because you don't want to have to go through the hassle of doing it yourself and having done this ourselves a few times, we'd sooner opt for a pre-braided kit too.

 

Click to enlarge

Thankfully, if you're after more than just a plain colour and you don't want any sign of heatshrink at the end of the cables like many replacement kits use, then CableMod may have just the thing for you. Its kits replace your PSU's original modular cable set and at time of writing, it offers sets that are compatible with an impressive 56 PSU models from Corsair, EVGA, Seasonic and XFX - you can see the full list of compatible PSUs here.

Click to enlarge

We're looking at the C-Series red and black kit, with 'C' indicating it's compatible with Corsair PSUs, specifically those in the AXi, HXi and RM series. In the kit you get the full complement of cables:

• 1 x 24-pin ATX Cable (600mm)
• 2 x 4+4-pin EPS Cable (700mm)
• 2 x Dual 6+2-pin PCI-e Cable (750mm)
• 4 x 6+2-pin PCI-e Cable (600mm)
• 1 x Quad SATA Power Cable (850mm)
• 1 x Quad SATA Power Cable (700mm)
• 2 x Dual SATA Power Cable (500mm)
• 1 x Triple 4-Pin Molex Cable (750mm)
• 2 x Dual 4-Pin Molex Cable (500mm)
• 1 x Molex to Floppy Adapter (100mm)

 

Click to enlarge

The first thing that struck us, apart from the neat and slightly luscious packaging, was how flexible the cables are. Some kits we've seen have been very stiff, but these are based on a super-dense cloth braid that allows the underlying cables to be completely covered using less material. It's very noticeable when routing the cables through a case. 

 

Click to enlarge

Nylon-based braid aren't prone to catching like cloth-based braid but can be very stiff and other kits we've seen use a lot of material so the cables end up being quite chunky with most requiring the use of black heatshrink too. The downside is that it ends up being too thin for cable combs from the likes of E22, but you can't have everything we suppose.

 

Click to enlarge

The connectors that CableMod has chosen remove the need for this so it's a seamless move from connector to braid, although we freely admit that some people do like a neat row of heatshrink-clad cables. We've used an AX860i here and there were a few cables left over as there obviously aren't as many connectors as on the higher-wattage models. Something that will also please a few people out there is the fact the SATA and Molex connectors can all lay flush on a flat surface - if your SSD or hard disk mounts straight to the bottom or side of a case, only the end connectors of the stock cables on most PSUs can fit - here they're all able cater for these situations.

There are currently 10 different colours and combinations ranging from black or black plus either blue, green, orange or red, as well as plain versions of those colours or just plain white. What we'd love to see next are some white plus X colour variations given the awesome eye-candy we saw last year in various white-themed PC mods. The connectors feel of higher quality too - fewer sharp edges plus they have larger mounting clips that are easier to use and less grating on your fingers. 

Conclusion

Finally, there's the price. At £70 they cost nearly as much as a Corsair RM650 PSU although Corsair's own coloured replacement kits actually cost even more as they don't include a 24-pin ATX cable, which you have to purchase separately. However, there are a couple of things to remember here. Doing an entire PSU cable set yourself will literally take an entire weekend, especially with the larger PSUs, so you have to weigh that against the cost of the cable kit. Also, you've probably seen entire project log updates of some poor soul that's just finished modding his PSU. Could pre-braided cables be considered cheating? Probably so, but in this case, you have our express permission to cut some corners.

In addition, the separate parts including the PSU modding tools, braid and heatshrink will likely set you back around half this cost, if not more. The only downsides, then, that we can see are the lack of a sense of achievment (and sore fingers) having done it yourself and also the fact that the range of colours, while fairly extensive, isn't enough to satisfy those hell-bent on colour-matching or want something that looks totally unique. Colour coordination is important after all - we hope CableMod introduces more colours and mixes in the future. If one of the variations already available suits you, though, then these are some of the best-looking pre-braided kits money can buy.