Is molex being phased out?

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konsole

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Obviously IDE hard and optical drives use molex and there are still plenty of those out there. Case fans use molex while some have the 3 pin connection for connecting straight to the motherboard. However since the trend in drives is towards sata will the case fans provide enough demand for the molex connection to continue on a while longer?
 
I don't see the molex connector going away any time soon.

Frankly, I don't think it's even worth worrying about. If anything, the desktop machine itself is more endangered than the molex 4-pin connector.
 
I don't think I've yet seen a power supply without a molex connection, but most modern PCs don't have a use for them. Since SATA uses the same voltages it's easy to convert between the two, so I'm sure that's largely the reason why Molex still remains in use if sparingly. Molex is completely redundant and will be phased out eventually, but will probably end up living as long as SATA.
 
Yeah, molex is a brand name that makes all kinds of connectors. Kinda like the name Band-Aid and we end up calling all of them Band-Aids.
 
I guess I can see limited number of power supplies having them for a few more years for people that still use IDE drives or 4-pin molex case fans, but after maybe 3 years I don't see the point in having this connection on power supplies

I can understand if you plan on using your IDE drives or 4-pin molex case fans for a few more years but what about those people that are building a new system now? My new system that I just finished building has no use for the 4-pin molex.
 
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konsole said:
I guess I can see limited number of power supplies having them for a few more years for people that still use IDE drives or 4-pin molex case fans, but after maybe 3 years I don't see the point in having this connection on power supplies

I can understand if you plan on using your IDE drives or 4-pin molex case fans for a few more years but what about those people that are building a new system now? My new system that I just finished building has no use for the 4-pin molex.
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They'll probably keep making and using them for years, it's just Molex won't be the oem on them.
 
Some 4-pin connections on my old case were total garbage and I could never get them plugged in without some of them popping out of the plastic sleeve. Made me want to kill whoever invented them.
 
BurningSkyline said:
I hope they downsize the connector. if they halved the size, it would be much better.
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The main use for the 4-pin molex connection is for IDE drives and I don't see why anybody would choose to buy an IDE drive over a Sata drive unless they were getting a really good deal. Sata is basically the downsize of the prior.
 
konsole said:
The main use for the 4-pin molex connection is for IDE drives and I don't see why anybody would choose to buy an IDE drive over a Sata drive unless they were getting a really good deal. Sata is basically the downsize of the prior.
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Not exactly, its still the same width, and its nowhere as easy to mod with as molex. If they just cut the H and W in half it would be great. :)
 
konsole said:
Obviously IDE hard and optical drives use molex and there are still plenty of those out there. Case fans use molex while some have the 3 pin connection for connecting straight to the motherboard. However since the trend in drives is towards sata will the case fans provide enough demand for the molex connection to continue on a while longer?
Click to expand...
Most new PSU's sold today have a mixture of Sata and Molex connectors incorporated in them....That alone answers your question.
 
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