****** - Verified Buyer
4.5
These splitters are of typical good quality, not as flimsy and damageable as many I've received in the bundles of little parts that sometimes comes with hardware purchases such as motherboards or cases.Note that you can use one of these just as an extension cord alone, but given that it has the capability of yielding two power sources from one source, it is especially useful, and especially if you are buying it to have an extra power cable for unknown future purposes (which might require a splitter, or might simply require an extension).If you use only one of the two output cables, you'll want to remember to tie up the unused wire very securely to keep it from getting into other stuff such as fans inside your case or coming to rest upon a very scalding hot chip that could melt the insulation of any such cable.In fact, the length of these wires is such that whether you use both output cables or just one, you'd likely be better off tying excess cable length to make it so that it won't cause problems if moving around inside later, not only when you might move your computer, but even just from the vibrations caused by internal fans (to which these cables would presumably be attached). Of course, you don't want to tie it off so tightly that there is pressure upon the connectors, nor so much that you cannot easily plug and unplug it. But I suggest looking carefully, and even moving the cable around after you connect everything but before you close up your case to discover all the ways it might move to undesirable locations (&, as noted, remember that the surfaces of some chips get quite extremely hot ! So it's not just moving parts you have to avoid).The length is likely more than most people would even need. I have a full tower, and they are long enough to reach all the many fan locations my case offers. But, of course, longer is better given the flexibility it offers to have extra length, and given that you can't know all possible future needs you might apply this splitter/extension to fulfill (and given that you will surely wisely tie up any potentially problematic slack).These are 4-pin connectors, but you can use 3-pin connections to them. Just be sure to line up the colors of the wires to make sure the signals on each of the pins are what you want. For the connector on your motherboard (which likely lacks color), look for a word or a little tiny triangle/pointer, which will indicate "pin 1" normally or otherwise will inform you as to how to make sure the signals are lined up properly. Whether or not you can use 3-pin cables/connectors (attached to this 4-pin splitter cable) to successfully carry the signals necessary to use power management functions is something I've seen people say is possible, and I've seen others say it isn't. I haven't tried that yet, but of course, if you have the capability of using only 4-pin cables & connectors in your power signal paths, just do that and the question is moot. If for some reason, you want to use power management functions to control the speed of your fan, &/or to turn the fan on & off, based on the temperature inside your computer or of your CPU, etc., and you are constrained to using a 3-pin connector in the path, I would guess that if it's possible to do with 3-pin cables and connectors, then it'd be possible with these 4-pin ones on this product, after properly lining up your connections, of course.One last note: the connectors are enclosed, whereas some you could buy have the pins much more exposed. I prefer these connectors, keeping everything more protected and secure. It also looks nicer than the bare-bones connector types, in my opinion.
