Things can often get confusing when you are building a PC. For instance,choosing the right PSU modularity. The term ‘modularity’ here refers to the flexibility of attaching or detaching the cables based on the user’s requirements.
Although modularity has nothing to do with the working mechanism of a PSU, choosing the right one will always help improve thequality of the build.
There are three types of modularities a PSU offers—modular, semi-modular, and non-modular. While modular PSUs allow you to detach all the cables, this is not possible if you opt for a non-modular one.
But when we are referring to semi-modular PSUs, they do offer customization, but only up to some extent. To be more precise, you may not detach the motherboard and CPU power cable.
In this article, I’ll break down the differences between the three types of modularities along with their pros and cons. By the end, I’ll ensure you will have a detailed understanding of each of them. Without further delay, let’s jump right in.
What is a Modular PSU
Modular PSUsare those PSUs that offer adetachable cable setup. Meaning, you may plug in only the most required (24-pin ATX motherboard power cableand12V CPU power cable) needed to operate a PC and unplug the remaining ones.
Suppose you’re running a PC with no graphics card and an NVMe SSD. In such a case, you may let go of the PCIe andSATA power cablesfrom your PSU. This way, you won’t have unnecessary cables messing around.
Below I have listed some pros and cons of a modular PSU for better analysis.
What is a Semi Modular PSU
An interesting fact aboutsemi-modular PSUsis that they already have a couple of cables attached to them. As you might have guessed, I’m particularly referring to 24-pin ATX and 12V CPU cables. Some of the semi-modular PSUs even have a pre-attached PCIe cable forconnecting a graphics card.
Apart from them, you may add or remove other cables as you need. While these PSUs are not fully customizable like the modular ones, they do offer flexibility to some extent.
What is a Non Modular PSU
Unlike the former two,non-modular PSUskeep all the cables attached to them, whether or not they are being used. You cannot detach them as with modular or semi-modular ones. But yes, you may definitely unplug the AC cord though.
Jokes apart, now let’s see how the non-modular PSUs may ruin the aesthetics of your build. Assume that your PSU has three PCIe cables attached to them. However, if your PC utilizes a single GPU, as in most cases, you may’t detach the remaining two cables.
