Intro

I don't think there is any retail site on the web that carries as many computer modding supplies and equipment as FrozenCPU does. They have the gear for just about any mod or add-on you could imagine. A popular modification that people have been trying out recently has been to turn your power supply into a modular power supply. What that means is fabricate your power supply so that you only have to plug in the cables you need for your configuration. Ultra Products was the first out of the gate with this design which we reviewed here and here, but now many companies offer a line of modular PSU's in their product lines. FrozenCPU recognizes that there are many folks who eschew buying a premodded anything and want to do it themselves, so they designed and threw together a kit that would allow them to.

Package

The FrozenCPU kit arrived in a padded envelope, and this is everything that was included; 3 male and 3 female Blue UV reactive Molex adapters, a male and female 4 pin 12V and 6 pin adapter, a mounting bracket with 2 screws, mounting bracket backplate, and a bunch of male and female power pins. There are no written instructions included with this kit, and there are no tools of any sort. There are instructions in .pdf format on the FrozenCPU website when you look at the product details for this kit, but I have a few problems with the instructions they offer. More on that later.

Here's a better look at the Molex adapters that are included with the kit. They are actually a slightly lighter Blue than the pic shows, lighter than other adapter kits I've seen. Also shown here is a closer look at the mounting bracket. The bracket with the holes for the adapters is on the left and underneath of it is the retention plate. To the right of that is a backplate (pay close attention to that), two plastic rivets to hold the retention plate on and a pair of mounting screws.

Install

Here's the victim of this modification, a Vantec Ion 400W provided by FrozenCPU. The venerable Vantec Ion is still a good general purpose power supply which I reviewed a while back (link here), and is a viable option for those who need a stable, low cost PSU for a mid-range system.

The first step is to take the retention bracket that fits into the back of the mounting bracket and use it as a template on the back of the PSU to mark the location of the bracket screw holes. Then pop the female Molex into the mounting bracket. No problem, too easy. Then you slide the retention bracket in behind the Molex and push the rivets in from the front to hold the retention bracket tight against the Molex. The instructions state:

"The connectors will pop in but do require a large amount of force to do so. If you file down any of the holes or the parts you may end up with the connectors being slightly loose. You just have to line the connectors up with their complementary hole and then push very hard. Then the backplate will be installed behind the connectors to keep them in place. It will be attached to the box using the two push pin rivets. It’s best to push these on the edge of a table while holding the backing on."

No kidding that the pop-rivets are hard to put in. For the first rivet I tried to just use my fingers and it wouldn't pop all the way through. So I used the table edge, cranked on it a bit, and it popped in. For the second rivet I used the table but couldn't get it to go through, even when damn near jumping up and down on it. So I figured I'd get smart and grabbed a small socket, attached it to the end of a ratcheting screwdriver, and placing the socket around the back side of the rivet I tried to force it on. Still wouldn't go. I grabbed a hammer and started tapping the screwdriver with successively harder hits, it still wouldn't go in. I then hit it a few times with enough force that I was really worried I would break it, but it still wouldn't go on. I finally gave up and grabbed some superglue, then sealed the edge of the retention bracket against the inside of the mounting bracket tightly against the back of the Molex. That's called modding the mod.