rate my cable management

[imperialreign]

Thought I'd one-up myself

just a little run down - I posted this here as I'm just wanting people opinions, suggestions ratings whatever . . . this case isn't ready for the gallery, by a long shot, as I still have stuff I'm going to do . . . this turned out to be a rather tough setup for some reason, I think between the case itself, the PSU, and the location of the mobo connectors . . . anyhow, if you want, give me a rating between 1-10, and any comments and/or suggestions to go with it


Anyhow, things I'm not happy with - the primary PCI-E power connector is too short to route behind the tray and under the mobo, or to come around the edge of the tray - which is why it looks as if it's just dangling there. Aside from physcially modding the cable to be longer, I'm kinda stuck with it. The cable is secured, though . . . Also, not happy with the orange SATA cable . . . unless I want to interfere with future RAID setups, I had to go with the SATA connection towards the back of the mobo, which means it's pinched in between the mobo and the back panel, on top of that, it's still too short to route it back under the tray. I'll have to keep my eye out for a much longer cable . . . Tha fans on the side panel I'm not too worried that they're not wrapped, as I plan on replacing them with 4 140mm units in the near future . . . not too happy with the secondary PCI-E adapter, either, as it's rather short in and of itself

I'm keen with it, for now, but I'm wondering if I'm being to critical on myself about some things, so, I thought I'd fish for some opinions . . .



<edit> - sorry bout the poor lighting on the pics, but I turned the exposure rate down so as to not have everything flooded by camera flash - all that shiny aluminum, y'know

BEFORE (this was after I had just gotten the case out of the box and threw all my hardware in it just to get it up and running):

And, this is after toiling with the case and routing for near about 5-6 hours yesterday:

alright - fire at will!

 

[WhiteLotus]

i dont think its anything amazing but it is very good - a vast improvement on before.

i cant think of anything that will make it better but i'm sure others can <cough>tk, slade<cough>

 

[thoughtdisorder]

Night and day from when you first put it together to now. For your cable management it looks to me as though you've done the best job possible with the config you've got.

9/10.

 

[imperialreign]

i dont think its anything amazing but it is very good - a vast improvement on before.

i cant think of anything that will make it better but i'm sure others can <cough>tk, slade<cough>

yeah, kinda diggin for opinions here. I was starting to give serious thought to extending the PCI-E cables, as that'd clean things up a lot, too.


BTW - anyone else with a P5W-DH board, if it's possible to use a different SATA connector (like the two ez-raid ports) without fudging future RAID setups, let me know!

 

[Random Murderer]

yeah, kinda diggin for opinions here. I was starting to give serious thought to extending the PCI-E cables, as that'd clean things up a lot, too.


BTW - anyone else with a P5W-DH board, if it's possible to use a different SATA connector (like the two ez-raid ports) without fudging future RAID setups, let me know!

it is possible, i use one ez raid plug and one of the black ones:

i don't know why i have it set up like that, but it works...

 

[rick22]

It looks great..i would give it an 8

 

[imperialreign]

it is possible, i use one ez raid plug and one of the black ones:

i don't know why i have it set up like that, but it works...

hmmm . . . I might toy with it some then - I've got some extra cables laying around, see what I can get to work.

Damn owner's manual isn't very clear as to what does what by itself, unless you're building a RAID, and then it only tells you which ones to hook up - and with 3 different hardware controllers :shadedshu

 

[Random Murderer]

hmmm . . . I might toy with it some then - I've got some extra cables laying around, see what I can get to work.

Damn owner's manual isn't very clear as to what does what by itself, unless you're building a RAID, and then it only tells you which ones to hook up - and with 3 different hardware controllers :shadedshu

yea, the p5wdh definitely has its quirks, but once you figure them out, it's hard to find a better board.
hell, there's only ONE board i would trade mine for, and it's an amd board, the msi k9a2 platinum.

 

[Batou1986]

looks very nice i just recently move my friends pc into a stacker 830 and they are a SERIOUS PITA to wire nicely took me roughly the same amount of time it did you and ive put together alot of computers
i give you a 10 for not getting frustrated and saying fk it like i almost did
tbh these cases look really nice when finished but are even more difficult to get clean wiring than an antec 900 without cutting holes in something

 

[imperialreign]

yea, the p5wdh definitely has its quirks, but once you figure them out, it's hard to find a better board.
hell, there's only ONE board i would trade mine for, and it's an amd board, the msi k9a2 platinum.

I've never had an ASUS board that wasn't solid as hell, and compared to some brands I've used here and there - ASUS is stable as crap too, if something fails to boot, it's very rarely associated with the board itself.

BTW, RM, another user mentioned to me you might be able to help with an issue: http://forums.techpowerup.com/showpost.php?p=606367&postcount=1112

looks very nice i just recently move my friends pc into a stacker 830 and they are a SERIOUS PITA to wire nicely took me roughly the same amount of time it did you and ive put together alot of computers
i give you a 10 for not getting frustrated and saying fk it like i almost did
tbh these cases look really nice when finished but are even more difficult to get clean wiring than an antec 900 without cutting holes in something

Too late! Aside from the hole in the mobo tray I had to cut - I also had to take a slice out of the backside support rail so I could run all the PSU cables behind the tray - even then, the cables had to be tapped flat so as to not interfere with the side panel.

I hear it on the f-it part . . . I came damn close! My Mystique was a hell-o-lot easier to route, and was only a touch messy.

 

[Random Murderer]

I've never had an ASUS board that wasn't solid as hell, and compared to some brands I've used here and there - ASUS is stable as crap too, if something fails to boot, it's very rarely associated with the board itself.

BTW, RM, another user mentioned to me you might be able to help with an issue: http://forums.techpowerup.com/showpost.php?p=606367&postcount=1112




Too late! Aside from the hole in the mobo tray I had to cut - I also had to take a slice out of the backside support rail so I could run all the PSU cables behind the tray - even then, the cables had to be tapped flat so as to not interfere with the side panel.

I hear it on the f-it part . . . I came damn close!

i'll get back to you about that after dinner, i know what you need to do, but it will require a lot of typing on my part and i don't have the time right now.

 

[imperialreign]

i'll get back to you about that after dinner, i know what you need to do, but it will require a lot of typing on my part and i don't have the time right now.

cool, thanks! Take your time - no rush. I'll be heading out for a while shortly anyhow.

 

[t_ski]

I have four Seagate drives in raid 0/5 on my P5WDH. I'm using the three black connectors off the ICH7R and the orange connector closest to the bottom in the pic above. These are the four ports used by the ICH7R.

 

[Random Murderer]

ok, this worked for my dual 1950pro's, just make sure you follow this guide EXACTLY:

1. Make sure you have two supported GPUs
2. Make sure you have installed supported versions of the Catalyst Drivers
3. Enable the primary output from each card, using the "Settings" tab on "Display Properties"

To do this, you will need to temporarily boot your machine with two monitors attached. If you have a dual input monitor, simply attach one input to card1, and one input to card2. This is necessary so that Windows can detect 2 outputs, thus allowing you to activate the second display. Once this has happened you can safely remove the second monitor (if desired) and Windows will continue to think it is attached. To enable the second display, click on the newly attached monitor, and check the "Extend my Windows desktop onto this monitor". This will turn on the graphical display for the primary output of the Second GPU.

Note: This is not to be confused with the "Secondary Display" of these cards. These can be active (i.e. you could have 4 monitors attached) but you need to know what display number Windows has assigned to each output.

In the examples below, Monitor 1 is connected to the primary output of the 1st "X1900 Series", and Monitor 2 is connected to the 2nd "X1900 Series". If you only have 2 displays enabled, your output should look similar to that shown below.

The following screenshot shows which monitors are attached to which outputs:

When the list says "Default Monitor" it is the equivalent of saying that no monitor is attached, and that the output is disabled. You shouldn't be able to "Extend my Windows desktop onto this monitor". (Even though the checkbox is not disabled)

4. Now you need to get the GPU ID in order to tell the GPU client which GPU to send the cores to.

The GPUs are numbered starting from zero so the GPU ID number is always one less than the screen number. In the example above, where monitor 1 is attached to the primary output of card 1: GPUID=0, and monitor 2 is connected to the primary output of card 2: GPUID=1

If you have all 4 outputs active, and your Monitors are arranged such that the Primary output of card 2 is connected to monitor 3, then it's GPUID=2

5. These GPU IDs are then passed to separate clients as part of a flag. -gpu # [GPU ID]

Using the above example; to run the GPU client/core on card1 start the GPU client with -gpu 0 as an additional flag. To run the client/core on card2, run a client with -gpu 1 as an additional flag. These can be used in conjunction with other standard flags (-local, -verbosity 9 etc.)

6. If you attempt to run the client with an invalid GPU ID, i.e. a display is not attached to the relevant card output OR you specified an ID that corresponds to the "Secondary Display" of a GPU that already has a GPU client running, the client should exit gracefully with an mdrun 99 error stating that the GPU could not be initialized.

Thanks to the Folding@home Moderator Uncle_Fungus for his help compiling these instructions for how to run multiple GPUs.

 

[imperialreign]

ok, this worked for my dual 1950pro's, just make sure you follow this guide EXACTLY:

. . . . . . .

hmmm . . . I've done that before - and I can get them working individually . . . but upon next reboot, WIN 'forgets' that "imaginary display #2" is no longer there, and I have to go through the process of juggling the display connector between cards and extending the desktop in WIN. Being able to extend the desktop lets me know the second GPU has been initialized, which it needs to be to have two seperate GPU consoles working . . . perhaps it's the CCC driver, as I only noticed this since installing 7.12; I might try to rollback to 7.11 tomorrow and see if it's still acting the same . . . thanks anyways, though.

I have four Seagate drives in raid 0/5 on my P5WDH. I'm using the three black connectors off the ICH7R and the orange connector closest to the bottom in the pic above. These are the four ports used by the ICH7R.
01-14-2008 08:37 PM

So . . . the EZ_RAID connectors can be used without having to have a RAID configuration?! Brilliant! That would mean I can get that pinched SATA cable out from in between the mobo and back panel!

 

[Random Murderer]

So . . . the EZ_RAID connectors can be used without having to have a RAID configuration?! Brilliant! That would mean I can get that pinched SATA cable out from in between the mobo and back panel!

i told you that earlier...

 

[imperialreign]

i told you that earlier...

Doh!

myself =



I misread your earlier post, man

 

[ShadowFold]

I was gonna rate the berfore picture a 7/10.. I have low standards 9/10 for new tho

 

[btarunr]

Damn..I could've taken a CNPS 9500 instead of 9700. Yours looks so much neater. In the third pic didn't you pull off the USB_FP cables (under the SB card) and behind the board? That's smart. Did you mod the chipset heatsinks to place those fans or are they a revision of your board?

The best part of your cable mgmt is the part where you tied all the fan cables.

The worst part is near the hard-drives...not the worst really but the intake fan's air isn't streamlined into the case, then again the fans on the side do the job.

I'll rate you 9/10 for the extremely aesthetic cable management considering the ass-load of components that are housed inside that case. The case defi has more fans than Marilyn Monroe considering the former is just a stationary case, the latter was a 'case' that moved and died within 'warranty period'

 

[tkpenalty]

Practically imperialreign, there is not really anything to improve on (yes this is coming from me), I am talking in terms of airflow impedance and not looks. You could seriously reduce the slack int the USB cables (remove your sound card first..) and use something like tape to hold it i n place. How tall are your standoffs? If they are the normal sized type.. your wiring is slightly dangerous.

 

[imperialreign]

Practically imperialreign, there is not really anything to improve on (yes this is coming from me), I am talking in terms of airflow impedance and not looks. You could seriously reduce the slack int the USB cables (remove your sound card first..) and use something like tape to hold it i n place. How tall are your standoffs? If they are the normal sized type.. your wiring is slightly dangerous.

the standoffs, by eye, are a bit longer than the standard 6mm brass ones I've become accustomed to over the last decade - these are the newer 8mm aluminum style (not sure of the exact length off the top of my head). I made sure with the main power connector, though, to wrap some electrical tape around the area directly underneath the mobo and near the slot that I had cut out at the back (along with spending a good 25min with a dremel and some sanding bits to get everything smooth to the touch) - working as a mechanic, I've learned how much of a headache a rubbed-through wire can create. I was starting to give it some serious thought, though, to try and spread that main harness out some more to make it a bit more . . . flat; know what I mean?

TBH - once the bulky connectors are out from under the board, the cables themselves slide around freely; without any "snagging" on solder tails. The only cable I had a major concern about was the orange SATA cable - which I intend to re-route tomorrow. It's looking this weekend like I'm going to re-wire the PCI-E connectors, too, so that I can have more length to work with.

Damn..I could've taken a CNPS 9500 instead of 9700. Yours looks so much neater. In the third pic didn't you pull off the USB_FP cables (under the SB card) and behind the board? That's smart. Did you mod the chipset heatsinks to place those fans or are they a revision of your board?

The best part of your cable mgmt is the part where you tied all the fan cables.

The worst part is near the hard-drives...not the worst really but the intake fan's air isn't streamlined into the case, then again the fans on the side do the job.

I'll rate you 9/10 for the extremely aesthetic cable management considering the ass-load of components that are housed inside that case. The case defi has more fans than Marilyn Monroe considering the former is just a stationary case, the latter was a 'case' that moved and died within 'warranty period'

yes, the both USB connectors, 1394 and the the front panel connectors are all routed out from under the mobo.

as to the chipset coolers - no, that's not an ASUS revision. Their brilliant engineers went and put aesthetic "sticky" plates over th coolers that cover the fins. I snagged a couple of CM 40mm fans and slapped them on, but, if you'll notice, the SSB hangs over the top of the cooler a bit . . . there wasn't enough clearance between the chipset cooler and the second video card.

Oh, and that is a 9500 cooler . . . but now with the added space of a full-tower chasis, I'm considering a 9700

 

[btarunr]

If I were in the US, we could've swapped them for free

 

[grunt_408]

Looks good Nice rig

 

[EnergyFX]

You're at the point where you are going to have to build your own cables if you really want it to look any better. I think you have hit the ceiling with managment alone, from her it wouldhave to be all about length adjustment, sleeving/heatshrink, and custom cable ordering.

 

[Laurijan]

You did an awfully good job