Cable Management Helpdesk

[EnergyFX]

Originally Posted by DaMulta

LOL I know lots of work tomorrow....

Good God man... there could be anything in there... perhaps even... a major award!!

[tkpenalty]

Originally Posted by DaMulta

LOL I know lots of work tomorrow....

More photos would be nice. Those tubings look far too huge to go through the pre drilled water cooling holes . The PSU cables are the main problem. I'd start off with actually untangling them, then plugging them in, keeping them as low as possible (to the level of the motherboard tray). Make all of them as close to the tray and as low as possible; looks neater. PSU cables should ALWAYS be behind the water cooling loop, to look as neat as possible.

[Laurijan]

My stuff (see system specs) in a P182 Gunmetal Black Edition case.
The Frontside audio is necessary but frontside usb and firewire are quite pointless to me because i dont use a lot of firewire - and i have a usb hub in the keyboard.



Any suggestions?

[Laurijan]

A little update with the usb and firewire cables disconnected and the audio cable routed through the hole. Really no comments?

Question before I post pic(s) , my case is colored in a very dark color (inside) and my room lights are not the best. Should I have the flash on or off? Also, my case is a bit old, but whatever that can give me better airflow I'll do.

Thanks btw for creating a "helpdesk", never seen anything like this on any other forums.

[Laurijan]

Originally Posted by TechnicalFreak

Question before I post pic(s) , my case is colored in a very dark color (inside) and my room lights are not the best. Should I have the flash on or off? Also, my case is a bit old, but whatever that can give me better airflow I'll do.

Thanks btw for creating a "helpdesk", never seen anything like this on any other forums.

Read the first post - yes flash is a must..

[tkpenalty]

Anyway, Laurijan, with your front panel connectors, have them run as close as possible to the "flooring" of the case, make them run vertically down the motherboard from their headers, then possibly hook under the motherboard; using the risers to support them. Its rather ugly to see two IO wires pop out of the middle of the case, tape them down to the floor if needed (of the top chamber of the case that is).

Fan wires, twist the wires together so they dont look like some random strands of wiring. Do that for the top two 120mm fans and the CPU fan.

SATA cables, route them horizontally, towards the hdd bay right of the connector, and make sure the wire is routed behind the bay, then "dropping" down to the hdd bays where it should connect; looks better that way. The sleeving isnt needed in this case for the SATA cables as it makes them look bulkier; somewhat worse looking.

I would with the audio cable try to also twist its strands, but this time slightly. reduce the slack in it so you see less of it from that hole.

Unplug that molex plug on your motherboard, as far as I know its only needed for SLi.

Twist the strands of the NB cooler together as well, for the same purpose

Try to make the 24 pin wire and the 8 pin a bit more concealed by using something to hold it in a position that makes less of them both visible via that hole.

[imperialreign]

thanks, Tk, for a thread like this - I'm sure many users will find at least something useful here - if not everything!

BTW, if you're keeping track of people's input as to good/bad cases for management - thanks to a recent endeavor, I nominate the Cooler Master Stacker 830 for the bad list.

Pretty case, but requires modification of the chasis itself to get most things out of the way.

[Laurijan]

I found out that I? ruined the front panel firewire cable - there is a wire lose - and the usb frontside planel cable is really pointless to connect.

I twisted the AC97 front side audio cable.

I twisted the CPU cable so that it makes a nice curve around the audio module - and i twisted the NB cable - look somewhat better.
I "could not" twist the top 12cm fan power cables because they are very long and think that that they look good enough they way they are.

I streched out the sleeve i use for the sata cables because routing them to the top camber hdd bay is not possible because ther is no opening there and i know the sleeve look a bit thick in the top but when i got to a 2 hdd solution in raid it will not look to thick anymore in the top - also i put some tape in the top of the sleeve. Btw i thought about a sleeve look to make the sata cables look good and the next day - guess what - i found a broken antec psu with a sleeve on the 24 pin cable on a pile of junk :-) So i think the sleeve is necessary for me to use - it was ment to find it.. so i use it.

I molex connector going to the mobo is not only necessary to make sli work but also makes OCing better because it provided extra juice to the mobo so i left it.

The 24pin and 4x 12V pin i taped to the mobo tray to give the a sligtly better look.

[tkpenalty]

Originally Posted by imperialreign

thanks, Tk, for a thread like this - I'm sure many users will find at least something useful here - if not everything!

BTW, if you're keeping track of people's input as to good/bad cases for management - thanks to a recent endeavor, I nominate the Cooler Master Stacker 830 for the bad list.

Pretty case, but requires modification of the chasis itself to get most things out of the way.

Forgot to add that

Anyone who wants to get a stacker... look at the 832 instead.

[tkpenalty]

News:

ANTEC 900 NOW HAS TWO CABLE MANAGEMENT HOLES, EXACTLY LIKE THE COSMO 1000!!!!!!!!!

On the latest revision that is, please make sure you get the latest shipments of the 900. I might buy the 900 just for this... this is too good! Antec fixed up an already excellent chassis (hooray for not needing to mod the case anymore and proper cable management in a case like the 900)

PLEASE FROM NOW ON DOWNSIZE YOUR IMAGES AND USE WWW.TECHPOWERUP.ORG TO UPLOAD THEM INSTEAD. 1200x900 OR 900x1200 MAX. RECOMMENDED 1024x786, IF YOU WILL NOT BOTHER TO DOWNSIZE THEN POST THE IMAGES AS LINKS

[Laurijan]

Originally Posted by tkpenalty

News:

ANTEC 900 NOW HAS TWO CABLE MANAGEMENT HOLES, EXACTLY LIKE THE COSMO 1000!!!!!!!!!

On the latest revision that is, please make sure you get the latest shipments of the 900. I might buy the 900 just for this... this is too good! Antec fixed up an already excellent chassis (hooray for not needing to mod the case anymore and proper cable management in a case like the 900)

PLEASE FROM NOW ON DOWNSIZE YOUR IMAGES AND USE WWW.TECHPOWERUP.ORG TO UPLOAD THEM INSTEAD. 1200x900 OR 900x1200 MAX. RECOMMENDED 1024x786, IF YOU WILL NOT BOTHER TO DOWNSIZE THEN POST THE IMAGES AS LINKS

I resized the pics..

[Laurijan]

Originally Posted by tkpenalty

Anyway, Laurijan, with your front panel connectors, have them run as close as possible to the "flooring" of the case, make them run vertically down the motherboard from their headers, then possibly hook under the motherboard; using the risers to support them. Its rather ugly to see two IO wires pop out of the middle of the case, tape them down to the floor if needed (of the top chamber of the case that is).

Fan wires, twist the wires together so they dont look like some random strands of wiring. Do that for the top two 120mm fans and the CPU fan.

SATA cables, route them horizontally, towards the hdd bay right of the connector, and make sure the wire is routed behind the bay, then "dropping" down to the hdd bays where it should connect; looks better that way. The sleeving isnt needed in this case for the SATA cables as it makes them look bulkier; somewhat worse looking.

I would with the audio cable try to also twist its strands, but this time slightly. reduce the slack in it so you see less of it from that hole.

Unplug that molex plug on your motherboard, as far as I know its only needed for SLi.

Twist the strands of the NB cooler together as well, for the same purpose

Try to make the 24 pin wire and the 8 pin a bit more concealed by using something to hold it in a position that makes less of them both visible via that hole.

Ok i repaired the firewire connector and connected it and the usb cable too - i thought if they are there i have to use them too :-) Thanks tpenalty!! Great thread

[Wile E]

Originally Posted by tkpenalty

Forgot to add that

Anyone who wants to get a stacker... look at the 832 instead.

The 832 is identical, except it has a different door. That's the only difference. CM should've really put at least a couple of holes in the mobo tray of these things. It would simplify matters a great deal.

[tkpenalty]

Originally Posted by Wile E

The 832 is identical, except it has a different door. That's the only difference. CM should've really put at least a couple of holes in the mobo tray of these things. It would simplify matters a great deal.

No, there is a space between the mobo tray and the drive bays in the 832.

[tkpenalty]

Originally Posted by Laurijan

Ok i repaired the firewire connector and connected it and the usb cable too - i thought if they are there i have to use them too :-) Thanks tpenalty!! Great thread

Whatever happened to the SATA routing and removing that 4 pin connector? Why do you have the 4 pin molex plugged into the mobo? Its not needed if you dont SLi.

[Wile E]

Originally Posted by tkpenalty

No, there is a space between the mobo tray and the drive bays in the 832.

There is on the 830 Evo as well, which is all you can currently buy new. The original 830 might have had that problem, but the Evo doesn't. Trust me, they're the same thing, with a different door. I have the 830Evo, and my best friend has the 832. I put both systems together.

830 Evo


832

[Laurijan]

Whatever happened to the SATA routing and removing that 4 pin connector? Why do you have the 4 pin molex plugged into the mobo? Its not needed if you dont SLi.

I wrote that i know for sure that the 4pin connector makes OCing better and that sata cables selve is dear to me - also that there are no opening in the upper chamber HDD casing to route the cables through - i dont like to drill holes..

[tkpenalty]

Originally Posted by Laurijan

I wrote that i know for sure that the 4pin connector makes OCing better and that sata cables selve is dear to me - also that there are no opening in the upper chamber HDD casing to route the cables through - i dont like to drill holes..

Eh? Its possible to do so :S

Ok.. Here is some pic's of my case (inside), ofcourse with the flash on as requested. Also from different angles.

I hope there is something that can be done, note that I also have "rounded" IDE cables for HDD aswell as the CD/DVD. It is however a bit small, but it isn't THAT small (or is it??):

http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t...lOpenANGLE.jpg

http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t...sideAngle2.jpg

http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t.../Interior1.jpg

http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t.../interior2.jpg

http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t...nelRemoved.jpg


If there is anything I have forgot to take a picture of, please let me know.

Thankful for any replies.

Edit: Sorry that I have made links for the pics, reasons are that 1. Don't know how to put them out here, 2.if a 56k user comes around it would take ages for him to open page (I guess).

[Laurijan]

Originally Posted by tkpenalty

Eh? Its possible to do so :S

Now i understand you.. the case closes even when there is no hole for the sata cables
Since they are so short i had to make it that way - it was not possible to route them through the HDD bay in the top chamber.

Is this an improvement?


Pics of the backside

[grunt_408]

That is looking good man

I did manage to do something about all my cables, hope this looks better...

[Co_Op]

I'm going to get an E8400 sometime soon , so I wanna do a "touch up" job on the cables. Maybe even drill some holes on the mobo tray (camouflaged by the mobo) - to route the cables easier. Also the top usb/f-wire/audio cables are a challenge (a bit short).

?? needs work :
* back 120mm fan connector, what to use to fix the cable in place (instead of red electric tape)
* case opened wire (twisted black and white - lower left corner)
* front fan and ram fan connectors? (middle right, near 24 pin atx connector)
* what should I use to straighten the top wires bunched together (panel and psu cables - top center)
* psu cables go straight to the right and then down behind the cdrom/hdd cages (see pic 2). They're easy disconnects and it's hard to place them behind the mobo tray (can't put the panel back on)

I'd also like some advice when it comes to the outside wires (mouse keyboard, monitor and a gazillion more). It may be looking pretty decent inside, but there's a rat nest on the back of the case and it's in plain view all day long, not inside the case (see pic 2 and 3).

Here's the pics:

[t_ski]

I tie all my extra external cables up (at least the ones I can that have enough slack in them). If you're looking for something more than that, you could look into something like this:

http://www.coolerguys.com/840556028253.html