Extreme wire hiding, how can it be done?

T

TruGeek

Weaksauce
Joined
Mar 15, 2004
Messages
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Alright, I know how to sleeve cables, I know how to do some good wire tucking, but I'd like some examples or a how to on extreeme wire tucking / hiding. I don't want even sleeved cables hanging around in my PC. I have done some of this before but it still didn't look that great. I was wondering about making a metal cover to cover the wires down the back side of the case, modular systems, etc. I have a ton of ideas that I can't really illustrate here. The only problem is that I am not sure if I am thinking on the right track with this stuff.

When people look in the side window of my case I want them to only see the wires that must be visible, no others. Here is an old pic of my computer (warning to dial up users, you can view the gallery but it will take a little bit):

http://www.trugeek.net/bluev2_gallery.php#final

There are some changes, first the case inside is no longer black but I have changed it back to it's original steel color. Second, the wires are no long sleeved since I did a poor job of sleeving them. I am planning on resleeving them but silver instead of blue. Everything else is about the same as the pics.

Any suggestions on getting the minimum amount of visible wires?

Thanks for any help in advance. :)
 
One trick I like for cables that run on the bottom of a case is to build a small false floor. I've seen people do it with metal sheet that matched the rest of the chassis or mirror acrylic and in both cases I liked the end results.

Also there's tons of other basic ideas I'm sure you've seen like running wires behind the moterboard tray and through holes. I'm particularly fond of the custom cut power wires with 90 degree molex connectors. Essentially where the power wires run straight up with no slack in between drives (Even though the wires remain visible, it's a clean look with well-chosen sleeving).
 
dage said:
One trick I like for cables that run on the bottom of a case is to build a small false floor. I've seen people do it with metal sheet that matched the rest of the chassis or mirror acrylic and in both cases I liked the end results.
Click to expand...
Yeah I was thinking about trying this with some aluminum on top and a foam type surface for the bottom. I havent got the reasources yet to try this out though. :(
 
all motherboard fans can go through a motherboard mounting hole and through another hole in the motherboard tray and then wired up in the back, along with the power for your video card (looks like a 9500?) Cut some holes in the motherboard tray for the front panel wires and IDE cables as well, and run those behind the motherboard tray

http://grizzy.plasmixblogs.net/mod2/

That is my case, I did all of those things I mentioned to mine and it looks amazing.. the pics just don't do it justice, you can barely see any wires at all
 
I ran my wires behind my moterboard tray. It worked out well i think. I wasnt out to do something as extreme as you are wanting to do, but if I wanted to I could really make it look good. I would recommend the behind the motherboard tray trick, but the false floor idea sounds like a great idea too. I think that the method that will work best could depend on what case you have.

Sorry I dont have any pics.
 
How's about some stainless steel brake line bent into the proper abgles?

Or how about unsoldering the pins on the motherboard, and reoldering them to the other side of the board? You said extreme.....well that's pretty damn extreme.
 
Thanks everyone, those are some great suggestions, and some great pics. I'll be incorporating all of this and will post the results and some construction pics in a week or two when I get it all done. Some great ideas and a couple things I have not considered at all. Thanks again.
 
SarverSystems said:
Or how about unsoldering the pins on the motherboard, and reoldering them to the other side of the board? You said extreme.....well that's pretty damn extreme.
Click to expand...

I'd love to see someone do this.
 
SarverSystems said:
How's about some stainless steel brake line bent into the proper abgles?

Or how about unsoldering the pins on the motherboard, and reoldering them to the other side of the board? You said extreme.....well that's pretty damn extreme.
Click to expand...
Why not just turn the motherboard round, then? :p Sorry, couldn't resist....

Anyway, you might want to think about turning the HDD(s) round to point sideways - yet another unsightly set of cables gone.
 
Grizzy said:
all motherboard fans can go through a motherboard mounting hole and through another hole in the motherboard tray and then wired up in the back, along with the power for your video card (looks like a 9500?) Cut some holes in the motherboard tray for the front panel wires and IDE cables as well, and run those behind the motherboard tray

http://grizzy.plasmixblogs.net/mod2/

That is my case, I did all of those things I mentioned to mine and it looks amazing.. the pics just don't do it justice, you can barely see any wires at all
Click to expand...

That looks amazing in the pictures! Great job on the wiring. I've never seen a case with that few wires visible. Any tips you can give someone with a motherboard tray WITHOUT drilling holes?
 
SarverSystems said:
Or how about unsoldering the pins on the motherboard, and reoldering them to the other side of the board? You said extreme.....well that's pretty damn extreme.
Click to expand...
i've thought about this so much, but never got the balls to do it :) im hoping eventually some manufacturer will go out and either put it on the back or put it sideways on the side...
 
But of course you do realize that that would cause the pins to touch the chassis, thus shorting out the board.
 
sandman78 said:
That looks amazing in the pictures! Great job on the wiring. I've never seen a case with that few wires visible. Any tips you can give someone with a motherboard tray WITHOUT drilling holes?
Click to expand...

You can still route the IDE cables behind the motherboard, laying flat, and coming out the top of the motherboard then over to the 5.25 bays, or use cat5 cable pairs (cut up a cat 5, theres 4 pairs of wires in there) for your fans as extensions and route them underneath the motherboard tray or around the edges of the case

What case do you have? that makes a big difference, theres plenty of little nooks in my case to hide wires anyway... the support for the PSU (the beam that goes across the case) is excellent for hiding fan wires and light wires

And also, DONT WRAP YOUR POWER CABLES IN BRIGHT COLORED WRAPS, use electrical tape or another type of covering the same color as the case interior, they won't stand out as much as red and black will - mine are wrapped in black electrical tape (the ones for the drives that would be visible anyway) and my case is black inside, you can barely see them
 
TheGamerZ said:
But of course you do realize that that would cause the pins to touch the chassis, thus shorting out the board.
Click to expand...

not necessarily...
You could double or triple up on the mounting pins holding the motherboard to the chassis, and as long as your case was big enough to hold everything mounted on top of the board, it would technically be well above the height needed for your pins to stay away from the chassis.
 
TheGamerZ said:
But of course you do realize that that would cause the pins to touch the chassis, thus shorting out the board.
Click to expand...

Not if you cut out part of the mobo tray. ;)
 
Mount your harddrives backwards so that the cables are running to the front of the case. It is much easier to hide them this way. If someone has pictures or the guide, post it so that he and others get a better understanding of what I am talking about.
 
Sobek said:
Mount your harddrives backwards so that the cables are running to the front of the case. It is much easier to hide them this way. If someone has pictures or the guide, post it so that he and others get a better understanding of what I am talking about.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I would like to see this, I could probally do this with my 120GB HD, but with my raptor im not sure this is possible because i have a fan in front of it. Anything to help out my wiring would be appreciated. :)
 
Grizzy,

was that an AMD stock HSF on your video card?
I've been wanting to do that to my 9500 for OC purposes for a while now.
How are you holding it on there. Is there an issue with the addtional weight?


-Jeff
 
Grizzy said:
You can still route the IDE cables behind the motherboard, laying flat, and coming out the top of the motherboard then over to the 5.25 bays, or use cat5 cable pairs (cut up a cat 5, theres 4 pairs of wires in there) for your fans as extensions and route them underneath the motherboard tray or around the edges of the case

What case do you have? that makes a big difference, theres plenty of little nooks in my case to hide wires anyway... the support for the PSU (the beam that goes across the case) is excellent for hiding fan wires and light wires

And also, DONT WRAP YOUR POWER CABLES IN BRIGHT COLORED WRAPS, use electrical tape or another type of covering the same color as the case interior, they won't stand out as much as red and black will - mine are wrapped in black electrical tape (the ones for the drives that would be visible anyway) and my case is black inside, you can barely see them
Click to expand...

As far as extending the fan's wires, do I just "splice" them? I don't have any types of ends to put on them. I guess I could wrap the bare wires with electrical tape. Or how would you recommend adding the extensions to the fans? Also, what type of "bit" would you recommend for drilling thru the motherboard tray?
 
I can make the atx connector go out the back of the motherboard and you just have to cut the tray to let it through. I just don't have an extra board to do it to, I would do it to one of my working ones but I don't want the downtime nor want to touch my ic7 max3...maybe later. If anyone has a dead board I can do it and post pics :)...any old atx board will do for educational purposes and I can pay for shipping. It might be better if the board worked :) that way we could see if it still works after the operation. I've got a fcpga celly here that I could run.
 
SarverSystems said:
THe "bit" for "drilling" is called.......... a drill bit. Imagine that.
Click to expand...

I asked what TYPE of bit. Titanium Bit, Carbide-Tipped, Cobalt Bits, etc... I have never cut into a case or anything related to a case, and i was wondering what people have the best luck with. You can take almost any bit and sit and force it thru something, but why do that when you can get a good bit and let it do the work.:D
 
To extend the fan wires, just cut the fan's wire somewhere in the middle, solder in the new wires, and solder the connector back on to the end of the new wire - its that easy

Yes, that is a stock AMD HSF from my 1800+, it was on there using the stock plastic push pins from the stock heatsink the card came with for a while with no issues, but I took it off until I find some real thin bolts for it (using the stock heatsink with teh 60mm AMD fan on 7v right now, silent and cool :D )
 
http://www.moddershq.net/guides.asp?guideid=12&pagenumber=2

That is exactly how I did mine, too bad I never saw that article when I made mine, the rubber gromets on the motherboard tray (or anywhere you drill a hole in metal and have wires running through) got me once, had a nice bit of melted wire and a big puff of smoke :D In the middle of a LAN party :D THAT was embarassing........
 
HitMan-sC said:
Check out this guide from ModdersHQ: http://www.moddershq.net/guides.asp?guideid=12
Click to expand...
i was thinking of a case that someone did that i read about a while ago... i remember he did it really really well but i just couldnt remember where i found it.... after looking at the link HitMan-sC provided, i realized that was where i saw it and Holley's name became very familiar and i looked around on their site and found what i was looking for
http://www.moddershq.net/gallery.asp?galleryid=5#Scene_1
 
as for covering the spliced wires...I would not use electrical tape as that is kind of gheto modding...use heat shrink and just make sure to slip it over the wires BEFORE you solder them back together or you will be doing it again (personal experience here)

I am wanting to do something similar to these when I finaly get motivated and upgrade my system again...won't be in a hurry and will take the time to splice the wires as I need, hide everything nice and neat and just make sure it looks good!
 
gigglebyte said:
as for covering the spliced wires...I would not use electrical tape as that is kind of gheto modding...use heat shrink and just make sure to slip it over the wires BEFORE you solder them back together or you will be doing it again (personal experience here)

I am wanting to do something similar to these when I finaly get motivated and upgrade my system again...won't be in a hurry and will take the time to splice the wires as I need, hide everything nice and neat and just make sure it looks good!
Click to expand...

Yeah, I thought using electrical tape was pretty gheto, but I was wondering if that was how they were doing it. I will definitely go the solder route. Thanks for the tips.
 
I've used a bunch of Adjustable Cable Clamps on my wires, you can pick them up just about anywhere, they don't have to be black. After I've sleeved my PSU, and installed it, I just flipped the case upside down, and put them wherever I needed them on the inside top of my case (PC-65B), then clipped all my excess wires out of the way. The advantage is you're not doing any physical case or wire modding that can't be undone. Also I use them at other places to hold wires out of the way. IMO these thing are the single best thing for cleaning up the inside of your case other than sleeving you PSU. Sorry no camera or I'd post pics.
 
Thanks for the additional links, I will be able to take some ideas from all of them. I'm also going to look into adding mirrors in as I really like that look. Thanks again. :)
 
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