Paracord vs MDPC for sleeving

R

Ricedaddy

[H]ard|Gawd
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I've been doing a lot of research regarding the sleeving I want to use on my psu and the rest of the case and fan wires. I like the MDPC stuff a lot but it's drastically more expensive and the paracord looks very nice in practice.

Price is not the issue, I want the best for my money, but after seeing the results with paracord, I wanted to get some opinions from those who may have used both.

Thanks.
 
Wow, I didn't realize how cheap paracord is. I too am interested in seeing what the forum has to say.
 
the only issue i see with paracord is the fact that it's a fabric thus could get stained while handling. might be more difficult to remove dust too, especially if there is any moisture in the air (again, staining and issue).
the upside i guess is that it'll be more flexible than plastic sleeving (MDPC-X, Techflex etc).
 
JapaneseGorilla said:
Wow, I didn't realize how cheap paracord is. I too am interested in seeing what the forum has to say.
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If you like to put the equivalent of old socks on your cables, paracord is the way to go.
FTW PC has some good affordable sleeving but MDPC is the best. Unfortunately MDPC sleeving can't be ordered now since the owner has temporarily stopped shipping due to medical reasons.
 
tho the MDCP-X sleeving is very nice, i found it's a little bit 'baggy' on 18/16 gauge wire. i recon the 3mm (1/8 inch) techflex CCPET 'clean cut' sleeve is a little better, at least fitting the wires more 'snugly' that is. it has a tighter weave so colour of the cable underneath isn't as visible like with the standard 'flexo PET' sleeve.
 
If you've never sleeved before I would recommend practicing/learning with paracord. I actually did my X750 in black & white paracord and will eventually move onto MDPC sleeving when I get my next PSU.
 
Paracord is definitely cheaper and a great option when first learning to sleeve. There is some great info at overclock.net on sleeving and some good videos on both MDPC and paracord sleeving.
 
I'm amazed on how nobody has found the source for mdpc sleeving. The owner doesn't make his own, does he?

Edit: Heh, he does.
 
as a few other posters have mentioned, not sure using paracord is any easier than plastic (MDPC-X, Techflex, etc) when staring out.

my first sleeving job was with the plastic stuff. i would even argue its easier with MDPC/Techflex
-don't have to worry about the sleeve 'bunching' as the plastic is more ridged.
-does paracord burn/melt? i didn't have a heatgun for heatshrink -used a lighter.

in any case i guess i comes down to user preference as the end product has a different finish.
 
I bought this kit just to get my feet wet and I found it quite easy to work with. So far I have just sleeved fans and a partial PSU but it has turned out fantastic so far. That said I have nothing to compare it to besides the pictures I see of other stuff.
 
i tried it once a couple years ago, and told myself never again. just buy it sleeved already.
 
venomous41 said:
i tried it once a couple years ago, and told myself never again. just buy it sleeved already.
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it's not that bad. sure it's time consuming, you just have to approach the job the right way.
as it's repetitive. load up some tunes in winamp (or that evil itunes) and off you go.
now if you have a non-modular PSU, then it's a bitch. doing it right means cracking open your PSU & voiding your warrantee.
 
Having used both I can say that MDPC sleeving looks/feels awesome. It's really easy to work with. Though it is a lot more expensive.

Paracord on the other hand is cheap. The downsides are that it's tougher to work with. I would say that if you are going to use paracord getting a crimper tool and new wire/pins is a must. If you get a higher gauge paracord you would have an easier time sleeving however it leads to a "baggy" look for the wires. Also, being that paracord is fabric (vs plastic MDPC) it will have little strands of fabric sticking out all over the place. Also, as someone suggested it is subject to staining and degrades different over time.

In the end it's a trade-off between price and ultimate look/workability. Either solution will work in the end just depends what you are looking for. For me personally MDPC sleeving is the ultimate solution for sleeving.
 
wowcro said:
Having used both I can say that MDPC sleeving looks/feels awesome. It's really easy to work with. Though it is a lot more expensive.

Paracord on the other hand is cheap. The downsides are that it's tougher to work with. I would say that if you are going to use paracord getting a crimper tool and new wire/pins is a must. If you get a higher gauge paracord you would have an easier time sleeving however it leads to a "baggy" look for the wires. Also, being that paracord is fabric (vs plastic MDPC) it will have little strands of fabric sticking out all over the place. Also, as someone suggested it is subject to staining and degrades different over time.

In the end it's a trade-off between price and ultimate look/workability. Either solution will work in the end just depends what you are looking for. For me personally MDPC sleeving is the ultimate solution for sleeving.
Click to expand...

Or if you dont wanna go the MDPC-X route, Get Mod/Smart Kobra Sleeving.
 
fantomau said:
Or if you dont wanna go the MDPC-X route, Get Mod/Smart Kobra Sleeving.
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I haven't ever used the Mod/Smart stuff. Granted when I last sleeved my current PSU (about a year ago) NZXT just put out their version and the other options available to me weren't as good of a quality as the stuff that Nills sold.

The Mod/Smart Kobra sleeving looks nice but I haven't seen it in person. Also, I though one person sold the black sleeving on ebay and it was of pretty good quality.

furryletters on ebay sells some alternative stuff and it looks pretty good. Also the key is to get a good shrink wrap. Some of the generally available stuff looks pretty bad after it is heated, however, the Nills stuff retains the coloring pretty well.
 
It really depends how clean you want your sleeving to look. The biggest issue with sleeving is "bleedthrough" - how much of the color of the wire will show through the sleeving. MDPC and FTWPC are the only sleeving I have used that do not show any of the wire color. Darkside Sleeving from dazmode.com looks good, but I have never used it so no opinion.
 
wowcro said:
The Mod/Smart Kobra sleeving looks nice but I haven't seen it in person.
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I tried mod/Smart ATX24 40cm and ATX8 40cm sleeve extensions recently and I wasn't entirely happy about them. Firstly the heatshrink on most of the pins seems forced, it was often bunched up. Second, one of the pins on the ATX24 just came loose after I had plugged in the extension for a second time. Thirdly, the heatsink isn't holding the sleeve very firmly - if you pull on the wire the sleeve comes out easily and is almost impossible to re-insert into the heatshrink. Fourthly, I have a Phobya de-pinning tool which works well for ATX female pins I make myself, but it doesn't work very well with these mod/Smart extensions. I wanted to turn the ATX8 block into ATX4+4 but it took me ages to remove even only 4 of the pins so I gave up.

My guess is that mod/Smart are using too thick wire for the ATX - it should be AWG18 I believe, but I'm not sure how to measure it without cutting a wire open. This is probably why it's difficult to de-pin. Also the heatshrink is too big and doesn't shrink enough, or maybe the material used is not rubbery enough.

Having said that, the quality of the sleeve itself is okay, and once it's in the case you won't really see the bunching of the heatshrink unless you look very closely. So if you don't have time or money or energy to sleeve yourself then it's a decent alternative.
 
WiSK said:
I tried mod/Smart ATX24 40cm and ATX8 40cm sleeve extensions recently and I wasn't entirely happy about them. Firstly the heatshrink on most of the pins seems forced, it was often bunched up. Second, one of the pins on the ATX24 just came loose after I had plugged in the extension for a second time. Thirdly, the heatsink isn't holding the sleeve very firmly - if you pull on the wire the sleeve comes out easily and is almost impossible to re-insert into the heatshrink. Fourthly, I have a Phobya de-pinning tool which works well for ATX female pins I make myself, but it doesn't work very well with these mod/Smart extensions. I wanted to turn the ATX8 block into ATX4+4 but it took me ages to remove even only 4 of the pins so I gave up.

My guess is that mod/Smart are using too thick wire for the ATX - it should be AWG18 I believe, but I'm not sure how to measure it without cutting a wire open. This is probably why it's difficult to de-pin. Also the heatshrink is too big and doesn't shrink enough, or maybe the material used is not rubbery enough.

Having said that, the quality of the sleeve itself is okay, and once it's in the case you won't really see the bunching of the heatshrink unless you look very closely. So if you don't have time or money or energy to sleeve yourself then it's a decent alternative.
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I think a lot of people forget to think about the heat shrink but it's just as important. The right shrink ratio makes all the difference. Also the mdpc stuff maintains the black color the best. Some other I worked with got a bit lighter as it was exposed to heat.
 
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