Wiring Clean Up

T

therealdealmark

n00b
Joined
May 23, 2007
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I am in the process of my first build (still waiting on CPU shipment) and I am looking over a lot of boards and all the pics posted look like clean setups. My case looks like a zoo of Red Yellow and Black power cables. Whats the secret? How do you get it to look that clean?
 
You could look into a modular power supply so you only have to deal with power cables actually in use.

Round cables are useful as well.

Also, most people with clean setups get creative with routing the wires behind things. Zip ties are your friend.
 
If you take both side panels off your case, you can see behind the motherboard tray is a small flat space. For starters a lot of people route wires behind this tray, rather than in front of the motherboard.

Any unused power cables should be tucked out of sight.

Some people buy power supplies with really long cables so they can take the long hidded route to the device needing power.

Some people buy only SATA devices so they will not have to deal with IDE cables.

Posting a photo of the inside of your case helps, after you have done the simplest task of tucking away the loose stuff, and you will get more tips specific to your setup.
 
Great, I tell you what, my CPU arrived today so I will finish building it and then I will take pictures and let you guys give me pointers. I am using the raidmax PSU that came with the case (mistake, I know but it will have to last for a couple of weeks...payday), I know that will be first thing I need to replace and hopefully I will get the tubing with whatever I end up with.

Thanks
 
Many people hide wires behind the MOBO tray; except that doesn't work if your MOBO tray is not removable and the right side cover is not removable either. Also, if your PSU is at the bottom of the case (think ANTEC 900), that is a special problem.

Figure out in advance how many of the power supply connectors you will actually need. Untangle those and stash the rest above or behind the PSU if they will fit. Also try turning the hard drives around backwards.

Most important, don't connect all the cables first and try to straighten out the wiring later. It does not work. It needs careful planning (a six pack of beer helps). Connect the wires or cables one at a time, planning in advance how and where to route each one or a group of wires. Hide them as best you can (will also help with cooling).

As posted above, ZIP ties are your friend. If you bundle a few wires together and after a while it looks like crap, start over. If you go through installing 100 zip ties and cutting most of them off ending up with 25, oh well they are cheap.

I built this about a year ago. Not a kickass system by any means but shows cable routing where the MOBO tray and right side are not removable:

finished.jpg
 
Frank4d said:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v305/Frank4d/finished.jpg
Click to expand...

I've got this case too. You know that you can put the drive in the other way so the cables attach on the motherboard side of the case, right? It would make that setup even cleaner.
 
Yeah, I am using the Raidmax Smilodon case. I now know it wasn't my best choice, but the appeal was the mobo tray laying out. Makes it real easy to work with. I will no doubt be putting a new PSU in tonight and I will make it a point to to get one with the longer cables and getting the cables in tubes and what not. If I can find a deal on a case, I will move it all over. This is my first build so I guess I should expect to learn the "nitty gritty" after I buy and build. Hindsight is 20/20...

Real quick, any suggestions for a PSU that has the right kind of cabling, is SLI ready, and not crap?
 
therealdealmark said:
Yeah, I am using the Raidmax Smilodon case. I now know it wasn't my best choice, but the appeal was the mobo tray laying out. Makes it real easy to work with. I will no doubt be putting a new PSU in tonight and I will make it a point to to get one with the longer cables and getting the cables in tubes and what not. If I can find a deal on a case, I will move it all over. This is my first build so I guess I should expect to learn the "nitty gritty" after I buy and build. Hindsight is 20/20...

Real quick, any suggestions for a PSU that has the right kind of cabling, is SLI ready, and not crap?
Click to expand...

Thermaltake tough power!! OCZ Powerstream is also good.... I have the same case as you and still stuck with the 500 watt power supply that came with this case :/
 
PSUs: not 8800GTX SLI, I'd look at Corsair......they have nice flat ribbon leads.

Expensive, but well worth it, PC Power and Cooling 750 Quad or 1KW turbo cool, both are nicely cabled and very sound.

Personally, I like to cable my own wires.......it can be very tedious, but you can bundle things the way you want,use what you want and get the color scheme you want.
 
warmace said:
If you take both side panels off your case, you can see behind the motherboard tray is a small flat space. For starters a lot of people route wires behind this tray, rather than in front of the motherboard.

Any unused power cables should be tucked out of sight.

Some people buy power supplies with really long cables so they can take the long hidded route to the device needing power.

Some people buy only SATA devices so they will not have to deal with IDE cables.

Posting a photo of the inside of your case helps, after you have done the simplest task of tucking away the loose stuff, and you will get more tips specific to your setup.
Click to expand...

Many of those tips are things I've been doing for awhile. In reference to buying only SATA devices, I've been doing that since the very first SATA optical drive came out. The mighty Plextor 712SA.
 
Dan_D said:
Many of those tips are things I've been doing for awhile. In reference to buying only SATA devices, I've been doing that since the very first SATA optical drive came out. The mighty Plextor 712SA.
Click to expand...

So, looking at your sig (quite the machine you have there), would you recommend all SATA devices and no IDE?
 
I have the ASUS M2N32 SLI Deluxe. I believe it has 6 SATA ports and 1 SATA II port. I may just do that for my DVD drives.
 
The ASUS M2N32-SLI Deluxe has 7 SATA 3G ports (six on the chipset and one via the Silicon Image controller) and one eSATA port. (eSATA port is also part of the Silicon Image controller.)

I don't know if you can use the optical drives on the Silicon Image SATA ports, but you sure can on the ports attached to the NVIDIA controller.
 
~ Wire twisty ties ~ ...... free & completely reusable.

Cannot understand why they are not utilized more often.
 
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