Burn

CABLE MANAGEMENT GUIDE

BY ATVkid*AFZ*

Ok, so you have a really messy rig. You’re out of ideas as to how to organize all those cables, there are just so many of them! This is a guide to show you the ins and outs of cable management, and get your rig into fighting shape. Here is the rig we’re going to start with, my rig:



Click the picture to get a bigger view.

As you can clearly see, it looks like crap. All the cables are just about everywhere and nothing is organized at all. Fortunately, my Aspire 520W PSU came pre-sleeved, so that takes care of my power supply, but none of my other cables are either sleeved or neatly tucked away. This will show you how to make your rig look semi-respectable.



1. PSU

First of all, you PSU has the most wires coming out of it, and it can be an eyesore. I suggest following Archer_456's PSU Sleeving Guide. It’s a very in-depth guide on how to sleeve your PSU, and I suggest you do that first before you do anything else, because that take care of a large part of the problem.



2. IDE cables

Secondly, everyone notices your IDE cables, you know, those flat ugly ribbons that go into your hard drives and CD-ROM drives? Those are next. Making those cables round is a cheap, inexpensive, and quick way to spruce your case up. Archer_456's Round IDE Cable Guide. The IDE cables will make your rig look much cooler, I can attest to that. I rounded every IDE cable that’s in my rig, and it makes my case look much cleaner. I recommend doing this second only to sleeving your PSU. If your PSU is already sleeved, I recommend doing this first.



3. Electrical Tape

I love electrical tape. If you look closer into my rig, you can see electrical tape everywhere. I absolutely love it, it gives a cleaner look than duct tape and holds better than Scotch tape. Where you can use electrical tape, use it, because it creates a black surface that’s easy on the eyes instead of a black and red thin line that draws attention. Plus, if you really need to, they have different colored electrical tape, you can get it at home depot for about a buck a roll. I think they carry red rolls, green, blue, and black of course. I used black simply because my case is black and I like black J



4. Hiding Wires

Hiding wires is the most crucial part of this guide. If you can’t hide wires well, your rig will look like poop. My rig happens to have a large metal bar that runs the length of the case, there are around 6 wires in the crevice created by it, and it looks really good. Use electrical tape to keep the wires in there, as that will help you out lots when it comes time to keeping those wires where they are meant to stay.

5. Wrapping a Molex Connector

Those Molex connectors are huge, and when push comes to shove, who really wants to see a huge Molex sticking out? More importantly, I can show you a way to take up wire slack using both Molex connectors wrapped up. Here’s a quick how-to:



1. Lay Molex connectors side by side as they were when you got them. You should have them long side on long side.

2. Wrap wire around thicker Molex wire. You should see lower gauge (thicker wire) wire on your Molex connectors than the small wires that go to your fan. Wrap the smaller wire around the thinker wire until you’ve taken up enough slack. Keep in mind that you need enough wire to go to your connection, too!

3. Wrap small wire through the two Molexes. When you’ve taken up as much slack as you need, take the thinner wire and wrap it through the two Molexes. You should come out with something like this:


4. You’re all done! Hook up your connector, and you have no more slack!





5. Blowhole Fan Power Connection

Ok, so you have a blowhole that has a fan on it, that’s great. The wire coming off the fan however, looks like crap. What I’ve done and what I suggest you do if you have one, is the following:

1. Move your CD Drive Down One Slot: I suggest moving your CD drive down one slow so you can fit your Molex connector and your PSU cord in that space created. It looks really nice and you can’t see the plugs, which is the objective of me writing this guide.

2. Electrical Tape: What I would do next if you don’t want to do #1 is to tape your wire to the top of your case and lead it to an inconspicuous spot. Might I suggest to the left of your CD rack? There’s a space (at least in my case) where the manufacturers decided to leave some when they centered the bays to the front of the case. This makes for an excellent hiding spot for this situation.





Here's the final product. Clearly, it looks much more organized and looks much more professional, thanks to some small things done, they make all the difference.



Click the picture to get a bigger view.

If you have an idea that you’d like submitted in here, or if you have any problems doing what I’ve outlined above, feel free to PM me or email me at ATVkid1090 at gmail.com



Thanks to Archer_456 for his guides, he made the PSU sleeving section much shorter, as well as the Round IDE Cable section. Good Work!

__________________
My CNC Mill Project
We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand.
--Randy Pausch
Current Best Benchmark

Crash

Man you gotta fix the pictures

Burn

i know dude! i resize them in edit, but it reverts back to the huge size they are now!!

__________________
My CNC Mill Project
We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand.
--Randy Pausch
Current Best Benchmark

Crash

get windows power toys. Rt click resize easy Free

Burn

i'm re-uploading them as we speak. should be up in about 2 minutes

__________________
My CNC Mill Project
We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand.
--Randy Pausch
Current Best Benchmark

Burn

ok...everything's re-sized now....looks much better.

__________________
My CNC Mill Project
We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand.
--Randy Pausch
Current Best Benchmark

Waffles

nice one dude

Burn

thanks... this one's a real guide compared to the mini-one's i've done.

__________________
My CNC Mill Project
We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand.
--Randy Pausch
Current Best Benchmark

Cypz

pic 1 and pic 3 same photo??? You should fix that too

YiffyGriffy

Just something add... for those of you that know what Fry's is or where it is, I picked up a bag of 1,000 4 inch wire ties for about $8 there, very handy

__________________
Went almost two years without any major system overhauls, so I'm treating myself