Demented's Antec 900 Cable Management Mod! - Overclock.net

Demented · 09-18-09

OK, it's not really a big mod unless you count sleeving a few adapters, drilling/cutting a few holes, adding grommets/c-channel, and adding a few CCFL's. Oh wait, that is a mod!

I've had my Antec 900 for probably close to 2 years now. The cable management in it has always been terrible. This was even worse when I still used IDE hard drives. The only IDE ribbon type cables I had left in there was for my DVD burner (thankfully a rounded one I bought a while ago), and my Audigy 2's front panel. Even still, it was a cable mess.

So after buying a used Dremel from a fellow member, and thinking of how I could reduce the cable clutter, I put a plan together to finally clean this thing up, and show it off with some bright lights!

First off, in addition to the Dremel, I also bought a few more things:
4-4 pin molex to 3 pin adapters; 2 90 degree right angle SATS cables; 1000 Zip-ties (I'll never need to buy them EVER!); a wire sleeving kit

Some c-channel; 4 pin molex extension; 2pk 4" Blue CCFL's; Some Zip-Tie ancors; An I/O shield that I thought would work, but didn't; 180pc Rubber Grommet set; and some awesome stepping drill bits

First I had to sleeve the 4 pin molex to 3 pin adapters:

Everything else I was using was either already sleeved, or didn't need to be. So how about we take a look at how bad it actually was first?

And then my poor attempt at hiding what I could:

The front, with the drive and Audigy panel on the bottom.

Then the back. I got my motherboard open box, so I never got the I/O shield.

So let's start cutting! I measured out where I wanted the PSU cables to go out, and marked off two holes. Cut them with the drill bits...

Then Dremeled the sides and made it into a pill shape...

And wrapped it in c-channel...

That actually still wasn't big enough for what I wanted, and it was a good thing. When I went back and cut it bigger, my c-channel fit much better. Sorry I never took any pics of that. I think by this time it was getting late in the day, and I had been up for almost 20 hours at the time.

I started laying out wires, deciding where I wanted them to go, and how I could zip-tie them off. Made a nice hole in the upper right for the front USB/Firewire cables. Also made ones for the Power/Reset/HD LED and 8-pin CPU, though I didn't use them, as I need to buy an extension for the 8-pin, and something for the other.

I used some of the zip-tie anchors to keep my side fan's cable nice and neat.

And then, with a few more curses, cuts, lack of sleep fed frustrations, I was done!

I decided I never really used the Audigy front panel, and it would totally eliminate the last ribbon cable from inside, so out it went! Plus with the fans this way, I put one hard drive in each fan bay, so they get maximum cooling, as well as having two more direct lines of air flow to the CPU and GPU.

Not bad with the window on...

But let's see what it looks like on the inside...

Yeah it could be better, but I really think a lot has to do with the case, and lack of a modular PSU. (Definitely next on my possible upgrades!)

And then, what we all never see. It took me a good little bit of zip-ties, anchoring, and stuffing to get these where I wanted them, and finally the side panel went on with no problems!

So that's it! I know it was a long post, but I've had these pics sitting on my HD for a while, and finally wanted to show what I've done. I'm definitely open to suggestions, but I am a sensitive fellow, so be gentle!

PeaceMaker · 09-18-09

Not bad at all. I'd probably end up doing the same thing as you. Except I wouldnt have added the lights after seeing more wire clutter O.o

Definitely seems like it takes a lot of patience... Modular PSU's are the way to go!

WarlordOne · 09-18-09

Nice! These things are really like trying to tame beasts when it comes to cable management.

I used a lot of those adhesive wire management squares in my case. You can get them in black at Ace Hardware BTW for anyone who cares. Also the inverter can fit in the back of the case where you have the bulk of your cables and you can run the switch through the hole where the PSU hold down is to the rear panel. At least that's how I had mine done.

Even with modular PSU's you'll have additional wires to hide. Not to mention my first build with one required the use of every single connector. How pointless...