Cable Management 101 by Deano12345 - Overclock.net

Deano12345 · 2 Weeks Ago

Welcome to my thread that will hopefully get you a 10 in the ''Rate my cables thread'' or at least decrease the temps in your case.

Step 1

We need the correct tools before we start,like anything.

3.2mm or 2.5mm cable ties :

''Snips''/Small wire cutter :

One Case :

And Finally

Some time :

Step 2
Have everything you need?

Lets get started !

Evaluate whats in your case
Which means
-How many Fans/drives do you have ?
-Is your PSU modular ? (Modular always helps)
-How many graphics card ?
-Does your case have any pre drilled holes ?

Heres some advice before we even start managing anything.

1. Fan controllers will clutter up behind your motherboard,But this is ok,we cant see the cables (other than a small few a the top,I'll tell you more about that later)

2.Modular PSU's always help,it will eliminate that cable clutter down the bottom of your case

3.Sata drives are great ! Their cables are much easier to manage than the old ''Ribbon'' IDE cables.If your doing a new build,pick up both SATA HDD's (thats a given nowadays) and a SATA DVD-RW Drive

4.Your type of case is very important.Some will have a lot of holes pre-drilled (Down by the PSU,up at the 8pin are the most usable IMO).If your handy with tools,you can create these holes with a Dremel or other rotary tool.

Step 3
Now,actually onto the cable managment.

Step 1 : Front Panel connectors

These are usually USB,Audio I/O and maybe an E-Sata port.Lets manage them first.

For this particular case(HAF 922,but any case I have seen has had FP cables long enough to do this),the cables are long enough to be ran across the top of the motherboard and then down the left hand side and poke them through the recesses in the motherboard you can see just above the large hole.

Poke them through the separe holes (On/off cables though one of the holes on the left hand side and Power/HDD LED,through the hole closest to the connections for the motherboard.For me it was the hole furthest to the right above the big hole.But DONT tie them down yet.

*But Dean,I dont have any recesses *sadface*

Do not fear,cable manager.Get a roll of masking tape and use that to tie those dastardly cables down and run your IO cables through the big hole that will be on front of your PSU.*

Front I/O sorted ? Your damn sure it is !

Step 2 : In the Drive-ing seat (

)

Ok,lets sort out your drives,first off.Plug your SATA Data cables into your SATA devices,what ever they are and run all your drive cables across your motherboard.Once they are behind the motherboard tray,grab them all and line them up behind each other and cable tie them their.This step really reduces the cluttered look of multiple cables.Cable management is all smoke and mirrors really

Rinse and repeat this step for your SATA power cables but IMO,dont tie them all together,it looks cleaner if you do them seperatly (you will see what I mean a bit later)

Step 3 : Powah Time !

Ok,we have our IO and our drives sorted out.Now its time to sort out our motherboard power,8pin and GPU power.

First things first,the tighter you can get the GPU and 24Pin connectors the better it will look,try and tie them to the case wherever you can,again,use masking tape if you dont have any of those handy little recesses.For the 8Pin,run it around the back of the motherboard and out the top hole (if you have one,if not,make one !) and thats it

With your GPU cables you will most likley have 2 6/8 pins,plug them into your GPU and then cable tie them (in view)to a point where they are not being 'pulled' at the GPU end (ie so they cable isnt pulling on the card) and tie them down like your 24Pin

Step 4 : Admire your work

Here's what your case should look like once your done

*I'll update this later on with some more stuff to finish your job off

Anyway guys,I hope this guides helps you in your cable management adventures.Please let me know If you have any problems or any questions about your specific case...or tell me my cable managment is crap

More managment tips :

Controller Clutter :

On the outside,they look purty,but on the inside they a mess of unsleeved cables(a bit like me then) Not really,that pun sucked

Couple of things that make them a minor annoyance

1.Molex Power - It makes you crack out the wonderous 4pin cable and the cable clutter that goes along with them.

2.Fan Cables - You have to run the cables into the back of the controller or at least (like my fan controller) have a smaller cable which connects into the Controller PCB at one end and the other end is a traditional 3 pin connector.

Right,lets get to sorting these problems out

Molexs,run them around the back of your motherboard from your PSU,then bring the connector (for power on the Fan controller) across your case and behind your motherboard.Dont connect anything or tie anything up yet.

Get the fans wires you want to control behind your motherboard.You will have to hide any front panel fans,this is why you tied your sata data cables together.Tie them behind the sata cables (Ninja cables...oh yeah lol),an other fans can be put through the hole up the top (Where your 8pin was put through).Connect the fans n to the 3 pin connection that you should halve passed across the cae behind the motherboard.

All your fans,work ?

They do ?

Good

But your not done yet.We have just connected the cables out of site,we gotta tie them down to minimize the space taken up behind your motherboard and also the mess going across your case.

Molex - tie them down to wherever you can in your case,those hooks come into play once more,if not,use some masking tape simple as.

Fan cables-Cable tie them all together so you can get a clean look running across your case.Tie the molex to them too.Place your Fan controller in the top 5.25 bay if possible to keep those cables out of the way as much as possible (you can see this on my rig,which you can see in step 4 of this guide.)

That should be you all done,repeat step 4 if you wish

*I know there any many types and brands of fan controller.If my tips aren't relvant to you,post up wiht your model or a picture of you current management and I'll help you with it*