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Wiring Managment Help Needed

401 Views 8 Replies 5 Participants Last post by  funkycasey
Hey all. I'm not the most organized person when it comes to cables. I would take a picture of behind me desk for you as well as what my computer case looks like right now, but my camera battery is dead and i don't feel like messing with it, lol.

Anyway, here is what i need help with....
My case is a Thermaltake Kandalf (Yes, similar to the Armor....actually, I think they are identical, just different fronts....)

I see a lot of people on OCN with power cables neatly tucked UNDER their motherboard...like the only part of the 20/24 cable you can see is it coming out from underneath the board and plugging right into the motherboard. I want to know if you just simply put that huge cable under the motherboard or if you drill a hole and put it behind the motherboard backplate.

Also, I'd like to see how you can hide other cables like the PCI-express power cable and S-ATA hard drive cables. In other words, I'd like to see some of you Armor and Kandalf case owners' pictures of your cases...both sides so i can see how you manage your cables. Thanks a lot in advance!
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Drill a hole.. or a few. Then your bmobo isnt stuffed... lol.

(Dont drill.. Demel a rectangle. Big connectors...)
Quote:


I see a lot of people on OCN with power cables neatly tucked UNDER their motherboard...like the only part of the 20/24 cable you can see is it coming out from underneath the board and plugging right into the motherboard. I want to know if you just simply put that huge cable under the motherboard or if you drill a hole and put it behind the motherboard backplate.

People drill holes through the backplate and tuck the cables away under the backplate.

You can also accomplish a lot with zip-ties. But I don't have that case, so can't help you with pics.
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You can do it without drilling, but you'd need it to be a totally free cable (no sleeving or ties on it) so that you can flatten the wiring. PCI-E/Sata's don't need this treatment, they're pretty self explanatory, but only a fellow Armor/Kandalf owner could tell you 100%. You can do quite a bit with a 1/4" of space if it's planned right, without a single drill or cut.
i've never seen a Kandalf in person, but you'll need at least a quarter inch between your motherboard tray and the outside wall to be able to route your wires behind it. also, please don't use a Dremel. it look will look sloppy. use an electric drill with a hole saw or an electrician's tool called a SlugBuster. i own a different case, but here's what mine looks like from the front and from the back:





mine is messier than most in the back because the wires weren't long enough to go around so i had to splice and extend them.

sleeving your cables is a great way to avoid cutting into your box. a lot of people think sleeved cables look better than hidden cables, too.
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Originally Posted by Pwnjohnson
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You can do it without drilling, but you'd need it to be a totally free cable (no sleeving or ties on it) so that you can flatten the wiring. PCI-E/Sata's don't need this treatment, they're pretty self explanatory, but only a fellow Armor/Kandalf owner could tell you 100%. You can do quite a bit with a 1/4" of space if it's planned right, without a single drill or cut.

The 1/4" of space is meaning Underneath the motherboard itself, am i correct? I am thinking that will work because even though my cables are sleeved, they are flexible and can be flattened....But will this mess something up like grounding something on my motherboard? Also i don't have some high end cutting thing...all i can use is a drill bit or something like that b/c all i have is a drill, lol.
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Originally Posted by MrBungle
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i've never seen a Kandalf in person, but you'll need at least a quarter inch between your motherboard tray and the outside wall to be able to route your wires behind it. also, please don't use a Dremel. it look will look sloppy. use an electric drill with a hole saw or an electrician's tool called a SlugBuster. i own a different case, but here's what mine looks like from the front and from the back:





mine is messier than most in the back because the wires weren't long enough to go around so i had to splice and extend them.

sleeving your cables is a great way to avoid cutting into your box. a lot of people think sleeved cables look better than hidden cables, too.

Ah, nice pictures. Yes, that is exactally what i am looking for...the cables aren't all in the case like mine are at this times...they are behind the motherboard tray...very nice.

Question...and this one is really directed to the Armor/Kandalf owners only...i have my hard drive up in that top cage....will i need a longer S-ATA cable to reach the S-ATA slot on my motherboard? The connector on my motherboard is all the way on the other side of the mobo on the bottom side of the case. If i need a longer wire, where do you suggest buying one? Also, i am looking for a much longer IDE cable for my two CD/DVD Drives.
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you can buy long SATA cables on Newegg or any CompUSA or similar store. you can measure to tell if your current cables will be long enough.

EDIT: about the IDE cables, yes, you can buy longer ones at any computer store. i know the pics i put up aren't perfect, but they were taken before i was finished. on my setup, i used a ribbon cable instead of a round IDE cable for my optical drives because i could slide it in between the two drives so it looks clean. a round IDE cable would have left a big loop in my case.
Quote:


Originally Posted by MrBungle
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you can buy long SATA cables on Newegg or any CompUSA or similar store. you can measure to tell if your current cables will be long enough.

EDIT: about the IDE cables, yes, you can buy longer ones at any computer store. i know the pics i put up aren't perfect, but they were taken before i was finished. on my setup, i used a ribbon cable instead of a round IDE cable for my optical drives because i could slide it in between the two drives so it looks clean. a round IDE cable would have left a big loop in my case.

Okay, thanks for that info...i see what you mean about the round IDE now...had to think about it for a minute, lol
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