Soldato
- Joined
- 21 Mar 2003
- Posts
- 4,652
- Location
- Nottingham
So, this morning there was a knock at the door and a very cheerful delivery chap handed me a box of intrigue. "What is in the box?" I thought to myself as I scurried away to the dim light of my office, knowing full well what was in the box, but still, its like a second christmas isn't it when something new arrives? A few minutes later, buried under some packing paper and a little added extra of momentary yumminess, my bounty is laid out before me.
Okay, so the camera on my phone really isn't up to scratch, but it will do for now.
From left to right:
BitFenix Alchemy 24pin ATX extension 30cm - White
BitFenix Alchemy 8pin EPS extension 45cm - White
2* BitFenix Alchemy SATA 6GB/s braided cable 30cm - White
2* BitFenix Alchemy 6pin PCI-E extension 45cm - White
and last but not least, in the middle top, BitFenix Alchemy LED Strip 30cm - White.
I've only had time for a cursory glance so far, but what I can tell is that the quality is amazing, the braid itself is a tight weave, bonded to the wire during the production process, negating the need for heatshrink, what this means for the end user, is that there is a lot more pliability in the cables, which promises a lot of freedom when it comes to routing.
It got late into this evening, and while I originally planned to do this tomorrow when the sun is out (as if), I ran out of things to keep me out of trouble, and so, on with the show.
First of all, we have the default, as it was, before I received this nice bundle of wires. As you can see, I did some cable management, but the 4 year old Enermax power supply, although it has braided cabling, and is modular, it has some serious drawbacks, the most noticeable of which being that the braid stops well short of the connectors, exposing the rainbow of hard wires.
While it is tidy, it is certainly not pretty, and due to the limited length of the cable, I wasn't entirely happy with routing the atx power cable between the motherboard and the case frame.
And so, armed with a handful of cable ties, and a good mug of coffee, I set to work. all went smoothly, though there were one or two things that I found to be slightly off putting. The main problem being, that with each wire individually braided, there is no cohesion to the cable as a whole, which as you will see, looks a little messy and they have had to be restrained somewhat with the careful use of cable ties. These may be replaced later, when I have time to source some pure white ties, instead of the translucent ones that I currently have.
Much better in my opinion, and yes, looking at it now, I should probably move the pci-e cables up to the middle grommet instead of the bottom one, but that is a simple change to make. The cables themselves clicked into place with relative ease and were a pleasure to work with, as mentioned before, with the exception of the lack of coherency due to the individual braiding, I find it very difficult to find fault with any of the cables, they look good, they are very easy to work with, and they really do make all the difference.. One thing to remember though, is that these cables are quite long, and so, you really do need a case with plenty of places to hide cables, as adding another 30/45cm or so of cable onto your existing power supply cables, can make them quite unwieldy.
**Bonus Round**
So, Kul1 told us, to put on our sunglasses, and here's why..
30cm of brilliant white LED goodness.. and let me assure you, it is very bright indeed. The above picture was taken, in almost complete darkness, the LED strip is stuck inside the case frame, facing the motherboard, and it lights it up brilliantly
Overall, these cables are fantastic, great quality, easy to use, so pliable that they'll fit wherever you might want to squeeze them. Bitfenix are on to a winner and I would seriously recommend them to anybody looking to make their computers look a little more coordinated. Well worth the investment.
Okay, so the camera on my phone really isn't up to scratch, but it will do for now.
From left to right:
BitFenix Alchemy 24pin ATX extension 30cm - White
BitFenix Alchemy 8pin EPS extension 45cm - White
2* BitFenix Alchemy SATA 6GB/s braided cable 30cm - White
2* BitFenix Alchemy 6pin PCI-E extension 45cm - White
and last but not least, in the middle top, BitFenix Alchemy LED Strip 30cm - White.
I've only had time for a cursory glance so far, but what I can tell is that the quality is amazing, the braid itself is a tight weave, bonded to the wire during the production process, negating the need for heatshrink, what this means for the end user, is that there is a lot more pliability in the cables, which promises a lot of freedom when it comes to routing.
It got late into this evening, and while I originally planned to do this tomorrow when the sun is out (as if), I ran out of things to keep me out of trouble, and so, on with the show.
First of all, we have the default, as it was, before I received this nice bundle of wires. As you can see, I did some cable management, but the 4 year old Enermax power supply, although it has braided cabling, and is modular, it has some serious drawbacks, the most noticeable of which being that the braid stops well short of the connectors, exposing the rainbow of hard wires.
While it is tidy, it is certainly not pretty, and due to the limited length of the cable, I wasn't entirely happy with routing the atx power cable between the motherboard and the case frame.
And so, armed with a handful of cable ties, and a good mug of coffee, I set to work. all went smoothly, though there were one or two things that I found to be slightly off putting. The main problem being, that with each wire individually braided, there is no cohesion to the cable as a whole, which as you will see, looks a little messy and they have had to be restrained somewhat with the careful use of cable ties. These may be replaced later, when I have time to source some pure white ties, instead of the translucent ones that I currently have.
Much better in my opinion, and yes, looking at it now, I should probably move the pci-e cables up to the middle grommet instead of the bottom one, but that is a simple change to make. The cables themselves clicked into place with relative ease and were a pleasure to work with, as mentioned before, with the exception of the lack of coherency due to the individual braiding, I find it very difficult to find fault with any of the cables, they look good, they are very easy to work with, and they really do make all the difference.. One thing to remember though, is that these cables are quite long, and so, you really do need a case with plenty of places to hide cables, as adding another 30/45cm or so of cable onto your existing power supply cables, can make them quite unwieldy.
**Bonus Round**
So, Kul1 told us, to put on our sunglasses, and here's why..
30cm of brilliant white LED goodness.. and let me assure you, it is very bright indeed. The above picture was taken, in almost complete darkness, the LED strip is stuck inside the case frame, facing the motherboard, and it lights it up brilliantly
Overall, these cables are fantastic, great quality, easy to use, so pliable that they'll fit wherever you might want to squeeze them. Bitfenix are on to a winner and I would seriously recommend them to anybody looking to make their computers look a little more coordinated. Well worth the investment.
