Cable management for numpties

jaysus · 12 Jan 2010 at 13:38

I recently had my graphics card cooked (8600GTS) and whilst partly I suspect that was due to a mix of a card thats known for overcooking, it being factory overclocked and playing a new game on fairly high settings I don't think my bog standard case cooling helped any. The mess of wires from a new PSU (CX400) running everywhere certainly won't have helped.

I don't want to spend any money on cooling as I'll be doing a big upgrade in the next few months, so instead I've decided to at least try and sort some of the cabling out. The case itself has a fair bit of space to stuff cables, but I don't actually know where I need to be keeping clear - is it the space around and between the motherboard and case fan? Is it okay to stuff as much slack as I can in the recess next to the PSU, or is that a no-no?

I'm just after a bit of basic guidance. I've done some googling but all the articles I've read talk about drilling holes through the case and motherboard etc, and thats something I'd rather not do - I'm not that confident - although the idea of reverse mounting the HDD seemed like a good one. Is there any other advice anyone can give me?

petriodet · 12 Jan 2010 at 14:02

you need to say what case you have and maybe a few pics

jaysus · 12 Jan 2010 at 15:48

I took a load of photo's, but only one came out properly - see below. I'm going to have a bash at getting some of the stuff out of the way so I'll take a few more then.

The case is a Thermaltake Tsunami Dream (don't know any further details, will have a proper look later.) I've no idea if its great or rubbish - if its half decent then I'll keep it when I upgrade, and some ideas of cheap (sub £30) ways to improve cooling would be appreciated. If its mediocre then I won't bother.

reiyushin · 12 Jan 2010 at 16:03

MY EYES!

On a more helpful note, do you know where all the wires go if they all magically came unclipped?

jaysus · 12 Jan 2010 at 16:42

reiyushin said:
MY EYES!

On a more helpful note, do you know where all the wires go if they all magically came unclipped?

I installed the PSU myself and mostly worked it out as I went along. If you're suggesting disconnecting some and moving them about before reconnecting, I can take photo's so I've got a point of reference if need be - but I think I'd be alright.

Jason1973 · 12 Jan 2010 at 17:02

Jaysus christ

(sorry I couldnt resist it)

Get come cable ties in there fast LOL.

Bicepo · 12 Jan 2010 at 17:05

you can try to place the cables in the space above the optical drive, there is normally enough room up there for a couple of molex cables.

reiyushin · 12 Jan 2010 at 17:13

Ok ez pz
-Count up how many of each connecter you need
-Disconnect everything
-Cable tie what you don't need and hide it in the optical bays
-Reconnect the rest and you're done

oh and you can also use cable ties to control the length of the wires you do need

UltraDad · 12 Jan 2010 at 17:52

Hello there

I wondered where my pet squid went

Zenduri · 12 Jan 2010 at 17:56

So how many birds are in that nest?

Pneumonic · 12 Jan 2010 at 18:35

might want to remove the dust as well

V_R · 12 Jan 2010 at 18:40

Simply just start again and this time take a bit of time and care with it if your happy you know where it all goes back.

Kurisu Makise · 12 Jan 2010 at 18:51

is that a home made bomb?

jaysus · 12 Jan 2010 at 19:58

Miffy1991 said:
is that a home made bomb?

Yes, the first one I've made that explodes every few months

Thanks for the advice, will get to work with cable ties later/in the morning.

Ewanb75 · 12 Jan 2010 at 20:09

Dear god.......

As suggested, lots of cable ties, any holes in the mobo tray to route cables, or any other hidey holes. good luck.

Can be done tho,

G-Dubs · 12 Jan 2010 at 20:17

When I scrolled down from the original post I actually recoiled when I saw the picture. Man that's bad

Ok as noted above, whip it all out and start again, using what you need, planning the routes, using right angles where you can and finding a good place to hide what's not needed (there are loads)

I've got a similar case without a modular PSU and acheived this. Only thing not connected is the graphics card.

jaysus · 12 Jan 2010 at 21:07

Cheers, I'll give that a go.

Is the case worth keeping hold of for when I upgrade to a new mobo & CPU, PSU and GPU? Or should I add a new case to the shopping list? If its worth keeping and there are cheap ways of upgrading cooling without overloading the PSU like a side fan or something I'll do them before I do the bulk of the upgrade.

jaysus · 13 Jan 2010 at 00:30

OH ****.

Tidied it all up, thought all was fine. Was only 50/50 as to whether I'd put the leads for the two top mounted USB ports in the right place, but was reasonable happy about the rest of it.

Turned it on and the fan and the case light came on for half a second but then nothing. Turned it on and off again with the power switch on the back of the case and repeated, same again. Have taken the side off and checked everything as best I can and I can't see what I've missed/forgotten to reconnect/done wrong.

HELP?

jaysus · 13 Jan 2010 at 01:04

Panic over - disconnected iffy USB cables and PC has booted. Photos of the finished article below, the best I could manage. The bulk of the spare and slack is stuffed below the DVD drive in a huge recess.

Could someone help me reconnect the USB cables to the right slot please? Pic's below, but what they show is two single row of 5 pin connectors. Of the blocks I think they go into, they're shown in blue in the photo - they're 5 pins top, 4 pins bottom. One is marked USB 5 something, the next USB 7 something, the last USB 910 (or something close to.)

EGuitarStar · 13 Jan 2010 at 01:05

Edit:Too late he fixed it.

Loking much better.