Cable management (OUTSIDE) the PC? Options?

Vanilla

Vanilla

Vanilla

Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
9,539
Hi all,

I'm wondering what people do with cables outside of the PC. Under and all over my desk its a mess of cables.

if I need to remove something it's about 5 minutes of untangling.

I want to avoid this in the future and start from scratch. What do people do? What gadgets, tips or trips do people use? Any good desk management products?
 
Do you have any pictures?

Cable ties could be quick and easy, or a bit more interesting a thick piece of trunking from one end the the other and then a couple of holes which you drill through to let cables out at the points you need them
 
Under my desk has always ended up looked a right state because I had so many things plugged in and cables to them (PC, 4 x screens, printer, powered USB hub, loads of USB/DVI/HDMI cables, you name it!). I noticed my power extension leads had holes in the bottom, so I put a couple of screws underneath my desk and hung them from there. Then coiled up all the cables and then used a few velco cable ties to attach these to zip ties attached to the bottom of the desk. Obviously, I still have the cables coming down to plug into the PC, but I now don't have the plugs and the cables lying on the floor it looks a lot neater - unless you crouch and look up from under the desk!

Maybe post some pics of how it currently looks and people can make suggestions?
 
I think we've all struggled with this at some point, but it can certainly be tidied up.

1) Get a desk with some built in. This makes life 10x easier. They typically have a hole or two in the top, plus a kind of shelf just under the desktop for wires.

2) Trunking. Especially useful for anything going across the floor, or for semi-permanent equipment like speakers, amps, projectors.

3) Cable ties. Sounds obvious, but a few of these can make a huge difference if planned properly. Put similar cables together, don't just clump everything into one. I prefer velcro ones, so I can add/remove wires as needed

4) Cable boxes. http://www.amazon.co.uk/D-Line-Smal...qid=1424081247&sr=8-2&keywords=cable+tidy+box

5) Go wireless. Again sounds obvious, but the more wires you can lose, the easier things get

6) Get the right length cables. Spend a few quid replacing un-necessarily long cables: I cut my speaker wire down to size and cut out about 5m of useless coiled wires on the floor. Similarly ditching a 5m USB for a printer, for a 1m one.

Mine isn't the tidiest, but it's not too bad considering how much kit I have in one location (PC, Home Server, AV receiver with 7.1 surround sound plus projector, networking for the above, printer, chromecast/airport, network switches, power line adapters, plus the usual keyboard/mouse/monitor, phone and tablet chargers, laptop cables etc etc)
 
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