Cable management tips?

[toon_mad]

Has anyone got any good tips for cable management? I've done a few different builds now and the PSU cables just seem to get everywhere

My current build is a non modular PSU which doesn't help here. Should I just get some cable ties and tie them up? I would like to hide the cables completely if I could but they always seem to tangle and dangle

It also doesn't help as I have 7 internal fans excluding the front fan, and the heatsink I have (Alpenfohn Triglav) is taking a lot of room making the cables harder to move around.

Is it just a case of tie the loose ends wherever possible? I hate PSU cables

I need to reapply some AS5 and reseat the heatsink sometime so when I am back in there would be a good opportunity to sort the cables out.

Any tips would be useful thanks

 

[toon_mad]

I compulsory ONLY buy non modular PSU

I usually do too but even then the amount of cables you plug into the PSU makes it messy anyway

Looks like I need to get hold of a ton of cable ties. tonschk you seem to have done a pretty good job with the cables

I'm going to get some pics of the build up soon before the cable management, and after I hopefully get it sorted out.

thats my next task in hand getting some cable management sorted out, its all down to patience and some logical thinking as to wheres best to hide as much cable as possible

This is where I fail, I have very little patience.

When I am doing a new build I should take care of it all there and then but in the back of my mind I think what if there is a problem with the build and I have start taking things back out to see where the problem is, then I've wasted time organising it all

Or buy braided extensions for everything, and tie the whole lot behind the motherboard tray! LOL

Sweep it all under the rug so to speak

 

[toon_mad]

Yea its pretty much just cable ties. Also try to hide some near the hard drive bays as that goes in a little more from the back and cable tie stuff to the tray.

Other than that just take it one cable at a time and try and organise how they will fit in enough so that you can snap the back on and have a clean inside look and a messy back!.
Using pre-braided cables makes the inside of your pc look super nice too but they are a pain! in the back of the case as its yet more cables to hide. The back of my case is cramped full of cables.

If I was a woman I could probably get it all neat and tidy , I just have no patience to do it which I really should try and do as apart from it looking neater will improve airflow.

 

[toon_mad]

Well here is what I managed, although still not perfect it's still an improvement.

I think because the tower is probably not the largest and the size of the heatsink and non modular PSU made it somewhat difficult.

Before

After

It's actually embarrassing posting the non cable managed build

The second picture was took before I put the other pull fan on the heatsink, now you don't see the red wires and a few others. It's the ones coming from the PSU at the bottom near the HDD bays that cram up everywhere

From now on I will make that extra time to stuff the cables away properly

 

[toon_mad]

I think the power supply need to be upside down (with the fan facing downwards) otherwise the dust will go fast inside and the PSU will become full of dust, in the way is installed now, small screws and other things can fall inside the PSU

I thought about this but I figured why put the fan facing downwards when it can blow some air upwards.

And as for screws falling in when I was building it I just put some paper or something over the top in case any fell in.

 

[toon_mad]

So I have the PSU upside down? I guess I went with the logic that if the PSU was located at the top I would have had the fan facing down, so the opposite rule would apply here

I am not to worried as I am going to get a better graded PSU some time anyway.

 

[toon_mad]

I've been reading on some other sites about this and some say it's ok and other say it isn't, the difference is marginal if any apparently.

To me I can live with it, I have in total 8 120mm fans and now I have the cables sorted I am getting much better airflow, motherboard temps have dropped quite a bit so I am not worried.

But yeah I was immediately wary about screws dropping into the PSU. I think I situated the PSU with fan facing up because I probably thought having it blocked facing down would be a bad thing, which in this case would have covered the fan up completely.

 

[toon_mad]

Have the power the supply the other way around, the air is definitely sucked into the fan it and not pushed out of it, the air exits the power supply through the back. Also if your turn your hard drives around 180 degrees, your cables will look much neater.

Here's my build in the same case...

Good idea about the hard drives, don't why I never thought of that

PS, that is not an actual picture - I think you just posted the shell of the case without any wires connected

Seriously though that is a very good job, it almost makes me want to rip mine out and start over again, but I will wait until I get a better and modulared PSU I think.

Good job

 

[toon_mad]

Still looking good though

I need to invest more time and apply more effort I think.

 

[toon_mad]

I thought of getting velcro straps but was not sure how well they would hold and I thought they might take more space up because of there thickness.

I ended up buying a pack of 50 cable ties instead as they were really cheap, sets of 10 in 5 different colors for a couple of quid.