Project: Expand your skillset and sort your messy cables

[Minusorange]

This isn't a build per se but rather a modification of an existing build

The idea is to gut the Sound Card with ribbon cable because it's hideous and from then on I'll just be using my Roland Rubix 22, switch out the solid Phanteks cooler for a Kraken X62 I picked up off the members market just for bling and swap my aged V700 for a shiny new Antec HCG 850w Gold.

To compliment this I decided to rearrange the PC room, get rid of the old desk which was a bit too small really and build a new desk and also a little work bench style desk for tinkering and keeping my midi keyboard on.

I will also be learning (hopefully correctly) to build my own custom cables for a slicker and clean look inside the case, I just need to get around to ordering the connectors, wires and sleeving

So some pics

Construction of a monitor stand



On the desk which was ex Kitchen top solid oak I nabbed off gumtree



Spent all Saturday sanding and varnishing the oak to get it just right, fortunately it was a gloriously hot summer day



After spending all of Sunday cleaning out the PC room, removing everything and sorting through stuff to keep and throw out and actually building/attaching the Ikea parts I had something that resembled very closely to a desk complete with the little tinker bench too (didn't varnish this one as I saw no point if I'm going to be soldering on it). So that's some craftsman skills I've learned for this project, nothing broke and everything went well and it was actually rather enjoyable

So with that phase out of the way it was time to wait for tools



The costs sure mount up for everything to make one set of cables (hopefully I'll make more than 1 set if it's fun), it helps you appreciate just why they're generally so expensive for a good set from the modding places that sell them, I also treated myself to a 1TB SSD off the members market to use for a gaming drive.



The cables are quite messy but the Stryker does hide them rather well on the back, they will however be rearranged much better after I'm finished with the project added bonus no more hideous ribbon cable



It doesn't look as horrendous from the front, but it's still pretty nasty, I've seen of the nice looking builds in this forum section so I'm aiming high to compete with the experts with this being my first time

I am however going to cheat ever so slightly with the SATA cables as I managed to find some that actually look nice as is without a need to tamper with them, maybe my next project I'll attempt it but for now I think they'll do the job just fine



Now it's just a case of waiting for the sleeving and the rest to arrive so I can crack on with this project of learning new skills

 

[LuckyBenski]

Be good to see progress pics of the sleeving! I'm an electronic engineer so cable is a comfortable area for me, but sleeving I haven't tried yet.

I do like that SATA cable.

 

[Minusorange]

I do like that SATA cable.

Yep I was originally going to attempt sleeving some myself but I saw these while searching and I have a thing for the right angle connections (unfortunately they're all factory moulded onto the cable so no taking apart) and it just seemed perfect, they're quite flexible but also seem to hold whatever shape you give them really well too so I'm happy with them

And now the supplies start to trickle in



Tomorrow will hopefully yield more goodies and possibly enough of the stuff to get started on modding

 

[Minusorange]

So just an update with some more of the parts (Yes I still rock a G15 keyboard)



All the Molex connectors unfortunately ordering from 2 different places has meant that the official Molex connectors I ordered are a lighter shade of black to the others so I've got some Vinyl dye on order which should solve the problem and provide some colour unity



The top one is official Molex the other is from a different source (in future buy all from same source)



The MDPC-X sleeving is absolutely beautiful and yes I am going with a Blue, White Black scheme for the cables even though I'll no longer have the Blue Phanteks cooling block because of the Kraken

But as blue is my favourite colour and I'm having some blue led fans installed in the case it shouldn't matter

For now though I have to wait for the fans and the Heat shrink to be delivered as it was out of stock when I ordered

 

[Minusorange]

So while I wait I've been watching tutorials on further case modding of actual designs on the case and came with this idea in Photoshop





I don't think I would have it looking as noisy and I think a circuit design of blue on white would work but something similar to this would work quite well I think, shouldn't be too difficult to print off a template and use a craft knife to remove the circuit parts then spray over case + template to get desired effect right ?

 

[LuckyBenski]

That looks awesome Yes it should be doable with vinyl. Maybe worth getting it cut on a plotter? Quite cheap nowadays.

Bonus points for including some illuminated circuit sections!

 

[Minusorange]

That looks awesome Yes it should be doable with vinyl. Maybe worth getting it cut on a plotter? White cheap nowadays.

Bonus points for including some illuminated circuit sections!

Something I could look into, I was thinking of getting a cheap side panel that I could use for testing without worry of ruining the good panel

 

[faheemrazzaq]

That's a very nice design mate

 

[Daaaavvveee]

That's a cool design!

 

[Minusorange]

So a little update as I've been busy gutting the rig and getting the shiny new kraken and PSU installed with stock cables until the last few bits I need arrive



Managed to get all the connectors looking the same shade of black, there's still a slight difference but it's only noticeable if you get up close, it seems the authentic Molex made connectors give off a more gloss effect, while the MDPC-X versions are made of a different kind of plastic which are more matt



Removed the old Phanteks and the fans, it's funny how you forget just how spacious the Stryker actually is without a massive cooling block and GPU taking up most of the space



Everything removed, CPU cleaned with some IPA looking as shiny as the day I bought it (despite the poor light of this pic)



Bought 4 of these Bitfenix Spectre Pro with Blue LED's to go inside and replace the stock fans that did surprisingly well for the last 4 years



The Antec is quite the tidy unit, considering this and my V700 are both Seasonic rebrands I was surprised at the Antec being so much smaller despite offering more watts, if I was doing a build in a smaller case this size would be ideal



At first I was planning on having the fans working as pulling air through the rad but I decided I didn't like the aesthetics of that config



Much better, although slight design flaw on the Stryker is the dust cover will not fit over the screws by the handle bracket to go under it while the screws have the washers on, so I had to remove the 4 middle screw washers for it to "just" fit with a bit of effort





One of the features I loved about the Stryker was this hidden compartment which was full of spare screws and enough room to hold some spare front panel blocks, however.... another design flaw is if you want to use the forward most fan mounting you either keep the tool box rendering that fan useless due to being completely blocked or you forfeit the box for cooling. I'm still undecided on this though and may move this fan to act as an extra exhaust on the back where the 140mm used to live.





Even with temporary cables in place so I can use the rig, everything is a hell of a lot more neater, but it can be improved and will be once all parts arrive



Camera doesn't deal with low light very well and yes I know the NZXT logo is not in the correct alignment BUT I am happy to sacrifice this as I much prefer that orientation for the water pipes

In terms of me getting the cables done, I have nearly everything finally after forgetting to order enough shrink in the right colours, I am however waiting on a couple of sata connectors and 3 8 pin connectors for my PSU as I didn't count in the Kraken for my Sata limit so I'm short on those and the 8 pins I did order turned out to be the wrong fitting for the PSU, hopefully should get them tomorrow or Monday at latest so I can crack on with the project, I'm also thinking of 3d printing a shroud to go over the PSU area depending how the cabling looks there, if it's too messy it will be easier to cover up than demess (if that's even possible)

 

[LuckyBenski]

I usually make shrouds from a sheet of acrylic with some bends. Easy enough to laser cut and get any screw holes / cutouts out in at the same time. Looks pretty neat

 

[subbytna]

My OCD is looking at the rotation of the CPU block being 90 degrees

 

[Minusorange]

I usually make shrouds from a sheet of acrylic with some bends. Easy enough to laser cut and get any screw holes / cutouts out in at the same time. Looks pretty neat

I don't have access to a laser cutter but I will have access to a 3d printer soon and it shouldn't be too hard to design a custom shroud

My OCD is looking at the rotation of the CPU block being 90 degrees

I wish the letters were digital so you could rotate them so I could have it look like

N
Z
X
T

or even the ability to rotate the full name block but it doesn't allow this (without modding/destroying the pump, maybe a future project) and it doesn't look that out of place so it's only a minor inconvenience

 

[subbytna]

Black masking tape, has to be done lol.

 

[Minusorange]

So another update to this project (which hasn't been as much fun doing the cables)



Work finally begins on the cables, sorted all the connector housings into order, got my DMM ready for continuity testing to discover the correct pinouts, it was all exciting at this point



The first cable of many



And the second which was closer to the edges of not fitting (the preciseness of it all I found incredibly tedious and not all an enjoyable part of this)



It fits though, now another 24 to do and then making 4 into double pins (doing the double pins and soldering was actually enjoyable)



It's strange that Molex connector cables were also enjoyable



Cables starting to find their home now the 24 pin was complete, training the cables despite cutting almost to the correct length proved difficult and I don't think I'd use the plastic cable combs again as I lost 2 to breaking whilst training



Try as I might I just cannot get those PCI-E cable to train next to each other exactly how I want them



All cables in place, maybe it's just me but I'm still finding it messy, it looks better than it originally was but I don't know maybe I was expecting too much for my first time, I also gave up trying to do the Sata cables, having to make 7 precise cables with the pass through connectors was proving both difficult to get the wires into the and tiresome trying to get everything precise to the mm, ultimately I just found it too tedious and I was burned out after 5 days of making these cables, so I wimped out and ended up just throwing the stock Sata cables in for now. I will return to tackle these at a later date however, I'm confident it's possible to get it how I want but it's going to take time and a clear mind to get them perfect.



Looks a lot better in the back now too, I could probably get the PCI-E, 24 Pin and Molex cables trained better if I cut the cables a few mm shorter but for a first effort I'm okay with this at the back as it's mostly hidden away anyway



In an ideal world those header connections would be soldered to the mobo on the opposite side and cases would come with holes so they're accessible, but with some shrink and cable, the headers look okay

It will probably look better with a shroud to cover most of it up at the bottom

I want to solve the PCI-E gap as well, I'm thinking maybe using transparent or white cable ties to brace the 2 sides together ?

 

[LuckyBenski]

I'd agree on the shroud idea. Hides a multitude of sins. You could give it a lip at the rear to cover the I/O and USB cables, or at least to hold them neatly in place. I did one which screws onto the remaining motherboard standoffs recently.


What PCIe gap do you mean?

You've certainly skilled up now! I find cable management gets better with every build but there's always one niggle I hate, usually the I/O cables...

 

[Minusorange]

What PCIe gap do you mean?

On the actual cables coming out of the card, they aren't uniform and perfectly aligned how I want them and instead push apart to create a gap, I could either use 16 slot combs to get them all together and neat or try bridging the 2 8 slot combs with some twine/cable ties

The shroud I'll start designing next week when I get the 3d printer

 

[LuckyBenski]

Oh I see, yes I'd use a 2x8 comb. I laser cut a load for my last build, all black.

 

[Happy Hopping]

what's the model of gigabyte motherboard ?

 

[Nugsy88]

Job well done on the cables, I did a similar project a few years back. Nice colour scheme to.