pelvis_3
HWF Member For Life
I dislike a case that is sloppy inside and out.
Most of the clutter comes from the power supply wires
On every computer I have built in the last few years, form has become almost important to me as function. The first thing you have to get over is the length of almost all of you your cables. No I am not quite insane enough to build my own IDE, SCCI and SATA cables. However, just about every other cable is fair game especially power cables and fan cables. All my case fans are custom length.
All my power cables for my hard drives and optical drives are also the same way, I just haven’t cleaned them up yet!
Nylon cable ties; sometimes called zip ties or locking ties. Get a whole bunch really cheap in an assortment of sizes from your local home improvement superstore. They will help anchor your round cables and wires to allow for optimal air flow. They can sometimes replace screws, clips and other fasteners when securing hardware. Indispensable!
Sometimes flat ATA cables are preferable to round because you can run them in the narrow space behind the MB or between the MB tray and the side panel.
I refuse to use cable splitters \ adapters. I have been known to carefully cut down or lengthen the power cables to the MOBO.
Lastly, inside the case the shortest route might not be the cleanest route. As far as securing cables if you use plastic tie wraps less is more and make sure all the heads face the same way. Me I prefer lacing cord (a wax covered cotton twin used in telephony equipment installs) I like it for several reason is it never gets hard brittle and the only chance of getting cut with it is upon install unlike tie wraps. If you do use tie wraps make sure use Flush cutters and not diagonal cutters there is a difference and when lengthen or shorting a cable no butt connectors soldiering and heat shrink only. As for the back of the case some small flat stock bent neatly can make that plate of spaghetti back there into something as clean as a bathroom at a Japanese subway station!
I tried not to go into too much detail as most of this is common sense and imagination and is entirely up to the user so happy cleaning!
Comments or additions?
Be sure to post them!
Most of the clutter comes from the power supply wires
On every computer I have built in the last few years, form has become almost important to me as function. The first thing you have to get over is the length of almost all of you your cables. No I am not quite insane enough to build my own IDE, SCCI and SATA cables. However, just about every other cable is fair game especially power cables and fan cables. All my case fans are custom length.
All my power cables for my hard drives and optical drives are also the same way, I just haven’t cleaned them up yet!
Nylon cable ties; sometimes called zip ties or locking ties. Get a whole bunch really cheap in an assortment of sizes from your local home improvement superstore. They will help anchor your round cables and wires to allow for optimal air flow. They can sometimes replace screws, clips and other fasteners when securing hardware. Indispensable!
Sometimes flat ATA cables are preferable to round because you can run them in the narrow space behind the MB or between the MB tray and the side panel.
I refuse to use cable splitters \ adapters. I have been known to carefully cut down or lengthen the power cables to the MOBO.
Lastly, inside the case the shortest route might not be the cleanest route. As far as securing cables if you use plastic tie wraps less is more and make sure all the heads face the same way. Me I prefer lacing cord (a wax covered cotton twin used in telephony equipment installs) I like it for several reason is it never gets hard brittle and the only chance of getting cut with it is upon install unlike tie wraps. If you do use tie wraps make sure use Flush cutters and not diagonal cutters there is a difference and when lengthen or shorting a cable no butt connectors soldiering and heat shrink only. As for the back of the case some small flat stock bent neatly can make that plate of spaghetti back there into something as clean as a bathroom at a Japanese subway station!
I tried not to go into too much detail as most of this is common sense and imagination and is entirely up to the user so happy cleaning!
Comments or additions?
Be sure to post them!
