Do u Wrap up the cables?

[faye]

Hi, do u wrap up the power cable and little tiny wires inside the case?

and is the round cable for harddrive any faster than old flatted cable?

thanks

 

[Nebor]

You can wrap them if you want. There's no reason to other than looks and ease of working on things...

Round cables actually are more prone to errors than flat cables, but I wouldn't worry about it.

 

[Thump553]

Back when I had an Athlon 1.4 Tbird ( a notoriously hot running CPU) I switched from regular flat cables to rounded ones. The improvement in airflow dropped my temperatures 2-3 degrees C (already had plenty of fans in case, too). I'd go to rounded cables for this reason. I have also heard they are more prone to error but I haven't encountered any in 2+ years.

 

[SniperMerc]

If you don't feel like blowing any extra $ on wire wrap, then just twist the wiring.

These are some pics of a computer I just built for a guy across country.

Before twisting: http://snipershide.free-universe.com/scoop/DCP_0027.JPG

After twisting: http://snipershide.free-universe.com/scoop/DCP_0030.JPG

Warming the wiring with a lighter, candle, hair dryer or heat gun helps quite a bit, and also it helps to keep it in nice tight twist after it cools off.

Having said all that I used black spiral wrap in my case, can be had for $10 for 20 foot roll at radio shack.

Pic: http://s91019022.onlinehome.us/images/new_puter_pics_4-26-2004/inside_clean_1.jpg

Edit: also did the same with my stepdads computer 2 months ago: pic

 

[faye]

SniperMerc,

WOW. SO DARN NEAT!!!!!

did u read any instructions doing that? or should i just use a hair dryer and blow the wire to soften them?

 

[SniperMerc]

I used a lighter, small, fast, but does leave a little bit of black carbon on some wires if you dont hold the wire directly in the flame, not a huge deal just be aware of it, and be carefull not to hold it in there too long.

Takes about 45 minutes to an hour to do all the wires coming off a power suppply, roughly a dozen molex and floppy drive plug lines on a Vantec.

 

[Jeff7]

I use Velcro wire wrap - that roll has enough in it to tidy up a whole fleet of PC's.

 

[yourdeardaniel]

snipermerc, can you tell me what case this is that you used? http://snipershide.free-universe.com/scoop/DCP_0027.JPG. the side fan attachment looks like mine, and wondering where u get the clear side panel.

 

[SniperMerc]

Originally posted by: yourdeardaniel
snipermerc, can you tell me what case this is that you used? http://snipershide.free-universe.com/scoop/DCP_0027.JPG. the side fan attachment looks like mine, and wondering where u get the clear side panel.

It's a Chieftec Black Dragon, got it from Newegg, similar to this one, except mine is the Aluminum version. http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=11-125-224&depa=0

Mine came with the case but you can buy a clear side panel from here: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtools/search.asp?mnf=1512&cat=340

Just be sure to check the sizes before you order, and if they don't have the specifc color you want just get one of em and paint it.

more system pics http://s91019022.onlinehome.us/oldsite/case/index.htm

 

[xbassman]

Originally posted by: Thump553
Back when I had an Athlon 1.4 Tbird ( a notoriously hot running CPU) I switched from regular flat cables to rounded ones. The improvement in airflow dropped my temperatures 2-3 degrees C (already had plenty of fans in case, too). I'd go to rounded cables for this reason. I have also heard they are more prone to error but I haven't encountered any in 2+ years.

Yep airflow is the main dif... I had never heard about them being more prone to errors though....

The round IDE's in my main box were pretty cheap ($2-3 each) and I have never had errors from using them.

 

[M0NEYSH0T]

Originally posted by: Nebor
You can wrap them if you want. There's no reason to other than looks and ease of working on things...

Round cables actually are more prone to errors than flat cables, but I wouldn't worry about it.

Sorry, but there IS a reason too... AIRFLOW. Especially if you have ribbon IDE cables. You want the inside of your pc to be clean, with debris out of the way, i.e., cables, etc., etc...

Have a look at my rig (not to brag), but you want cables tied, because everything in the case effects airflow, and cooling is where it's at my friend.



MY RIG

 

[wkwong]

This is what my old rig looked like when I used wire loom:
http://www.insomnia-tech.com/articles/loom/loom13.jpg

If that fits your tastes, I have a short guide here:

http://www.insomnia-tech.com/articles/loom/page1.php

HTH.

 

[SniperMerc]

The teqnique of making your own rounded cables has been around for a while, it used to make sense when the cables were $15-$20 each, now days tho they can be had for as little as $5 in UV reactive, colored, bright stripey purple blue green and orange (made that last part up ).

As for Wire Loom, me personally I never liked the extra bulk look of it, all though it is an easy way to clean up the inside of a case. In many ways just twisting the wiring as in my above post gets the job done very nicely, sure makes it easier to get around in there too.

At any rate, I did finally finish building that blue xaser case for that friend and shippped it to him. $80 to ship UPS ground, YEEESHH.

More info and pics up on the site

http://s91019022.onlinehome.us/home.htm

 

[wkwong]

Originally posted by: SniperMerc

As for Wire Loom, me personally I never liked the extra bulk look of it, all though it is an easy way to clean up the inside of a case. In many ways just twisting the wiring as in my above post gets the job done very nicely, sure makes it easier to get around in there too.

yea, i that's the biggest problem with loom, plus you can't really get the ends that nicely. only thing is u can get different colors to match your case. well... anything other than black and white is kinda of hard to find (cheaply that is).

 

[nageov3t]

electric tape works great for wrapping cables, and comes in different colors.

a $2 roll of black tape took care of all my PSU cables :thumbsup:

 

[Cheetah8799]

I use 2 - 3" wire zip ties, the small thin ones. Then I take the extra molex wires and such and bundle them up and zip tie them out of the way. I don't have any pics, but it helps a LOT. You can also use zip ties to shorten the molex connector wires so you don't have large amounts of slack lying around.

Airflow and looks are the main reasons for doing any of this. For me it's airflow since I OC my mobile 2500+ to 2.5ghz.

 

[SniperMerc]

Originally posted by: Cheetah8799
I use 2 - 3" wire zip ties, the small thin ones. Then I take the extra molex wires and such and bundle them up and zip tie them out of the way. I don't have any pics, but it helps a LOT. You can also use zip ties to shorten the molex connector wires so you don't have large amounts of slack lying around.

When I built the system in the Blue Xaser case pictured here, http://s91019022.onlinehome.us/images/scoop/scoop_2.jpg , I actulaly went through and cut out all the extra molex connectors from all the fans, lights, switches, etc etc, and wound up cutting out 10 of them as extras, left one in it. Every fan, light, and the hardcano display all had pass through molex connectors that weren't necessary. I even spliced some of the fans, like the two rear, two front and two side fans to the same power line to get rid of the extras, and there is still a couple extra hanging around lol.

At any rate, don't need to go as far as I did but it certainly helps.

 

[jhurst]

I used some UV reactive sleeving. LOOKS AWESOME under blacklight. Its harder to install than electric tape or other suggestions, buts its not too hard. Make sure you buy a pin extractor from radioshack ($6), and the molex things remove in a snap. Complete with UV ties and matching heatshrink, looks great.

p.s. if you do this, take your PSU out of the case first, it will make things alot easier.

 

[HokieESM]

Just FYI, rounded cables do NOT conform to the ATA spec. I HAVE had disk errors from rounded cables. They are fairly good for airflow, although learning how to do "cable-gami" and fold your flat cables against the side of the case works even better.

For case wiring, I have to refer you to Ralf Hutter's P4C rig @ SPCR. Ralf is the man when it comes to tidying up cables... read some of his stuff at SPCR to get an idea on how to do the same to your rig (he is, fortunately, very generous with sharing information). He also reads these forums (he's RalfHutter here too).

 

[Ackmed]

No offense, but its not hard to hide wires with one HD, one ROM, and a floppy. Not to mention his video card doesnt use a molex. Still, its a great job at wiring hiding. But lots of people have dual ROM, 2+ HD's, etc.

While not my best, here is my last watercooled PC. My newest one is better at hiding wires.

http://home.comcast.net/~dfall/Comp/Watercooling/2.JPG

 

[M0NEYSH0T]

NICE... So what temps do you get?

 

[Ackmed]

Well, that was my system about 9 months ago, to about 1.5 years ago. My 3.0c@3.75 was at 27c, but not after I added the other blocks. As you can see, I had a CPU, NB, GPU, and HD block. Temps increased with each block. It was about 34c with all blocks on, at 3.75gig. Then I went to a Mach II.. and watercooled the NB and GPU. I just now sold that.. and went back to water only again. Im just about done with my new setup. Just need a video card. Sold my 9800XT last week, waiting on a X800 Pro.

 

[HokieESM]

Ackmed, I don't necessarily disagree with you about people having more than one HDD or optical... I was just point out Ralf's rig as an example (more because of how well he documents it, and how he "teaches" cable-gami to help with the IDE ribbon cables). Your case looks excellent as well. Plus, its more about getting the right connectors in the right places... if you manage to get the IDE cable up to the first optical drive, the second usually isn't very difficult (I have 2 optical and 2 HDD in my main computer, albeit air cooled).

My point was more that, with some effort, you can use "standard" cables and clean up your wiring (without sleeving cables or using round ones). Good old fashioned "elbow grease" makes a world of difference when cabling a computer.

 

[Ackmed]

I agree. You can make flat ribbon cables look really good too. His system does look really tidy. It will be old hat in a year or so when SATA roms start to become the norm.

 

[HokieESM]

Yes, yes... SATA will be nice. Especially native support for the motherboards and OSs (so no more floppy installation of the drivers).... and better Linux support. SATA II should make the connectors stronger/less flimsy so that it doesn't feel like they're ready to break off at any minute as well (not to mention TCQ). Although, I haven't seen ANY SATA optical drives yet.... soon, hopefully.