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My wiring job -- very disappointed. Thoughts?

S

Sekkai

Senior member
I am a complete newb on these matters, and so I know my wiring job is a bit gross (I had a really hard time finding room for many things. There are SO many PSU lines with the 850W Corsair, and the Molex connectors don't fare so well when they're actually behind the motherboard plate -- the side panel won't fit. Even with only wires hanging out back there, there's some pressure pushing back against the side panel even though I was able to put it back on).

So, I decided to show you guys some pictures. I know it's gross but please, I'm a total newbie at this. Please let me know if there are going to be any glaring problems with anything with how I've hooked it up.


PSU lines down below
http://img39.imageshack.us/img39/3582/dsc00497mlw.jpg

Upper half of the case
http://img188.imageshack.us/img188/6238/dsc00498pwv.jpg

The area above my GTX 295/where the SATA cables plug in behind
http://img30.imageshack.us/img30/5876/dsc00499mvc.jpg

Another view -- I have the HDD bays a bit empty except for the bottom, which holds two drives
http://img188.imageshack.us/img188/9127/dsc00500gkv.jpg

A look at the upper left portion of the case
http://img197.imageshack.us/img197/1764/dsc00501t.jpg

Below the 295 (I have my HDMI audio thing plugged in here)
http://img503.imageshack.us/img503/526/dsc00502j.jpg

Here is where I have all the LED wires plugged in and the USB
http://img76.imageshack.us/img76/185/dsc00503s.jpg

Three-pin CPU fan plugged into four-pin CPU fan header
http://img39.imageshack.us/img39/1375/dsc00504f.jpg

Optional center fan plugged into PWR_FAN
http://img39.imageshack.us/img39/5895/dsc00505z.jpg

HDA (audio) cable plugged into this spot here
http://img30.imageshack.us/img30/32/dsc00506fbn.jpg

 
LOL! It looks better than mine (which has been running for 3 years!) Just one question - my PSU has totally disnnectable cables of all types so that I don't have to use them all - just the ones that actually connect to something. Does your Corsair have that feature?
 
Another note: One of the other reasons this is a bit gross is because there are tons of fans. I've got three in the front, one in the center, one on the side plate, two in the back, and a huge one on top. Figuring out how to connect all of these to the Molexes was really difficult. I basically had one PSU cable going up and behind, poking its head out through each hole in the plate to connect a front fan via Molex. The back three fans plus the optional side fan were harder to fit since I couldn't bring another cable with Molexes up through the back (side plate wouldn't fit), so I brought it up the front within the case and tried to attach stuff/tie it off that way.

< /rationale >
 
Actually now that I am looking at it, I wonder if I can't just do the same thing with both Molex cables and just reach the back fans over to the front, and then hide the PCIE cables in the back somehow. I don't know why there's so much pressure in the back though... I tried to keep everything flat but sometimes they just like to bulge outward.
 
One of the few disappointments with my Armor is a lack of cable management in the design. And I have a PC&P, so I also have a lot of unused cables that need to be tucked away somewhere. This is why I like the style whereas the PSU is mounted at the top: I simply bundled the excess PSU cables and tucked them into the empty external drive bays.

MaxPC had an article last month for cable wiring "like the pros", and they also have a bottom-mounted PSU. http://www.maximumpc.com/artic...os/tidy_your_pcs_wires

But it looks like you did a fairly similar job with yours already. It actually doesn't look that bad to me.
 
They make something called wire 'loom' or conduit which (depending upon diameter) may be purchased from a local auto parts store for around $.30/ft.

It's handy, decorative and easy to work with for a nice clean look. Some stores offer "T" fittings or you may use (generally) matching colored electrical tape for splitting off runs from 'bundled' groups of wires.

Comes in narrow diameters to huge GTFO sizes.

If you are interested in internal lighting I can check the effect under reds and blues with conduit colors red, blue, black, yellow and teal.

I've been meaning to get serious about my 'experimenting' with different combinations while I've been acquiring my sample goods. In my 'goofing' thus far I've found that the red loom darkens under blue lighting and turns a 'pearl' color under red.

And the 3/8-inch diameter loom makes an interesting 'wrap' for some annoying bright cathode light tubes.
 
The best way to learn how to manage your cables is to build a PC with bad cable management. My first build when I was truly knowledgeable about such things was in an Antec 300, which was a poor choice for cable management. I had a non modular PSU, 3 HDs, 2 opticals, and 8 fans. Needless to say it was a mess. So, last week I upgraded to an ABS Black Pearl and a half modular PSU, and it was a lot better. The case is not only much larger for more room to stash stuff, it has better cable management. Don't worry, you'll learn. Messy cable jobs honestly don't impede airflow all that much. Even a horrible one might restrict it by 1-2c, nothing to worry about
 
And no push/pull doesn't matter that much. It's not gonna make the difference between a CPU that's too hot and one that's nice and cool 😉
 
Now I am having problems just getting everything working. It booted up, I had Windows in, and now it's just sitting here on the Vista blue graphicy screen after it loaded some stuff with the Microsoft Corp logo
 
side fans are mostly a joke to spoil airflow.
next time buy a decent case like a p18x 19x ..big 120+mm fans and good air flow design. you really don't need that many fans. second, having huge air grates on the side of the case just leaks noise like mad. the p18x antec types have baffled air vents so noise doesn't have a direct path. i don't know how much you paid for that case but it probably sounds just as loud as not having one at all. panels on antecs are also multi layered...dull thud when you tap. i bet that one u have rings like a bell. unless your cpu overclock is severely borderline and you have to short circut airflow straight through to the cpu to get it stable, theres not much reason to have a side fan. straight through front to back should be enough.

as for cleaning up wires. clear caulk or hot glue may work to get wires to stay where you wish.
 
What is a good way to check temperatures of everything (my card/comp/etc) and what are considered good temperatures? What about during overclock (I can OC from the BIOS, it seems, and I can OC the GTX with Precision)
 
It actually is up and running and doesn't look too bad! 😀 I'll take more pics later.

How do I overclock this thing and how do I do it safely (e.g. I don't want to change a setting somewhere and screw something up (do I need to change power settings etc?). I'd like to go to 4 ghz if possible, or more if my cpu temps are good (whatever those may be)). How do I do this on my Gigabyte UD4P mobo?
 
Originally posted by: Sekkai
Some more pictures... I redid some of the wiring.

I put everything unused in the back and tried to do the best I could. However, the side fan wouldn't fit with the heatsink fan on top, so I put the heatsink fan on top in a "pull" configuration (blowing air upward). Am I at a severe disadvantage by doing it this way?

http://img180.imageshack.us/img180/7271/dsc00507.jpg
http://img180.imageshack.us/img180/8734/dsc00508i.jpg
http://img214.imageshack.us/img214/6034/dsc00509v.jpg
Click to expand...

holy crap what is that monstrosity of a heatsink? that is the megahalem??
 
nice... congrats on getting your compy up and running!! should be a BEAST. right now i'd focus on running stress tests to make sure all your hardware is good to go. pump it up with prime95 for like 8 hrs. also run memtest for a while (not sure what is best here, probably a few hours). then the HD manufacturer's testing software... for hitachi is called their fitness test.

if all those pass successfully then you should be one happy camper. while u wait for those to run you can research how to OC your chip, looks like you'll be able to take it far with that set-up. btw, what case is that?
 
Antec 1200, Gigabyte UD4P mobo, 12 GB RAM, GTX 295 video card, 2 TB hard drive space, 2 extra case fans, Prolimatech Megahalem heatsink, Intel i7 920 processor with d0 stepping

I can OC the gfx card with Precision, but how do I overclock my CPU and RAM? How do I do it and how do I know when to stop?
 
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