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recommend me a case (please read)

C

Corporate Thug

Lifer
what is the absolute case for WIRE MANAGEMENT??? i perfer aluminum but my number one goal is to get a case where i can EASILY hide wires (i was thinking about the P180 but it seems to be quite a challenge to make it clean)
 
Would you consider or be able to cut,splice,solder,heatshrink and sleeve your cabling?

If you are. Remove the top panel, install a cross brace and use it to secure all cabling not used. Then mod the remaining cabling to length as above.
I'm in the middle of doing my second mid-tower that way. I drilled the top panel rivets on this Lian Li PC-7 and will reinstall it with pop-rivets or 6-32 screws.

If your intrested i will add more detail. If not consider this a bump.


Galvanized
 
I have only modded SkyHawks and Lian Li cases. I remove the top panel. This gives clear access to eveything. Some cases come with a removable top LL doesn't. Cut two pieces of 90degree aluminum stock, drill and mount with a cross strap. Drill several well placed holes(small) in the cross strap to bolt using wire clamps or zip-ties to hold up all the unused wiring out of the way of the PSU intake.
There are numerous articles on line about sleeving. Look them up.
Cutting and splicing wires can be tough. Many PSUs have fine stranded steel wire. At ACE Hardware buy some 3/32" copper tubing, use a wire stripper to cut 3/8" lengths to use as crimp unions, touch the bare wire ends in a tin of flux, crimp,solder,use heat shrink and its done.
After the wires are cut,they must remain in proper orientation, the sleeving and heat shrink must be slid on before soldering. It takes me two evenings at the bench to do a VG job of it.

I drill some small holes and use wire clamp instead of zip-ties as much as possible.
It is a bit of work but does look good.

To mod one must have some basic tools and skills. Nothing extream.

Check out the knowledge base at directron.com. There is a small forum there with many ideas and pics.


Galvanized
 
Originally posted by: JBDan
Does the P150 interest you? I know the exterior colors are not that "popular," but the wiring and layout are quite innovative.
http://silentpcreview.com/article272-page1.html You have probably seen this already. The P150 has "cable management" already included along with other great features.
Click to expand...

Internally and functionally, that looks like one nice case. :thumbsup: I've never been a particularly big Antec fan, but I gotta tip my hat to them here. If the exterior were a little more 'snazzy' (for lack of a better way to put it), that would really put it over the top.

Wish my WaveMaster had some of the P150's features (gotta love the rubberband HD suspension system).
 
My P160 with an Antec true 330w. linky

I think the P160 is a great case to hide wiring in, especially if you mount the HDDs where they are a bitçh to get to. The advantage of SATA I guess, plug in and forget.
 
As someone who's always been into wire-management, the P150 is by far the best and easiest case for wire management. I've built systems in lots of cases but the P150 is a cut above all others.

If it's too plain for you, just paint it bright green or something. 🙂
 
Hey Thug,
I did read the whole review at spcr and that is one sweet case. They turned the HDD cage 90degrees so this limits blocking the intake as the 160 does and two 92mm fans at the front is really better than one 120mm.

My personal feeling about doors is not positive. That is the only real turn-off about that case
for me.

Sell the PSU as a new pulled piece of hardware. Use that money to have the case professionally sprayed in a color of your choice. This is not cheap and EZ but it would be your rig and none other like it.


Galvanized
 
We are just doing our job😉

Call or email Antec about a black case. I'm sure others want one too.

I like silver and all my exposed drives are white or silver. It's very hard to find whites that really match. So some don't.

Black is a different matter,as there is only one black.

If that case came w/o a PSU at about $130ish,i'd be intrested. True.

If you contact them,let us know the reply.

Galvanized
 
For clean wiring, consider replacing the standard drive power wires and connectors with some straight wires and the 90 degree clip on Molex drive power connectors from http://www.jab-tech.com et al. Depending on the number of drives you have, you may only need one drive power bundle. And you bring it up inside the top as G-Y suggested and from there straight down along the back of the drives right along the power connectors - you can space those 90 degree connectors exactly for your drive spacing. And since you'll be building entirely new cables, it will be easy to sleeve them with a dark color that would almost disappear. You can get 18 gauge wire in the appropriate colors from places like http://www.bgmicro.com . Another nice benefit of that configuration is there would be only one set of splices in each run of wires all the rest is just clip-on (properly called IDC) connectors. There are special 90 degree connectors for the end position on each run - one side of the connector is closed, so the wire doesn't go all the way thru.
. And I'll just throw in an FYI: All PSU cabling is copper. If the wires look silver it is because the individual strands are pre-tinned (not steel) - more expensive, but makes soldering any joints easier.

..bh.
 
Originally posted by: Corporate Thug
thanx for the recommendations all

btw, here is the reply from antec

As of right now, we do not have any information on releasing a black version of this enclosure.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...

pffft, I don't think they have any desire to release the white version

it doesn't seem they're in any hurry to get the p150 to market
 
Originally posted by: GalvanizedYankee
We are just doing our job😉

Call or email Antec about a black case. I'm sure others want one too.

I like silver and all my exposed drives are white or silver. It's very hard to find whites that really match. So some don't.

Galvanized
Click to expand...

If it's any help (if you decide to get this case), Plextor makes real-white drives. They're not beige or cream colored. I'd call 'em white-white. 🙂 My Plextor CD-RW is a spot-on match to the white front of an Enermax case I bought awhile back. 😎

Just FYI. Only drawback is that Plextor drives are about the most expensive ones out there.
 
Tell me about it! I got two Plextors🙂

At lea$t in this case(pun) form does follow function.

But i seem to stay a generation behind so it's not all that expen$ive.:laugh:

Galvanized
 
Or the other option for the P150 is to get whatever drive (except the floppy) color you want and install it and....POOF, a perfectly matched drive face will magically appear


the drive covers are included with the case
 
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