I don't fancy shelling out 65 quid for sleeved cables when they won't match my perfectionism and I already have enough mdpc to make a replica of my digestive system. The ax 860i appears to have flat cables, which insinuates stuck together, I want personally braided cables with diff colours etc. Any thoughts or suggestions? Maybe even a suggestion for a different PSU? Also if I unstick (uncertain of the wordyness of that..... Or that) the flat cables, will it void that ever so sexy 7 year warranty?
You can peel apart the flat cables to sleeve them although doing so technically invalidates the warranty but being found out it depends on whether you're asked to return the cables if you need to RMA. The 24 pin cable has a dual wire and the neatest way to deal with it is to splice it. The same goes for the PCI-E cables if you need the 8 pin connectors. Depending on your skill level it might be better to leave the SATA cables as they are. I'd suggest making a note of the pin-outs before starting although there are a couple of diagrams here that might help if you get stuck. Alternatively, assuming you also have the crimping tool/pins with your MDPC sleeve just make up your own cables.
As Big Elf said, you can just pull the cables apart from the "ribbon" and sleeve from there. That said though, as I'm sure you know, the cables are black and that can tend to wash out brighter colored sleeves. Plus the warranty thing. If it were me personally, I would just get new wire, sleeve that and put new connectors on it, and replace the ribbon outright. The flat ribbon cables that come standard with the Corsair PSUs suck and they're stupidly stiff. Granted, if it actually were me, I'd just buy the Corsair pre-sleeved cables, like I did already.
Cheers for the responses guys, main problem is I'm not prepared to void the warranty, I've had bad experience with PSUs and 7 years is just too epic, Think my best option will be to make extensions myself just enough for the visible portion to hook round the mobo and fold the normals behind. Is there a particular grade of wire I need to use?, I'm seriously noobish with electronics
it can be either this: http://www.performance-pcs.com/cata...ge=product_info&cPath=60_156&products_id=1421 or 16AWG version of the same fan and front panel (on/off, reset switch) is something in the 22, 24, 26AWG I know my older AX850 has something like the 24-pin and 8-pin in 16AWG, and the rest in 18AWG
In Europe the metric equivalent of 18AWG is 24/0.2. I generally use this from Rapid. At 2.3mm in diameter it's good for 'training' into shape. Maplins also sell 24/0.2 in smaller quantities but is higher priced. If you're prepared to make extensions it's not that much more difficult to make a full cable set, particularly for the 24 pin, 8 Pin EPS and PCI-E cables although you may need to splice a few wires.
Wow! OK that just sent me to panic mode, think I'll just get a bunch of these http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CB-080-AK&groupid=1929&catid=153 And shorten them, recrimp and sleeve, only need to do it for 24 pin, pci-e 8 pins and the CPU power. The rest from the PSU will be in a non windowed compartment. Toughest sleeve job I can see is the USB 3 header, it isn't small, hoping I'll have summit to get over it, have all mdpc sizes. Can't avoid wiring the on reset etc buttons though, would they all require the same gauge wire? Will be having on, reset and straight to BIOS buttons
Went to buy a bunch of crimpin stuff and good god why is it 40 euro? Fine, I know why, because people pay it, but does it have to be 20 would be fine :-( Any who, i can get away with just doing the buttons at that level, can this be done with pliers?, just not ready to invest in my ever increasing bastion of tools yet again for this build if it can be avoided
You can use long nose pliers to crimp, it just takes a fair bit longer and the crimps may not be as robust as those done with a decent crimping tool.