Heya guys, I haven't posted in here often (er... a "my first window" thread last year sometime...) but I'm in need of help. I've recently fitted a new gfx card (5900xt), which was the final straw in overwhelming my el cheapo 300w psu. So, I hit the bank balance again and bought a nice new Tagan TG480 (I take note of reviews ). It's most cool, the system's happy, I'm happing, the inside of my case looks like a small bomb has gone off in a bowl of spagetti. The problem is this... This is not letting the dragon of inner happiness do it's thing. I've taped everthing I can get to, and shoved as much of the spare cable in to a free bay as I can, but my case is still hellish cramped. Any cunning plans?
I think to sort that out your going to have to start cutting your psu connectors to size and braiding them, looks like the root of the problem is just that the case is quite small and doesnt have enough room to conceal excess cables.
Forgive the complete potential noobiness of this question (hey, what's a dremel? I'm still working my way up to a hammer...) but are we just talking about chopping these wires and joining them up again in the same way you would, I dunno, a tail-light wire on a car, or do you need to do something a bit more scientific than twist-n-apply-tape? As for the case size, it's pretty bog standard, but certainly not large. I kinda regret not getting anything better, but I got it for like ten or fifteen quid and thought... hey, what a great case to practice on. Now I'd like something bigger/better looking, but can't be arsed swapping everything out. *shrugs*
Nice selection of wires there mate, you should be proud I've hijacked another thread similar to this in the hw and oc forum but I will ask here anyway. I'm having a similar problem with my cables, I used the vantec kit but it was or I was useless and any advice on going about sleeving would be great. No matter how hard I tried I just couldn't get the sleeving over the 3pin or molex connectors.
Hey, black tape is sweet for bundling cables together, looks really tidy (usually). HOURS of fun...! It's just you might get to the point I have. The inside of my computer has become more cable than man. Er... component.
Dang! that is one crap load of cables i would start by unplugging and taking out the whole PSU. deciding what you need and what you don't, then leave a few molex cables for the future and then chop everything you don't need off! then with some very small heatshrink, cut a little piece off, then just put it on the end of the single strands of wire and then heat! also, i like big chunky loom much better then the other stuff. from a distance it look like you have water cooling also, zipties are your best friend, there are about 200-400 in my case Best places to shove extra cables: - right side of drive cages - on top of the top most cd drive - behind mobo tray, assuming there is clearance between your door. - tape all the wires together and shove them in one drive cage. - Tape them all together and shove them above the PSU (some cases there isn't any space.)
Hmmm, considering this PSU has a 3 year warranty, you'd be foolish to mess around with it, unless of course money is not an issue to you Tut, tut, some people always so quick to tell you to mod (well, spose we ARE in the modding forum). With my Tagan, ive started to neatly affix spare cables to the roof of my case using cable ties and those adhesive cable tie holders. Check also to see if theres any room between the motherboard tray and the other case door where any spare cables could be hidden. The Tagan aint really a modders PSU. I see it more as a declaration of independence from windows *edit* try mounting the PSU the other way up - Tagan recommend it for cooling purposes, plus the cables will be at the far side of your case and far easier to hide.
For as many wires as you have, it doesn't look THAT bad. I usually try to shorten wires where I can (straight direct runs look cleaner to me). Or tuck them under the motherboard or even between the tray if you have room.
Cutting of/shortening cables will tidy up alot.. I did this last night i spendt 5 hours to cut 30 cm of the ATX cable... (why do they put on that long cables anyway?) i also cut of the ATX and SATA connectors... I have a soldering iron, so it's easy to put them back on... i'm hoping to get some sleeving on monday aswell... i sleeved another PSU and it turned out great! it really looks tidier.. try taking off the connector then... just find a small screewdriver and gently push down the metal tab that you can see on the plug and pull out the wire...
One thing I can think of, if you move the lower of your 2 CD Drives by 0ne bay you should be able to use the space in between to 'conceal' some of the excess. Are there any holes on the mobo tray side that will aid in hiding unwanted cables? If not a dremel and fan blow hole trim could be used to make a few handily located holes? Dirk - Smilodon beat me to it you have to remove them, I have not tried the Vantec stuff yet so can't comment on it's quality but I have used the TechFlex kits twice now, still have 2 PSU's to go, it's a great kit but about £20. I get all my sleeving kits and UV Molex's from Fleetwood Computers ..
Female Moles Pin Removal It's not my idea, its in here somewhare.... The cheap and chearful way to removel Moles pins (female) is to get a mono 2.5mm phono plug (i got mine from maplins) cut off the tip pull out the insides and voila! Molex pin remover. I had to squeeze the end together slightly to make it work. But it cost 49p and whips out those lil ol pins like a dream. Regards, Ski
Thanks for all the tips so far guys... I've got all next week off work with (hopefully) not much to do, so I'll try and put some of them in to action. Prepare for an after shot! Also, it seems I damaged a PCI slot while taping... I knew I wanted to work on my computer naked for some reason. Well, I mean some other reason....
Hrm... that didn't take long Not entirely neat, but a satisfactory compromise between looking good through the window & causing potential damage to components while fiddling. Before & after... thanks for the tip about placing cables between the case/rear panel! p.s., erm, that's a crap looking transformation. BUT it does look better in rl! Again, thanks guys...
The Tagan uses a 24 pin server board plug - the adaptor converts it to 20 pin. Had trouble hiding mine too
