What's the secret to good cable management?

[Getback]

I have 2 systems and the wires are all over the place. Some wires barely reach their destination. For instance the 8 pin power connector. Do you run that under the mother board? Could use some input.

Thanks in advance.

[MrRiplEy[H]]

I think the secret is thinking ahead of building.

Which I never do and my builds are a horrendous mess of cables. Nevermind Finland is cold..

[AirFlyer]

A good case IMO. Either you need to get a good case that supports wire-management so to speak or you need to do a lot of modification to a case that doesn't.

[GenMata]

A few wire ties will bunch them up and allow you to route them out of the way if the wires are long enough.
If the wires reach then it's not much of a problem with small wires. Those old Ide cables can break air circulation somewhat if not placed out of the way. You can fold those into smaller rounded cables.

Better Power supply makers usually give you longer wires.
Corsair is TOPS. Costly they are, but well built.

As long as you have adequate air movement in your case you should be fine.
 
 

[Fulmar]

[TilDeath]

When I look at a case for a build I don't really look for cable routing built-in but rather the potential for routing, how many fans are included, about how many CFM's in and out.  I look for final overall cooling ability of a case.  There are plenty of cases out there that offer cable management right out of the box but are not a good over all case in my opinion.

One case that has awesome cable management out of the box, is a good looking case, has good airflow but I don't build in is an Antec Twelve Hundred.  The case is a full tower, has a bottom mounting PSU but the case is a pain to work in.  It is tight between the installed GPU and the HD mounting area.  There is a ton of wasted space because of the way Antec has things.  On the other hand the NZXT Tempest case is a mid tower case and has no real cable management built in.  I use a metal bore bit (not sure what it is actually called) that is shaped like a cone.  This works wonders to make a hole for a cable to run through.  I also use a Dremel with a cutting wheel, drum sander and sanding disk along with files to finish my "case" mods.  I always run all cables behind the MB tray then out to where they are needed.  I do 5 to 10 cases at a time so they are ready when orders come in I am ready to go.  If there happens to be a MB that I need to add an additional access point for the sound connect or front USB connects it only takes me a few mins to add the additional hole.

Like someone above stated, Planning is the biggest part of any build.  When I am using a new case,  I  "Dry" fit and look where I need to have my cables access from and to.  Sometimes I reverse mount HD's so the cabling is facing a non or semi no visible point.  Also CABLE TIES are your friend.  I use roughly 40 plus cable ties per build.

I will be modding some cases this Tuesday and I will take pics on the Tempest Case Mod from start to finish so you guys can get the idea. of what I actually do to a case.

TD

[Getback]

When I look at a case for a build I don't really look for cable routing built-in but rather the potential for routing, how many fans are included, about how many CFM's in and out.  I look for final overall cooling ability of a case.  There are plenty of cases out there that offer cable management right out of the box but are not a good over all case in my opinion.

One case that has awesome cable management out of the box, is a good looking case, has good airflow but I don't build in is an Antec Twelve Hundred.  The case is a full tower, has a bottom mounting PSU but the case is a pain to work in.  It is tight between the installed GPU and the HD mounting area.  There is a ton of wasted space because of the way Antec has things.  On the other hand the NZXT Tempest case is a mid tower case and has no real cable management built in.  I use a metal bore bit (not sure what it is actually called) that is shaped like a cone.  This works wonders to make a hole for a cable to run through.  I also use a Dremel with a cutting wheel, drum sander and sanding disk along with files to finish my "case" mods.  I always run all cables behind the MB tray then out to where they are needed.  I do 5 to 10 cases at a time so they are ready when orders come in I am ready to go.  If there happens to be a MB that I need to add an additional access point for the sound connect or front USB connects it only takes me a few mins to add the additional hole.

Like someone above stated, Planning is the biggest part of any build.  When I am using a new case,  I  "Dry" fit and look where I need to have my cables access from and to.  Sometimes I reverse mount HD's so the cabling is facing a non or semi no visible point.  Also CABLE TIES are your friend.  I use roughly 40 plus cable ties per build.

I will be modding some cases this Tuesday and I will take pics on the Tempest Case Mod from start to finish so you guys can get the idea. of what I actually do to a case.

TD

Hey, look forward to that.

[BaldEagl]

It sounds like the secret is having someone other than you building the system.   

[Getback]

It sounds like the secret is having someone other than you building the system.   

Ouch! 

[Denholm]

I'll also be looking for that future post from you TilDeath. Cable management is something I know is critical in a potentially hot system, yet don't know where to place the cables to get them, "out of the way."

[TilDeath]

The "New" cases just arrived this afternoon so I have not started modding them yet.  Look for what I do in a New Thread called Case Mods and Cable Mgmt on Thurs.  But here is a rig in semi finished state.  All the cabling is finished and the system is being fired up for the first time.  There is power going to 5 fans, 1 HD, 1 DVD and the Video card

[Getback]

I see many hints there. What type of case is this? My mb butts up against the drive bays.

[TilDeath]

I see many hints there. What type of case is this? My mb butts up against the drive bays.

This is a NZXT Tempest Case... Also known as the AIR FLOW KING.  It is a Mid-Tower Case.  I have yet to not be able to fit even the largest video cards in there.  SLI or Tri-SLI.  THey all fit without a hitch.  I do locate the HD below the DVD rather then use the HD tray.  With this configuration I can place 1 more DVD but an additional 8 HD's

[minke]

I have a case with 2 x 250mm led fans in and its a monster. Modded mine by masking out the mobo mounting plate, marked up which cables were going where and using a holesaw cut 1 to 2 inch holes in the plate. Then put rubber seals around the holes to stop chafing, made hiding the cables a breeze. if I can get some pics i'll post em up.

[llama]

...I use a metal bore bit (not sure what it is actually called) that is shaped like a cone. 

You're gonna love this. It's called a "tapered reamer."

The "secret" (if you want to call it that) to really amazing cable management is to get as many cables and wires as possible  "behind and/or under" the main board. TD's photo above is a good example of this: the power cable bundle and the SATA cables attach to the motherboard and then go "lower" than it to their destinations. Even the USB header cables, power switch/LED cables/ front-panel sound jack wires (look at the 6-o-clock positition of the mainboard in the photos) immediately dive under the mainboard on their way to their other ends.

The best cases are conducive to this sort of layout, as the case he's selected really is.

If you don't have a case that's set-up for this, you can still do a lot. I like building SFF cases (small, shoebox-sized cases) for folks, and there's no room for hidden wiring channels in the cases, but electrical tape can be your friend. As I fit the mainboard and drives in and see where the cables need to go, i then normally take out the mainboard and then use electrical tape to route various wires and cables to the "floor" of the case, and then the mainboard goes on top of the taped-down wires. Those fatter bundles that can't get under the motherboard get zip-tied together and ideally connected to the chassis somewhere out of the way.

BTW, I sometimes find that the neater the cable arrangement, the harder it is to replace certain components without taking apart the whole damn system. Replacing a power supply can be a real chore on a system where I've been to anal-retentive with the cables. Twist-ties may be better than zip-ties when you expect to do a lot of hardware testing and swapping.

-Llama