can i cut the excess wires off my new power supply?

[USRanger]

I have an 850 watt power supply I am putting in my new pc, replacing the stock 120 watt one. The problem is the new ps has a ton of wires I don't need. It has 6 pci-e cords and 12 plugs on 6 cords for powering various components. I only need 1 pci-e cord and 3 or 4 power plugs. All these extra cables absolutely stuff the inside of my pc, choking of ventilation big time. Can I cut & cap off all these extra cables I'll never need without harming the ps? I'll never need them and it looks like a huge octopus is living in my pc.

[Masherbrum]

Then Modular PSU's are what you want.   Sell the one you have on eBAY or to a friend.    Use that money for a Modular.   

[Tigger29]

I have an 850 watt power supply I am putting in my new pc, replacing the stock 120 watt one. The problem is the new ps has a ton of wires I don't need. It has 6 pci-e cords and 12 plugs on 6 cords for powering various components. I only need 1 pci-e cord and 3 or 4 power plugs. All these extra cables absolutely stuff the inside of my pc, choking of ventilation big time. Can I cut & cap off all these extra cables I'll never need without harming the ps? I'll never need them and it looks like a huge octopus is living in my pc.

Technically you can just make sure you don't short any of them out.  Personally I'd recommend you find a place to tuck them out of the way.. empty drive bays work great for this.  Murphy's law dictates that the second you cut a wire off you'll realize that you actually needed it...

[Blagard]

As Tigger29 has said, you could cut them off. Better, get a few cable ties and bind the loose cables together out of the way. Even insulating tape to bind them together will do. Cutting them off should be the very last thing you want to do.

[TequilaChaser]

yep you can cut them and tape/seal the ends off......... but it is almost guaranteed that as soon as you do it...... in just a short time you will find out that you wished you hadn't done it.....

if at all possible either get a different PSU that is modular or figure out a way to locate them between the back side of the  Motherboard mounting plate & removable side panel for that side even if it is narrow you should be able to space them out enough to get the panel back on and near flush fitting with very little bowing in the middle if any at all.......( only draw back here would be if it is a Top Mounted PSU, then it will be somewhat harder to figure this out )


good luck, Ranger


<S>

TC

[Drano]

OCZ Power supplies on sale at Newegg and have a mail in rebate.  I just got a fully modular one and it's pretty nice. Will solve the whole spaghetti all over the case problem. Any of these work for ya? :


  http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007657+50001550+600029977&QksAutoSuggestion=&ShowDeactivatedMark=False&Configurator=&IsNodeId=1&Subcategory=58&description=&Ntk=&CFG=&SpeTabStoreType=&AdvancedSearch=1&srchInDesc=

[Krusty]

You most likely don't have 5 5-1/4" bays stacked with 5x optical drives and the like. I've never had a PC yet that didn't have at least one free full-width bay to tuck the extra cables into. Doesn't matter if you bundle them or not, just cram them in there and most times they're out of the way, out of airflow, and stay put.


Definitely don't cut them for the reasons already stated. You don't know how long you'll have the PSU and what upgrades you'll make in the future. Don't box yourself in by removing potential power for future parts.

[633DH98]

Cutting will certainly void any warranty should you ever need to use it.

[Dragon]

If you bring it to the Dayton gathering, hint, hint, we can help you hide them.

[BaldEagl]

As TC said you can place the extra cables between the motherboard mounting plate and the outside panel of your case.  That's what I did with mine.  To do so I had to connect two slots in the uppermost drive bay to expand the hole so the connectors could fit through.

In this photo you can see all my cables bundled heading into the upper drive bay.  You can also see the motherboard power cables coming back out.  The other cables you see are coming from below as better seen (and explained) in the next photo: 



Once through the newly formed slot I spread the the cables to be hidden out between the motherboard mounting plate and the outer panel of the case and had no bowing of the outer panel.

I was also able to drag some wires down the case then feed them back out to my optical, floppy drive and hard drives as well as my video card and sound card as seen in this photo:



Finally, you can see in this photo, with a little drilling I was able to route my rear fan cable and hide some additional audio cables between the motherboard and outer panel as well: 



In the end there's no cabling cluttering the case and none blocking the airflow from my front fans.  I didn't do this until after I had completed my build so I had to take the whole computer apart, mod the case slightly to hide the cables and then put the whole thing back together.  The entire job took about 3-4 hours.

Whiles it's hard to see here you can make out that there's no bowing of the side panel facing you in this photo.  It's the one with all that cable hidden behind it: