Cable Management Guide

Asus

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Want to clear out that wire clutter you have in your case? Would you like to improve air flow and cooling? Organizing the wires in your PC is a pretty easy thing to do. It just takes some time and a few supplies
The mess of wires I started with.

I stopped by Home Depot and picked up some supplies. It cost under $10.
Keep in mind, if your power supply is not already sleeved then you will need a bit more spiral wrap.
Spiral Wrap, Cable Ties and Mounting Bases with adhesive.

Now to get started. Just remember to take precautions against static and watch for sharp edges in the case. Since the case is already open, this would be an opportunity to clean out the dust bunnies. I prefer to use canned air. I spray from the top of the case since most of the dust settles on top of surfaces and the canned air has to be held upright. Don’t forget to remove your CPU fan to get the dust under there too.
cl_righthand 0
Disconnect all of the cables and get them outside of the case or hang them from the edges.

Figure out which power cables are needed from the power supply and which cables won’t be in use. Think of a good place to tie the unneeded cables. Behind the motherboard tray or at the top of the case near the optical drives are good places. My power supply is on the bottom of the case so it was harder for me to route power cables.
Good spot to mount unused power cables.
Unused power cables stuffed behind the power supply.

The best way to do it is find a good path to run the majority of the cables together in a line. You want to run them around the edges of the motherboard. I don't recommend running the wires straight to their destination because you will end up with each wire having it's own path. Rather than loosely routing cable, use the mounting bases and cable ties together in order to hold the cable grouping in line. THIS IS KEY!
Spiral wrap is easy to work with since cables can break away from the grouping at any point to go to a drive or another plug.
Base and cable tie.
Case fan speed swtich.
Mount and cable tie.
Power, reset and LED wires from the front of the case.

If the fan wires are long then run them together and tie them down in an organized way if possible. If they are short then just tuck them out of the way.
CPU fan wire up.
CPU fan wire tucked under.
Graphic card fan wire.

Then connect the IDE and SATA cables. Go ahead and route rounded IDE and SATA cables through the cable ties. If you have flat IDE cables then fold them in such a way that they don’t block airflow.

At first this is what I ended up with.
This case design is hard for routing cables since everything needs to cross the middle. With a typical case design with the power supply on top the cords can hang just as long as they need to without getting in the way of the air flow from the front fan. I rewired a few things and made it a little better.
Organized cables.

If you have some time and feel like digging in your PC then give this a shot. I'm sure you could do a better job than I did.
 
nice asus this could help alot of ppl but what i did was put my power cables on the back panel of my case so there tottally hidden and reach everything instead of tieing them together
 
I'm not quite sure if it's just me, or the fact that you might have not actually written it into the guide, but where are the mounting bases used? I see lots of that newfangled spi-ral wrap and your "ties", but no mention of where to put the bases. And how to install them, I don't want to try any trial-and-error on a $1500 pc :P
 
giant384 said:
nice asus this could help alot of ppl but what i did was put my power cables on the back panel of my case so there tottally hidden and reach everything instead of tieing them together
Thats a great way to do it. I wish my case had access to behind the motherboard tray. My previoius case had a window on the right side, couldn't hide the wires back there on that one either. haha

Stigmata said:
I'm not quite sure if it's just me, or the fact that you might have not actually written it into the guide, but where are the mounting bases used? I see lots of that newfangled spi-ral wrap and your "ties", but no mention of where to put the bases. And how to install them, I don't want to try any trial-and-error on a $1500 pc :P
The cable ties just slip through the top of the mouting base. The backing on the base pulls off to stick it on the case.
 
Asus said:
The cable ties just slip through the top of the mouting base. The backing on the base pulls off to stick it on the case.
Ahh, thanky :D I'm logically inept every once in a while.
 
Nice one asus, teaching PSU's cable mess problem a lesson there. They've been getting away with that for far too long!
 
Asus - is that an Antec P180 case? I got that case and put myself a new system together back in March and did run into a few wiring issues with it (even though it is a big case). I have a larger than normal PSU (Antec Phantom 500W) and also have the airflow fan down there as well - one issue. Any tips specific to the P180 case (assuming that is what you have)?

Thanks, Hulk
 
I had never noticed this thread before and I've always wanted to keep my case nice and neat and all I had done was 1 zip tie for some basic neatness.

Also, the 'cl_righthand 0' made me lol.
 
Don't wrap your cables.

Instead, for IDE cables, stick with the flat ribbon cable and fold it so that it's hidden behind different parts of your case, and also gives a clear pathway for your ventilation system.

You're trying to get your cables into these intricate, flat roads or sorts lining your case.

It's VERY time consuming, but totally worth it in my oppinion :)
 
Iv been planning on doing this with my case for so long. Need to get up and do it. I got all these nice wire wraps i just need to use them now. Btw the cl_righthand 0 was awsome.
 
My PSU fit fine in the case. Although it has a 120mm fan which faces down with very little space between it and the bottom of the case. But I found that along with the 80mm Case fan right in front of it set on Low that it was enough to cool the PSU and you can't hear noise.

I really had to plan out how i wanted to run the PSU cables to the drives and such because the cables pass right where all the airflow comes in the case. At first I tried making them go the shortest distance but I figured I could route them together against the wall of the case better.
Instead, for IDE cables, stick with the flat ribbon cable and fold it so that it's hidden behind different parts of your case, and also gives a clear pathway for your ventilation system.
Yeah, you can't see any flat IDE cables in my system because the IDE connectors are on the very right side of the motherboard and the cables are folded behind the hard drive cages.
 
Looks to me like there are a lot of cords not in use. Have an empty space behind the powersupply or CD-ROM cage to tie them up and hide the extra stuff? If not then maybe the floppy bay. Run the cables that you do use together and simplify the route the cables go from the PSU and then break off to each device. Cable ties might help. The rear fan's power cable looks a little short. Rather than crossing the middle of the case maybe have it go to the bottom of the case where your slot fan is at and just have 1 molex connector down there for both of em?
 
that looks like a coolermaster case to me,

i cba with cable mamangement, my pc is no longer my priority :( meh

uni = poor my pc will hopefully survive uni
 
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