please give me some cable management advice

[Santuzzo]

Hi, I just stared building my first PC 2 days ago. So far everything went fine, but I have a problem with the cables.
I did run all the cables nicely out of the case in to the side space (chamber between case and side panel, which I think is meant for stowing the cables in), and inside the case it's all nice and neat, but outside it's a mess.
Should I consider taking a few cables back into the case and keep 'em there or would that be bad for the air flow and cooling?

Here's some pictures, so you get an idea:

this is the part I do like, I think this is good, no? Or could I still improve here:

now this is the part that I need to change/improve, but I don't know how:

one more:

I tried to close the case, and I does close, but not easily, still too many cables in the way.
Should I just bind them together but leave them in the back (behind the motherboard tray) like this? Or is there another/better way to solve this?

Thanks,
Lars

 

[jfenwick]

You can check out the wire management thread for tips....zip ties with a few flush mounts work wonders.

http://www.techist.com/forums/f10/rate-wire-management-above-you-150446/

If those SATA connectors are what is in the way of the case panel going on nicely you can use a flat head screw driver and pop them off, they are just push pin connections so easy to remove and put back on if you need them down the road. If you do just use some electrical tape to cover up the exposed wires where the molex pins cut through the wire housing.

I've also used the industrial two sided 3M tape which you can find at home depot, the stuff is super tough and will hold those 4 pin molex connections flat against the panel if you don't want to go the zip tie route.

 

[Santuzzo]

You can check out the wire management thread for tips....zip ties with a few flush mounts work wonders.

http://www.techist.com/forums/f10/rate-wire-management-above-you-150446/

If those SATA connectors are what is in the way of the case panel going on nicely you can use a flat head screw driver and pop them off, they are just push pin connections so easy to remove and put back on if you need them down the road. If you do just use some electrical tape to cover up the exposed wires where the molex pins cut through the wire housing.

I've also used the industrial two sided 3M tape which you can find at home depot, the stuff is super tough and will hold those 4 pin molex connections flat against the panel if you don't want to go the zip tie route.

Thanks !

But should I leave the cables in the back as opposed to running some of them back into the case?

Would you suggest, I just bind the cables in the back together as much as possible and for the rest it's fine?

EDIT:
Ok, here's a little update, all I did was bind the wires together and I ran the PSU wires that are not used back through the fron which resulte in a little more space on the backside of the mobo-tray.

What do you think, is this ok?

 

[jfenwick]

looks a little better on the back but i never really care much about the back as noone ever sees that. To me, the more i can hide behind the mobo tray the better. I'm actually pretty picky, the first thing i do when i get a new case is take it to the garage and drill another half dozen holes for better cable management. How does the visible part look now?

 

[Santuzzo]

looks a little better on the back but i never really care much about the back as noone ever sees that. To me, the more i can hide behind the mobo tray the better. I'm actually pretty picky, the first thing i do when i get a new case is take it to the garage and drill another half dozen holes for better cable management. How does the visible part look now?

Thanks !
Let me take a new pic of the visible part, it'll be up in 3 mins!

Edit: here's the fron part, loos still pretty much the same, just 3 PSU wires are visivle now on the bottom, those are the ones that are not in use, and I ran them under the HDD tray.

I'm pretty happy with the cable management. What do you think? Is it ok like this? Anything I could improve still?

 

[jfenwick]

There is always room for improvement, it's just a matter of how far do you want to go? As it is I don't think there is much more you can do without serious effort that might not be worth the pay off:

- If you're anal like me you can drill some holes BENEATH the mobo so that the wires run beneath the mobo and around the back
- Get rid of IDE
- Sleeve the wires for a cleaner look

Here is one i did for a friend a while back, didn't do any sleeving though.