cable ties

[saphalline]

Hey all, just wanted to address one of those areas of case cooling that rarely gets talked about: keeping all those darn cables and cords out of the path of airflow!

It's well-known that having a good power supply and plenty of fans are the main tactics for cooling a case, but if ya don't get those IDE and power cables out of the way, eddies and dead zones will turn your wind-tunnel case efforts into a spring breeze! I know that my cables could use a bit of adjustment and was just wondering if any of the cooling experts had some advice.

What do you use to keep cables out of the way? Where do you put them? Does drive placement matter? Any subtle tips the rest of us should know about?

[Paleo Pete]

Well, I believe round cables are available, which would help...I split mine and bundle them with tie wraps or small diameter wire wrapped around them.

I posted something about this long ago, but I seriously doubt if I could find it again, it's been a year...I use a razor knife to make a small split in the cable between two wires, then pull them apart. Then arrange them into a neat bundle and wrap with wire or plastic tie wraps.

For wire I use telephone cable, the type used for the main line not the cord that goes to the phone...Cut it about 6" long and wrap the bundle, it stays put pretty well. Tie wraps are more secure, use the smallest ones and cut them off about ¼" long to keep the excess out of the way.

Be very careful when slicing the wires, it's easy to cut into the wire itself, which is not a good thing...Also I wouldn't try it with 80 wire cables, those are too thin to work with. Have a few spares on hand to practice on, you'll trash a few learning how to do it. For 40 wire IDE cables 5 wires to a strip works great, for floppy cables I use 5 wires and a couple with 4 since 5 doesn't come out to an even number...Also I don't split the short section between drives, just the longer end of the cable, except in rare instances when using 5¼" floppies and the short section has to be flipped.

Routing...I just try to keep them off to the side somewhere, and leave as much space as possible in front of the power supply intake vents. You can wrap the bundle and attach it to the drive bays with a larger tie wrap. Don't wrap them too tight, just snug is fine.

Power supply wires can be bundled as much as possible and tie wrapped out of the way too, but often it's not possible to really get them neat since they have to go all over the place to begin with...

One thing I try to do is figure the layout before I connect anything but the motherboard power cables. I still end up re-routing it all after it's hooked up and running, usually I see something that could be routed better after it's set up...

LED wires...I wrap those with tie wraps too, usually I try to do that before connecting them, lay it out and route it, so I can see exactly where it will sit, then I have an idea how to wrap them to keep it all in one bundle. I make loops for the extra long ones, to keep the overall length as short as I can and keep to a straight route as much as possible.

[YODA74]

Everything Pete has suggested works great. now there are tie hangers at any lowes or home depot you 5 for around $2.00 they stick to the side of the case and you insert your wire ties and you can route your wires in any direction. you can also get split loom and spiral loom caseing there also, but if you want a perfectionists way, buy cable sleeving you can get in different colors and heat shrink tubing for a great looking job.
If your making your own rounded cables after you get them the way you want and you know they work you can go to any auto parts warehouse or store and get a can of rubberizing and coat your cables looks just like you paid big bucks for the cables.

[mohamed adeni]

These suggestion about securing cables sound great, I will take a look at my home computers. I did installed two extra fans in my mini and mid tower cases.And any time when ever I open these cases, I feel a cool breeze in side and I think they are helping to keep the heat low. (More fans - good idea or bad idea? Let me know):)

[YODA74]

mohamed What is the temp inside the case now, and what temp is the CPU? you may have enough circulation!
If you do to much then your just defeting the purpose by creating a vaccum and that is not what you want to, do just becouse fans look cool.

I have one server that has 7 fans but well needeed. I have another computer I use all the time with just a fan on the CPU and an Athlon tuboot does very well with just the stand alone fan.

Fans in a case that is just used for home use usually do not need extra fans depending on what you are doing.


If you are overclocking and hotrodding then i would suggest you learn about air flow and the correct placement of fans in the particular case you are using, or go strictly water or refidgerent cooled.I have even gone so far as to use dry ice in a cool can (experimenting) which did not work very well. Would have been better off using CO\2 and pumping the gas thru thermal tubing.

[mjc]

Also too many fans can just as bad or worse than not enough...you end up with all sorts of conflicting airflow patterns and dead zones. Basically the air is not going to where it is needed. For most machines used at home (unless you are into heavy gaming) one in and one out should be enough. Along with making sure the things discussed earlier in this post are applied (ie good cable routing strategies, etc).

[mohamed adeni]

Good thing I asked because I do believe in 'just ask to clear a doubt than be a sorry person'. Let me check the heating temp. My home computer is for home and nothing else. It just that when I heard keep your sys cool, I got this idea to keep it coooool. Thanks for your advise. This is not the only crazy thing I do with my sys. You will know as we keep in touch with different issues. That is why I like this site of yours, great learning place., keep it up.;)