Custom PC Building Question

PCDesignerR · May 18, 2016

OK, I have a question about building a custom PC. I've been building for a long time, but I've never been able to get my wiring as neat as the wiring you will see if you bought say for example Digital Storm's Aventum 3 desktop. I've built my latest out of a Thermaltake Core-X9 and I've even bought a completely custom red PSU cable kit. What the heck is the secret to that perfect wiring inside of a computer? Admittedly, I am using about 15 case fans, but how the heck is the wiring so neat and what is the secret? As always thank you for your input.

PCD-R
(^It's my handle)

USAFRet · May 18, 2016

PCDesignerR :

OK, I have a question about building a custom PC. I've been building for a long time, but I've never been able to get my wiring as neat as the wiring you will see if you bought say for example Digital Storm's Aventum 3 desktop. I've built my latest out of a Thermaltake Core-X9 and I've even bought a completely custom red PSU cable kit. What the heck is the secret to that perfect wiring inside of a computer? Admittedly, I am using about 15 case fans, but how the heck is the wiring so neat and what is the secret? As always thank you for your input.

PCD-R
(^It's my handle)

Pictures, please.

Rogue Leader · May 18, 2016

Its all about creativity, planning out where the wiring will go and running it there, having the right lengths helps as well. You need to figure out what wires go where and how you can bundle them, also where you can bury the excess wires if you don't have custom length cables. Its just taking your time, tying off cables with velcro and then possibly changing them up when a new cable/routing needs to be used.

why_wolf · May 18, 2016

zip ties and hidden spaces to hide the excess length.

USAFRet · May 18, 2016

For instance, this is the inside of my Air 540:

5 fans (not counting the GPU and PSU), 6 if you count the little one on the CPU.

Ryan_78 · May 18, 2016

Rogue Leader :

I agree. its a time cmsuming process. it depends on how well you can organize by looking at it with your eye. draw a chart if yo have to

most cases have an area behind the motherboard tray and wires go inside. well yea its up to you on how to hide al the cables and stuff back there. determine where each fan header goes to the motherboard. which hole does the cable come through. sometimes the its the cases that are bad, like no room for cable management or tie-dwon points, or have bad hole positioning, like bad holes for the GPU cables

why_wolf · May 18, 2016

not sure if the pics will show but if they do. Corsair Air240

edit: ah never mind can't get it to work.

FTFY

PCDesignerR · May 18, 2016

"having the right lengths helps as well", "custom length cables"... where do you find such things? I know there are a lot of good things on FrozenCPU.
"zip ties and hidden spaces to hide the excess length." - Actually, believe it or not, I didn't use a single screw for any of my case fans. Everything is fastened with zip-ties, completely clean in manner of course.

PCDesignerR · May 18, 2016

why_wolf, the OneDrive pics didn't come through, but I'll upload some pictures of my build tonight.

why_wolf · May 18, 2016

PCDesignerR :

yeah sorry about that, freaking onedrive. Great for storing and sharing with myself, seemingly useless for sharing with others.

It also helps a great deal if the cable color matches the internal case color. So I have all black wires against a black interior. Greatly helps reducing how noticeable the cables are.

The simplest and easiest thing of course is to get a modular PSU if you don't have one already. I was able to get rid of over half my total cable mass by doing that alone.

PCDesignerR · May 18, 2016

Yep, modular for the PSU is the only way I would ever go and it's really the only way to do any custom cabling. I would be in heaven if I could cut and "connector" my own cable lengths, that would be sooo much easier. Why, try photobucket. That's what I use for a great many things, either that or Flickr. Also, why don't they ever make L-connectors on motherboards? The P1 is always seated so that the cable has to come straight down from overtop of the board. If boards were fitted with an L that would make seating the P1 a lot easier. I don't know how they could do it but it would be amazing if somehow manufacturers could find a way to give their customers a way to design their own boards however they wanted.

why_wolf · May 18, 2016

PCDesignerR :

Yes I would kill for an L connector of some kind. For both the main motherboard power and on my GPU. The way it is now the cables are actually scrapping against the side panel when I close up the case.

Ryan_78 · May 18, 2016

lol the pc is upside down

why_wolf · May 18, 2016

Ryan_78 :

nah that's just how it was positioned when I took it. That or all my fans are intakes and I keep it next to a space heater year round. :pt1cable:

PCDesignerR · May 18, 2016

If I were a motherboard manufacturer I would make L-connectors on my boards. I can't tell from that picture. Is the pc upside down? I used the X9 for my case because of the amount of space and because of the modular ability to stack multiple cases for even more room.

why_wolf · May 18, 2016

PCDesignerR :

yeah its flipped on its top. Not sure why, I think I was just shifting it around a lot to get my hands in there to attach the cables. Probably left it like that after attaching the fan connectors on the bottom(really top). You can can't really see but right in between them is where the fan header is. Great for hiding the wire, giant pain to actually reach. Same with the CPU power port jammed right there in the corner, though there is a great little panel hole right there that lets me snake up to it without having to cross the entire motherboard or get in the way of the fans.

It just sits in its flat, window panel up, position now.

PCDesignerR · May 18, 2016

Hey Why_wolf are those noctuas in your picture? What case is that?

why_wolf · May 18, 2016

PCDesignerR :

Yes those are Noctua fans, 3 NF-F12 and 1 of the kind meant for radiators (doesn't seem to make any noise difference to me). The CPU heatsink is the NH-D9L. All inside the Corsair Air 240. Very quite, can't hear it above ambient doing normal stuff. Even when I crank it doing transcode work it's not that loud, my fridge is louder IMO.

Total setup list below, though prices are wrong. I bought almost everything on sale or refurbished.

[PCPartPicker part list](http://pcpartpicker.com/p/ccCcWZ) / [Price breakdown by merchant](http://pcpartpicker.com/p/ccCcWZ/by_merchant/)

Type|Item|Price
:----|:----|:----
**CPU** | [Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/intel-cpu-bx80646i74790k) | $318.99 @ SuperBiiz
**CPU Cooler** | [Noctua NH-D9L 46.4 CFM CPU Cooler](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/noctua-cpu-cooler-nhd9l) | $54.96 @ Amazon
**Motherboard** | [Asus GRYPHON Z97 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/asus-motherboard-gryphonz97) | $175.99 @ B&H
**Memory** | [G.Skill Ripjaws Series 8GB (4 x 2GB) DDR3-1600 Memory](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/gskill-memory-f312800cl9q8gbrl) |-
**Storage** | [Samsung 840 EVO 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/samsung-internal-hard-drive-mz7te500bw) | $238.89 @ OutletPC
**Storage** | [Western Digital WD Blue 500GB 2.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/western-digital-internal-hard-drive-wd5000lpvx) | $44.95 @ SuperBiiz
**Video Card** | [EVGA GeForce GTX 980 4GB FTW ACX 2.0 Video Card](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/evga-video-card-04gp42986kr) | $651.49 @ Amazon
**Case** | [Corsair Air 240 MicroATX Mid Tower Case](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/corsair-case-cc9011070ww) | $84.95 @ Amazon
**Power Supply** | [SeaSonic 660W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/seasonic-power-supply-ss660xp2) | $126.99 @ SuperBiiz
**Operating System** | [Microsoft Windows 10 Pro OEM (64-bit)](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/microsoft-os-fqc08930) | $139.00 @ Adorama
**Case Fan** | [Noctua NF-F12 PWM 55.0 CFM 120mm Fan](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/noctua-case-fan-nff12pwm) | $19.42 @ Amazon
**Case Fan** | [Noctua NF-F12 PWM 55.0 CFM 120mm Fan](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/noctua-case-fan-nff12pwm) | $19.42 @ Amazon
**Case Fan** | [Noctua NF-F12 PWM 55.0 CFM 120mm Fan](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/noctua-case-fan-nff12pwm) | $19.42 @ Amazon
**Case Fan** | [Noctua NF-F12 PWM 55.0 CFM 120mm Fan](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/noctua-case-fan-nff12pwm) | $19.42 @ Amazon
**Monitor** | [Dell U2515H 60Hz 25.0" Monitor](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/dell-monitor-u2515h) | $349.99 @ Adorama
| *Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts* |
| **Total** | **$2263.88**
| Generated by [PCPartPicker](http://pcpartpicker.com) 2016-05-18 18:57 EDT-0400 |

faalin · May 18, 2016

in my case its al about using the space between the motherboard tray and the side panel

as for your build you should turn you cpu cooler 90* so its blowing air out the back of the case. I cant tell which way your fan is blowing for the cooler but your ether blowing hot air straight into the gpu. or your sucking hot air off the backplate of the gpu.

Ryan_78 · May 18, 2016

yea so here I use the back try too. also the GPU power is always sooo annoying.
and cases with basements hide wires.
and why do you all have square cases. its so had to take a pic of a tall slimmer case
http://imgur.com/a/gj8VP
oww I don't see the pics

why_wolf · May 18, 2016

nah I get a poor mans push pull configuration this way. It doesn't cause a heat problem, the CPU can run at full turbo for hours on end.

Squares are in man, rectangles are so 2012.

PCDesignerR · May 19, 2016

All of the case fans have dust covers over them pre installation and are fastened with zip ties, not screws. The SSD is loose, not fastened, but that doesn't really matter because they're SSDs, not magnetics. Custom wiring, closed loop liquid CPU cooler, X99 case, AX1200i PSU.

C-Fans:
8 top
2 front
2 left side
2 right side
2 back side
so 16 fans, my mistake...

For the top 8 C-Fans I had to use a fan adapter. Positioned in the center of the right most 4 top C-Fans, it is used to accommodate the connection for all 8 of the top C-Fans.

I don't typically like to have stock anything inside of my case, but the uppermost front facing fan's size is pretty hard to find in that size so I just left it as it came, but may change it later.

This doesn't look quite as cool as some of the professional builds, but it has all newly purchased parts and it is an X99 build so despite how it looks, there is nothing skimmed with this build. It is one step down from the Z170A architecture and soon to be upgraded. I really would like to upgrade to the MSI Z170A M9 ACK, or, perhaps the Gigabyte Gaming Z170A G1 board.

I would have actually built the Z170A architecture straight away but when I built this not all of the pieces for a Z170A build were available so I had to take one step down to get something functional. For right now I'm just gathering the parts needed until I can reassemble into a fully functional Z170A build, pretty much one part at a time. A motherboard here, a processor there.

Below is the beginning plans for the upgrade to the Z170A:
(Oh, and the upgrade is being ordered June 10th)

Additionally, thinking of upgrading to Corsair AX1500i PSU and a Corsair Dominator Platinum 64 GB @ 3000MHz but that would have to be done on July 8 2016.

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