Hi all,

In looking at full tower cases, is cable length usually an issue from PSU to HDD or MB or whatever else? What about the connections from MB to the front USB/Firewire/Sound connections?

Although I suppose that the better the name brand for the case, PSU, and MB, then there'll be less risk of having shorter cables that won't reach?

I'd like to get a full tower, without worrying about cramming components together in a mid-tower...

Many thanks for any help that you can provide!

Lefty

For most tower cases it should be fine.

If the PSU is bottom mounted you can have trouble getting the Motherboard power cable to reach.

If the PSU is top mounted i really wouldnt worry.. 9/10 times it will reach anything in the whole case without any problems.

Also ensure that the PSU you have or will get isn't a short length edition..

On balance If its a decent case and a decent psu it shouldnt be a problem. Cheapo stuff is more likely to give you a few problems.

As for the motherboard headers, usb etc.. this are also usually fine. It all depends where the headers are on the motherboard but again 9/10 you'll be ok.

-Rich

I think that rjpearce is being a little optimistic, as yeah it can be a problem.

Some will work great and have plenty of cable length, others will not.
Just be sure to research the PSU/case combination you pick out.

I've got a PC Power & Cooling Silencer 750 mounted at the bottom of a huge TJ-09 case. The PSU cables are long enough. This really depends on the PSU brand - some have longer cables than others. The only problem I had was the SATA cables, barely reaching some hard disks. That's not a big deal anyway, because you can buy longer SATA cables for a few dollars.

The front panel connectors (usb, firewire, sound) are built into the case and since most motherboards have those connections at the bottom the case manufacturers make them long enough to reach. The biggest problem most run into is running the 4/8 pin motherboard connector with a case with a bottom mounted PSU but for every cable on a PSU there is an extender available if you run into problems.
http://www.performance-pcs.com/cat [...] 099ee4a4ca

I've built using full tower cases for years and had no problem with PSU cable lengths. Then I got an Antec 900 with a bottom mounted PSU. The motherboard cable was just barely long enough with a Toughpower 850wt, and the connectors on the cables to the hard drives were upside down. Everything did work, but it made me cautious about buying a case with a bottom mount PSU again.

If you are talking full tower like the old days where its almost 3 feet tall and holds 15 drives, then you might have trouble with cable length.
If your looking at something like the Antec 900 a good quality PSU's cables will reach to what needs power.
My Antec 900 and the PCPower Silencer 750 work well together, the only cable that does not have lots of length (to where I would be able to route it the way I want) is the CPU power line. It's more of a direct line from the PSU to the motherboard CPU power connection. With an extender I could tidy it up a bit more to my liking.
What ever you get for a combo, just do your research to ensure that it will meet your needs and desires.

The only problem I had was the IDE cable for my dvd drive and my secondary dvd drive. I had to buy a longer one as the slave interface wouldn't plug into my second dvd drive. As far as PSU cables go, I didn't have a problem with any cable being long enough. It pretty much is a case by case basis. I have an enermax uber chakra full tower case (top mounted PSU).

I have a Cosmos S with a Zalman PSU powering a GA-X48-DQ6 and two hardrives in a cage, no cable was too short and the cosmos S is a large ATX extended case. Go for it.