Tips needed for dust + airflow control and cabling

[flarkit]

Hi

I've just completed installing my components into my new aluminium case and it's working pretty decently (pics to follow). I added a 120mm blowhole and removed the 2 front 80mm fans, leaving just the filtered spaces. I also tried my hand at routing the cables behind the motherboard tray, with moderate success.

The main issues I'm facing are:

- I'd like to seal off the panel behind the front bezel, as well as the edges of the side panels, to prevent dust from coming in everywhere. Which material is recommendable, cheap(!) and common?

- I struggled a bit with the cabling. I have most of the wiring passing along the side of the case which the motherboard is on. A large bunch, including 2 rounded IDE cables and 2 PSU wires are practically dumped in the gap formed between the 3.5 bracket and the side panel. This is not perfect, since it presses against the side panel and seems untidy.

- I was excited to see that I could get the wire for my Radeon card to run behind the tray and then pass through a mounting hole in the motherboard at the point where the gfx card is screwed to its rear slot. Unfortunately, that hole is only just big enough to tightly squeeze the 4 wires through. This caused chafing and a very small amount of the red plastic was scraped.

Enclosing the wires in a heatshrink tube won't fit through the hole. This means having to pass the wire along the front edge of the motherboard, cable-tying the wire in place and then running a bit past the end of my RAM to the gfx card. Not optimal, IMO.

Any suggestions to improve things a little more would be most appreciated

(hope this is the right place to ask)

[lm]

Tape the panel, it's cheapest.

[flarkit]

PICS:
(apologies for grainy cell-phone camera quality)

1) This shows the motherboard power-cable, which passes the RAM. It also shows the gfx card's power. The IDE cables (with blue connector covers) are bottom right, going past the end of the motherboard tray, to the space beside the 3.5" drive cage. You can see the CDRW drive's power at the middle right of the image.


2) Inside rear view


3) Inside front view


4) Wiring, behind the motherboard tray. I'd love to tidy these somehow and arrange them so that there's no pressure against the side panel. See the bundle in the lower left corner?


I also wired up the 2 fans so that the yellow RPM lines are connected to motherboard headers and their power comes from a dedicated PSU wire

[flarkit]

TEMPS:

(Idle)
Motherboard: 24 °C (75 °F)
CPU: 37 °C (99 °F)
HDD: 23 °C (73 °F)

Cooling Fans:
CPU: 2909 RPM
Chassis (92mm): 1722 RPM
Power Supply( 120mm): 1815 RPM

(Load, running SuperPi for 20min)
Motherboard: 26 °C (75 °F)
CPU: 43 °C (99 °F)
HDD: 24 °C (73 °F)

This might not have been long enough for the case temps to be affected.

Cooling Fans:
CPU: 2960 RPM
Chassis (92mm): 1722 RPM
Power Supply( 120mm): 1815 RPM

[wisefool]

You may consider rerouting the motherboard power cable. Your PSU looks like it has bottom intake vents. I just read the AMD system builders guide and one of their tips for reducing EMI is routing power cables away from your RAM.

It looks like you can double back and fold the power cable at the beginning, along the top edge of the motherboard, towards the back. Then you can tape/tie the bundle and connect a short length straight down to the MB power connector. Unsure of the thickness but you can probably do this without restricting PSU intake vent much.

[flarkit]

It looks like you can double back and fold the power cable at the beginning, along the top edge of the motherboard, towards the back. Then you can tape/tie the bundle and connect a short length straight down to the MB power connector. Unsure of the thickness but you can probably do this without restricting PSU intake vent much.

I have tried that approach and found that there isn't really anything to tied the bundle to the rear of the case. I will try again though, since I'm irritated by the bunch of wires adding to the visible clutter.

[Tephras]

I have tried that approach and found that there isn't really anything to tied the bundle to the rear of the case. I will try again though, since I'm irritated by the bunch of wires adding to the visible clutter.

I had the same problem, solved it by using duct tape to attach the power cable against the side of the PSU.

[flarkit]

I had the same problem, solved it by using duct tape to attach the power cable against the side of the PSU.

That would be my last resort, since I'm trying to avoid getting any sticky stuff on the case.

If I do get the motherboard power routed even half-decently, I'd even concede on the graphics card's power cable. On the other hand, I am a little afraid of the EMI issue now.
(thanks, wisefool)

[ultraboy]

Hi,

Don't know whether this helps, but here's how I route the MB cable for my son's system.



I made a U-turn for MB cable to go under PSU -->goes around HSF (SI-97) --> to MB header. Done.

EDIT: You can also see how the cable is attached to MB tray with a cable holder. This thing might help you solve problem tidying cable you have.