Modifying a power supply

[onesmartidiot]

not as scary as it sounds, im not opening one... learned my lesson on opening stuff a looong time ago. ouch

anyway, im buildign a very custom pc, it has to look straight and clean, because it is clear and will hang on the wall.

im wondering if it is possible to cut the wire harnesses (for cd and hard drives) and change their length. for example, i will have a dozen or so lights on this bad boy, and i dont want 20 plugs cluttering up my picture frame. so could i wire the lights together, then shorten the plug so i could still unplug the lights from the psu?

same goes for my sata power wires.

can i extend those to power these drives without streching wires?

i assume a sata power connector is the same 4 wires as a normal connector.

it would also be nice to shorten the main harness, but extend the secondary wire (that plugs near the processor)

i have a thermaltake 480w psu that could be the test dummy with my a64 setup, but i will have to buy a 600 or more watt psu when im running core 2 duo,dual raptor hdds, and sli nvidias.

speaking of, are the 1100watt powersupplys worth the extra $$?

a 700 is 150 an 1100 is 230...

 

[kitty500cat]

This shows the difference between an SATA and a Molex (4 pin) power connector (SATA on left).

Instead of opening the PSU, why not simply chop the original wire somewhere in the middle and connect a new one in between? Of course, you'd need a good connection so that it doesn't eat up too much current (at least, I assume that's what it would do, since an improper connection would act like a resistor).

Could you post the complete specs of the system? That will help in determining the size power supply needed.

Regards

 

[onesmartidiot]

lol, i will never open anything that holds current again.
i was shocked by a crt tv when i was messing around, i was nine... still learned.

what would be the "best way" to couple the wires together. i can get couplers, and i have a crimper. or should i go as far to solder THEn crimp a coupler over it?

i want the origional wires going out about 12 inches, then when the dissapear befind the metal plate, i want to cut them there.

im sure the specs will change when i finally build the system, i cant help it when better stuff goes on sale

core 2 duo 2.6 ghz e6700 ( i think)

i know im getting that range of core 2 duo

as for the mobo, i like the specs of an evga board now.

nvidia 680i chips, 1066fsb

sli 16x

2 nvidia evga 7900gt 256 or 512mb cards, depends on their price in 4 months

2 (2x1 gb) kits of ocz gold ddr 800 (4 gigs total)

2 WD raptor 10k sata drives with the windows (150gig a piece)

2 sata dvd burners. sata wires will look cleaner than those early 90' big ribbons

it will have 8 or 10 120mm fans. i want to wire half through an on/off switch and the rest through a controller.

then this thing will be a light show, i want to link about 15 lights all around this thing. like cold cathodes, only ive read a TON of bad stuff about them. im trying to find the led version.

also these will be on anotherr switch, between the psu and them. so i can leave the rig on at night, and be able to sleep...

on the hdd poer wires, why does the old plug have a yellow wire, and the sata power has a white wire?

same difference maybe?

all i want, is a system that will never bog down when im in premiere, or rendering animations from autodesk. i cant tell you how many times i have punted my a64 for being slower than my grandma.