im getting tired of looking at my messy case. wires everywhere and it just looks bad. but most of all, its cutting down on my airflow. so i was looking around and i read somewhere that if you have a lot of un-used 4 pin molex to just un-solder them from the power supply. i know all the risks. few quick questions due to the fact that i couldnt find the website i am reffering to.
1. how long should i wait for the capicators or whatever to discharge?
2. is there anything special to know about unsoldering
3. will it effect the rest of the connecters or any other part of the psu?

I probably wouldn't do that!
Maybe you can just cut the wires short and tape up the ends. But why? You may need them some day.

Your best bet is to organize your plugs so as few runs as possible are used. Then take a leftover run and tie it tightly at the top of the case. Twist ties or zip ties are your best friend in this case.

And with the runs you DO use, twist them so they automatically push themselves to the back of the case. I think if you twise a cable counter clockwise, it will push itself to the right and back. Just expirement.

Unless you have a really tiny case, there is no reason why you can't tie everything neatly and have plenty of room and air flow. If not, get a bigger case!

cheers-

P.S. the plug thingies are called "Molex" connectors.

I just found this pic to kind of show you decent wire management:

http://img223.exs.cx/img223/5504/comp0022tt.jpg

Notice the power plug is twisted and automatically crunches itself at the top. etc.

Well, I would unsolder them from the PSU, I've not done that because I don't have any unused lines from mine.

But I've played with the insides of the PSU before, and I have unsoldered a bad, noisy, low CFM fan with a good, quiet, medium CFM fan into the PSU. And its still working fine (although it is still noisy from some other component or something).

I didn't really worry about the capacitance and crap, but I'll suggest give it a few hours I actually have left the PSU on the bench for about 3 days before I started work on it, because I was sleeving it (and in the process, cutting some of the lines shorter).

Its still a mess in there compared to the pic vigilante put up, but its a lot less of a mess than before. And of course, much less than a mess than most other people's PC.

What else you need to know about unsoldering? Not much IMO, make sure you don't burn anything, careful about short circuiting the whole thing, the ends of each line in that PSU is in one big blob of solder, or at least it was in mine, so it was a little challenge to actually do a good job. But I'm not that handy with the solder anyway.

Er....


Have you tried zip ties?

didn't like the look of zip ties....

Didn't mean I didn't use it, but I try not to use it for shortening the cables. I am using 2 for this purpose, and about 5 to keep the cables hidden from view.

But still, the ultimate goal for me is to get the cables short enough to be just enough (plus maybe 3cm of slack) to connect to all the devices.

Only problem now for me is the MB connector, that is still a hideous lump of wires (in a cable tie). Too risky for me to try, although theoretically can easily be done.

Or does anyone know where to get the crimps and the heads for the 20pin connector?

And while they're at it, the molex ones as well.

i am using zip ties. i have all the seperate channels organized and tied together. when i was done with this i duct taped em to the top of my case and they kept falling. i probally should have mentioned this earlier, but im also going to adding either 2x120mm or 2x80mm blowholes at the top of my case, and maybe have a seperate power supply to run all my fans or like, a junction box and a custom controller at the top. if i get as many as i think i need, im gonna have 10 or 11 fans. anyway, i cant keep em tied to the top of the case forever

120mm fans are better, they're more quiet and move more air.

With the cable tie, I just run unused lines to the back of the casing, and just cable tie them to an unused 5.25" bay (the side of it, notice the nice holes).

Also, you can buy fan controllers which fit into 5.25" bays (I'm sure there are some which fit into 3.5" bays if you look for them). Those should suffice. Be carefull though, they have a max amperage that you can run through them, and if you're running relaly powerful fans, you may destroy your fan control. Or alternatively, look for one with a high max amp.

You shouldn't need a dedicated PSU for fans, unless your whole casing is full of fans, but in that case the only reason why you'd need another is for more lines. Most fans come with parallel power splitters anyway, so you probably don't need them... I'm quite sure these fans don't take up that much power for a need to get another dedicated PSU.

If you are really industrious and want to change your cables, here are some links:

Get some Molex and various connectors from here:
http://www.xoxide.com/wireadaptors.html

Get crimps and other connectors from:
http://www.action-electronics.com/molex.htm
Note they have connectors for IDE also, if you want, you can change the size of your IDE cables too, to be just the right length.

Get 80pin bulk ribbon from:
http://www.mycableshop.com/3rd_Level/Bulk-FlatWire_Foot.htm

You probably have enough PS wire without having to buy any, if you find the molex connectors and crimps and so forth.

Just be sure if you will add a device in the future, leave room for it! Tis better to have a length of wire with as little junctions as possible. That is, you don't want to run off plug after plug after plug in a series.

Those web pages were just from random searches, I don't know about them except for xoxide, which is a cool place. They may have bulk ribbon cable and crimpers and such, I don't know. Shop there first. But if you are going to get in your case and start hacking away, you may as well shrink your IDE cable as well and get everything colored and UV, and strait and tight as needs be.

I would not venture INTO your PS to do this, just no need. If you really really really don't want a whole run, cut the wires and crimp/tape the ends. Power supplies are not terribly strong, it could blow up in a storm next week. Then you would have wasted hours of time soldering and crimping for nothing, cause now you need a new PS.

Have fun!

Its a hobby, it will take up time.