Cleaning up the rat nest

Cleaning up the rat nest

I decided to use my last modded case for my new Linux PC I built (well more like threw together). This was the case I used before I got my Lian-Li.

The computer has been up for one week now but the cabling needed some freshing up. I need to clean up the cabling. A bay bus and new fan covers will also be added.

Below is how it looked with the side pane removed.....Yuk!!

Below is a picture of the rounded cables.
These will replace the flat/ribbon cables to the floppy, CD-ROM and hard drive cables.

Installing the cables is pretty straight forward. It looks much better with the new rounded cables, but I still have a lot of work to do.

I got out the zip ties (the ties are blue and a bit hard to see in the pic) and started bundling cables together.
I also routed cable behind the motherboard where appreciate.

I am also installing a bay bus. This will allow me to run fans at lower voltage which will make them much more quite. I am also planning on getting some cold cathodes in the near future. I will be able to control the cathodes as well.

You first get a 5 /14 blank and overlay the template. I marked the holes with non permanent marker. Then start drilling, be careful not to apply too much pressure or you will crack the blank.

This is the blank after it was drilled. I used a razor blade to clean off the plastic bugers.

Slide the bay bus behind

The CD-ROM was in the top bay, I decided to move it down and put the bay bus on top.

The standard fan grill are functional but not very appealing to the eye. I purchased new fan grills to spruce things up.

I choose the Biohazard covers. I bought 2, here is a close up of one of them. They also come with 4 screws.

This is a pretty easy install, just be careful around the acrylic window. You do not want to have the screwdriver slip and scratch the acrylic.

I am all done. I think it looks 100 times better.

The new grill covers look cool too.

Here is a pic of the PC back at my desk. Now all I need to do is clean up the rat nest behind my desk, but that is a project for another day! I am only using two of the bay bus switches for now. One switch for the top fan and the other for the window fans. Another one will be used for my cold cathodes and the other I am not sure what I am going to do with it.