Cable Management Advice

[Zachary Roberts]

I have a Zalman Z11 Plus case which I believe is brilliant for cable management. However, this is my first build and my cable management skills are limited. Naturally, and through common sense, I've zip tied the cables in such a way they're not in the way of anything or touching anything they shouldn't be touching. But they do hang over the motherboard in various locations as that was the easiest way for me to get a cable from Point A to Point B. The airflow in the case, however, is surprisingly good (in terms of CPU temp, GPU temp etc being perfectly acceptable). The cables aren't in the way of any fans and although it doesn't look professionally neat it still works. The plus side to my current setup is, if I need to change something, I can very easily unplug a cable and remove it without having to retrace my steps. I'd like to make it more professional by tucking the majority of cables underneath the motherboard but I can see myself unplugging everything and then getting myself into a complete mess while trying to sort it. I suppose my question here is "is this a problem?" or is the only important thing to do is make sure they're not in the way of anything. As long as the airflow etc is good (which it seems to be in my case), is that ok?

For the purpose of giving people a general idea of what I'm talking about see this image:

Although this is not my case, my setup is something similar to this. I haven't ignored cable management completely, in other words. I've just made a very lame attempt at it I guess. But I'm quite happy to leave it as it is and save myself stress and hassle if it's going to perform fine as it is. That, I guess, is the main reason I'm posting here.

 

[clutchc]

I don't know who's PC that is in the pic, but I would not use the term "cable management" with that. First, the drives are facing the wrong way. You should try to keep as much of the wiring behind the MB tray as possible. That's what the openings along side of the MB are for. It doesn't matter how cluttered the wiring is behind the tray/out of sight as long as you can put the cover back on.

 

[Zachary Roberts]

Is cable management as important as it once was now that ribbon cables are out of fashion?

 

[clutchc]

Other than appearance, the practical need for cable management is to not block air-flow. Naturally ribbon cables created a greater air blockage when they were the norm. But even round cables can retard air-flow to the point of increasing thermal problems inside a case.
In the example above, it appears very little useful cooling is making it past the tangle of cables in front of the front intake fan. Also, the drive cage design in that case limits some air movement from the front fan. After re wiring that case, I would consider a side intake fan to augment air-flow that is limited by the front fan/drive cage.

 

[Zachary Roberts]

Ok, but what if Core Temp and Asus GPU Tweak (or whatever GPU tweak you happen to use) both report that temperatures are normal? Where's the problem?

 

[clutchc]

Ok, but what if Core Temp and Asus GPU Tweak (or whatever GPU tweak you happen to use) both report that temperatures are normal? Where's the problem?

Then leave it messy.