First build, overwhelmed with wires

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rEsage

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Feb 10, 2012
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Hey, I have pretty much everything in, I am just really confused on where some wires go and its a little overwhelming.

If someone can help direct me? Its really confusing...

Mind you this is absolute FIRST time ever trying to assemble a computer. I followed Neweggs video tutorial up until now where all my wires are just around.

And what is the HDA cable that came with case and what should that connect to?

And I can't tell which wire from the power supply I'm assuming connects to the DVD drive/HD
It looks like it has two different wire inputs is that to give you "options" depending on what power supply you got?
or do both need to have a wire going to them?









^ Is that correct? should the other side not be plugged in to anything?


Assuming not all of these wires get used? Do I need to use BOTH PCI-E cables or is it just one? I only have one video card.



These came with the mother board, are they needed or are they used for something else?


Thanks.
 
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The small wires are for your front panel and the HDA looks like your High Definition Audio cable. You will need to read your mobo manual to find where the wires plug into your mobo.

The PCI-E cable(s) depend on your video card. Some use one some use two. Some don't use any.

The Blue cables look like SATA cables. As long as your devices are connected, they are extra. Save them in case you add more devices (extra HDD or maybe an SSD, etc.)

Hope that this helps out.

Edit:

You will most likely not use all of the power cables that are available on your PSU.
 
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okay, the HDA cable stands for "High Definition Audio" look at your motherboard Manual and see where you hook this cable up at. The blue cable that came with your motherboard are SATA cable they are what transfer data between the motherboard and your HDD, and optical drive (DVD). you will also need SATA power connectors that both hook up to your HDD and your DVD they are thin and flat and have an "L" shape to them. The good thing about computer connectors is that you can only hook them up one way and most connectors are different which prevents any major mistakes.

The power connectors that have four pins (or holes) are your molex connectors and are used for aux power mostly to your fans or fan controllers. No you do not need to use every cable provided by your power supply. I strongly recommend that your route all your cable behind the motherboard tray and go to Lowes or home depot and you can buy small zip ties to keep all your wires neat and clean.

Also go onto youtube and simply search to cable management or how to wire a computer and usually you can find several step by step tutorials on building a computer from scratch. I hope this helps your progress.
 
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First, the HDA connector goes to the HD Audio header connector on your motherboard. It is "keyed" meaning it only plugs in one way. One of the pin holes is blocked off and there is a corresponding missing pin on the header.

There will be a similar diagram in the manual explaining the other connectors in that picture. These are known as the front panel header connectors. The black colored wire is usually the negative or "common" wire. You will connect it to the negative pin in the diagram designated by the minus sign "-". I say usually, because on some cases the common wire is white. If you got a manual of some sort with the case, I would double check it.

Your DVD and hard drives have two L shaped connectors on the back. The larger one is for a corresponding connector from your power supply. The smaller one is for one of the blue cables in the last picture. The other end of the blue cable will go to a corresponding connector on the motherboard. These are known as SATA power(larger) and SATA data(smaller). If your hard drive is SATA 6gb/s, there should be corresponding connectors on the motherboard labeled SATA III or SATA 6gb/s. Your DVD drive would be plugged into one of the SATA II or 3gb/s ports.

In the second photo, I am unsure of what the twin black cable is for, but the large multi-colored snake looking cable it the main 24 pin power cable. Also plugs into the motherboard only one way. I would loop this under the twin black cable so that it rests mostly against the bottom of the case and up the edge of the motherboard. It is usually best to connect it first, and lay other cables over it.

Any unused cables can be simply laid on the bottom over the case and remainder sort of push under the drive bay area.

It is also a good idea before powering up to put the case upright as it will be running and make sure no cables are in the way of any fans.

Unfortunately cable management is a learned skill, mostly by trial and error as components vary. However, there are plenty of other good computer assembly videos on YouTube you might wish to watch.
 
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The video went by pretty fast, so it was hard to tell for sure. Is there a 4 or 8 pin connector on the motherboard that sort of looks like a mini version of the the 24 pin main? If so, it the power supply cable plugged into it? It is typically located in the upper left corner as you are looking from the same perspective as the video.
 
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yes there is an 8 pin one.. nothing is plugged in to it at the moment.
 
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THANK YOU TLMCK!

I got it to woooooork!


woo hoo booted up smooth just gotta read to do the bios and everything!


yayy first computer built hopefully it all does get set up smooth =P

thanks again for the help!!!!!
 
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