CM690 wire management help needed

Hello all,
I bought the CM 690 case awhile ago and I loved it.. However I decided to upgrade my computer with new parts.

I now have 2 sata hard drives
sata dvd-rw drive
corsair HX620 power supply
GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3R motherboard
G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 memory
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 processor
ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 7 Pro CPU cooler
and many fans

and I am just out of ideas on how to wire manage my rig... I do not have the funds to buy a new case, so I have to deal with the CM 690 for a while longer..

The main problem is the lack of space to put the wires. the power supply atx wire is very thick and hard to move around, my geforce card is as big as a brick and there is no air flow on the right side of my case due to the wires and geforce card blocking air flow.. also what is the proper way to point fans on this case for proper airflow?

here is a included pic.. please help me with some suggestions thanks

I have close to the same amount of stuff in mine with 1 mor HDD ( It now has an HX520 and looks about the same)

I did open up the 2 holes in the mobo tray a little with a dremel but not sure if I really had to I just did because I already had the dremel out to remove the fan grills.

All Power supply cables run through the large hole in front of the PSU to behind the motherboard except the 8 pin which runs between the motherboard and tray (I plug it in with the board out of the case as it's hard to get to with it all installed)

The rear fan cable is also between the mobo and tray and all others are tucked away behind the tray popping out where necessary (I have all but one of the availeable fan spots full on the case + 2 on the TRUE which run behind the tray as well) all front panel cable I use (don't use the E-SATA or audio) run behind the tray and come out of the large hole in front of the PSU.

As you can see almost every cable for your system can be run either behind the tray or between the mobo and tray only coming out using the available holes already in the case (I did cut the lip where the ATX connector comes back into the case for clearance)

just set aside a good chunk of time (like a couple hours) and start coming up with a plan as how to run everything without actually mounting things like the mobo so you can movethings around easier as you go along and see new Ideas.

whoa good job on the cabling

I guess I am just afraid to bend wires hehe. I decided to clean the dust from the case(its a dust magnent) grills and change some fans around and gave cable management another shot. here is what I got so far. I ended up using electrical tape to tape the wires to the back to hold them. the back part of the case still had trouble closing due to a sata power connector there. so I bent my case a little forcing it back on
thanks for the help

You can fit a lot more behind that MB tray than you think you can. The HX series does short you a little bit for cable length as opposed to the TX series, but for the most part that only affects the CPU 8-pin plug. If you really want to get that one back there IIRC you'll need an extension. Everything else you could probably fit behind the tray.

Here's the back of mine. It's scary and takes a good five minutes of pushing with my foot, knee, elbow and hands to get it shut...



Those white squares are these wire tie mounts from radio shack. Cheap and they'll hold your cables where they need to be.

It's a pain, it takes a while, but the end result is totally worth it. There is a bit more equipment in my case than yours as well, so don't loose hope!

What I'm managing:
Biostar Tpower I45
E8400 (E0 Stepping)
2x2G G.Skill DDR2-1066 / 5-5-5-15 (F2-8500CL5D-4GBPK)
eVGA 8800GTX
1x WD 200G, 1x WD 500G, 1x Seagate 40G and a ridiculous secret that I haven't said before: one dummy HDD in the top that isn't hooked up, so it doesn't contribute wires, just hides them.
Corsair TX650
Coolermaster RC690

The result:





That has changed a bit since then (see this post), but I'm going to add my GPU back into the loop whenever I have time to put the new block on there. You get the idea though.

So take heart, you can do it...it just takes time and planning. Good luck!

hokiealumnus said:

You can fit a lot more behind that MB tray than you think you can. The HX series does short you a little bit for cable length as opposed to the TX series, but for the most part that only affects the CPU 8-pin plug. If you really want to get that one back there IIRC you'll need an extension. Everything else you could probably fit behind the tray.

Click to expand...

You can get it between the Mobo and tray, my HX520 is like that with plenty to spare, enough I think it would be possible to bo behind the tray as well barely.


To the OP, that's a very nice improvement. It could defiantly be improved on but that would require you to disassemble the hole PC pretty much and maybe do some minor cutting (I did very little to get mine the way it is). It took me a few tries to get it the way I wanted it, got a good starting base when I got the case (just wanted to get it up and running) then after looking at it together I had time to figure out the rest with some trial and error.

And hokiealumnus, I kind of like the dummy HDD Idea, I've got enough lying around I might do that sometime aswell for pure vanity.

thanks for the tips hokiealumnus, btw nice rig looks like a evil science lab experiment

and I plan on getting more zip ties and what hokiealumnus suggessted and get some of those wire tie mounts.. maybe i'll check Home depot out as well..

thanks again

Get lots of wire ties...And don't be afraid to get the dremmel out and cut a few holes in your case, it makes life alot easier in the long run

looking good kkpudge7

i'll have to invest in a dremel rotary tool someday


also 1 more question, I plan on spray painting the silver in my cm690 to maybe black, does any black spary paint work? or is there specific paint I should buy?

thanks

Zer0-X said:

looking good kkpudge7

i'll have to invest in a dremel rotary tool someday


also 1 more question, I plan on spray painting the silver in my cm690 to maybe black, does any black spary paint work? or is there specific paint I should buy?

thanks

Click to expand...

I don't think it matters about what kind of spray paint (of course there will be some better than others) but the big thing if you want it to stick well and chip less is to sand it prior to painting.

ok i have some black spray paint readily availible, and thanks for the tip on sanding it