How to Make Rounded Cables
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We here at OCAddiction love to get input from our readers about things they've tried and projects they've completed. Jason, who goes by The BigDog, was cool enough to put together a little how-to on rounding your IDE cables. While yes there ARE risks involved, if you follow Jason's directions you should have no problems. As usual, if ya muck up your schtuff, don't blame US!! (Or Jason). We recommend you practice on an old floppy cable or IDE you have laying around first.
How to Make Rounded Cables
We here at OCAddiction love to get input from our readers about things they've tried and projects they've completed. Jason, who goes by The BigDog, was cool enough to put together a little how-to on rounding your IDE cables. While yes there ARE risks involved, if you follow Jason's directions you should have no problems. As usual, if ya muck up your schtuff, don't blame US!! (Or Jason). We recommend you practice on an old floppy cable or IDE you have laying around first. So with no further blabbing from me, Here's Jason's How-to:
As all of us overclockers know, airflow is one of the most important ingredients in an effective overclock. To those of us with mid-tower cases, long IDE cables can be a big enemy. Getting those cables out of the way can be a hard, tricky process. Hopefully this how-to will clear up some of the mystery on how to do it.
I unfortunately am not able to overclock because of my Intel motherboard, but with a Hot P-II 400 running, I still have to worry about cooling, so I decided to round my cables. I did it not only because I am worried about cooling, but it also was a mess inside my case, and I wanted to clean it up. This will be especially important to those of you who are thinking about/have Plexiglas sided cases, or for those of ya who just want an organized case.
The Weapon The Victim
I cut the ribbon cable every 4 wires, but I have heard of people doing it every 5, 10... Just make sure you do it with a number that is divisible by 40 (that is the # of wires in the cable, if u didn't know.) I used the knife to start the slit, and than I just pealed the wires apart. They come apart very easy, and it is also easy to get the slit in the right place, so don't worry about accidentally messing up your cable. I have also heard of people using their fingernail to start the cut, I tried this and I could not get it to work... but I don't have long fingernails either.
Just pick a spot and apply light pressure with a sharp knife.
As you can see, I've begun cutting 4 wires at a time
(Editors note, I would recommend you use a hard flat surface for cutting. This will prevent slipping and stretching the cable.)
For the last part, I used Zip-Ties to connect the cables together because that is what I had around, and that seemed to be the cheapest way that I could do it! I have also seen people use tape, but that can dry out and fall off. You will notice some of the cables seem a little longer in the middle of the ribbon... that is because those "sets", so to speak, are connected to the middle of the IDE connecter and have less if a distance to go than the ones that are connected to the out side.
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