How To: Manage Your Cables
PrintCables suck.
But it’s not your fault. You spend an hour or so arranging your desk, moving your monitor, setting up your speakers—the last thing on your mind is cable management. When it comes time to plug everything in, you just want to fire up your rig and commence fragging, or movie watching, or minesweeping. You don’t want to get arm-deep in the mucky muck you’ve created behind your computer. What you can’t see won’t hurt you, right?
Wrong. Given time, sloppy cable management always rears its ugly head. It never improves by itself, and, in fact, it gets worse with each new device you wire into your rig. But you don’t have to get crazy to get clutter free and connected. We’ve broken cable management into four easy steps, and you probably already have all the tools you need!
1. Untangle Your Cables
 |
| It goes without saying, be sure your computer is off before you start yanking every cable in sight. And pull gently. |
The back of your computer can look bad enough if you’re a simple PC user; if you’re a gadget geek, it turns into a mythological nightmare. First, there are the must-have cables: a power cable for the computer itself, video and power cables for the monitor, a cable for your mouse and keyboard, and a network cable. Sound enthusiasts will add a few more to the mix, as a typical 5.1 setup comes with cables for all five satellites, a power cable for the subwoofer, and possibly an additional cable for an external volume control.
Get a little fancier and you can throw in a USB headset for gaming, two cables to power and connect an external drive, USB and power cables for a printer, and a USB cable for a webcam. That puts us at 19 separate cables, all undoubtedly going to a single tower and surge protector.
Before you start tidying, you need to start untangling. And to untangle, you must first unplug. Going with the clean-slate approach is the best way to start managing your cable catastrophe. It’s impossible to make order out of a chaotic mess of wires. You’ll save far more time by disconnecting all your cables and carefully laying them on the floor next to your workspace. If you’re overambitious, you can organize the cables by type—speaker, USB, power—but no matter how you do it, you’ll want to have a game plan.
2. Label Your Cables
You can certainly tell some cables from others by sight alone, but what about all of those black USB cords you have? Or your speaker wires?
 |
| Don’t use a Sharpie to label cables—it will surely make a mess. Thin-tipped markers are your friends. |
Labeling your cables is just as important as tying them together because you don’t want to have to trace through a tangled web of cords to find out what’s what. You can buy fancy labels from the store or do what we did—use colored tape to label cables by type (USB, power, etc.), then write their purposes on the tape itself.
3. Protect your Power
Most computer-based cables are thin, efficient, and tidy. By comparison, power cables are large, unwieldy, and irritating. And they take up a ton of room when they’re all jacked into a single surge protector.
Just throwing a surge protector on the floor is the surest way to begin a cable nightmare. Concealing wires is an art form, and you can start your magnum opus by making sure your surge protector stays in one place. We used screws, but you can also use Velcro strips to mount your power strip. Some good target locations include baseboards, the underside of your desk, or even the back of a desk leg.
4.Clamp your Cables
Now that you have laid the framework for your masterful movement toward cable happiness, it’s time to get to the nitty-gritty. Grab your zip ties, roll up your sleeves, and start bunching cables together. Be sure to combine like-minded cables as much as possible. For example, speaker wires shouldn’t go alongside USB cords, as your speakers might pick up interference when you use a USB device. The same is true for network cables and power cords—consider them the oil and water of your wiring setup.
 |
| Tie, tie, tie. You can never use enough cable ties, trust us. They’re easy to cut off if you make a mistake, just don’t nick a cable along with the tie. |
Start at the back of your motherboard and work your way toward each major area in your workstation: desk, subwoofer, and so forth. Keep the overall line tight by throwing on a new tie every six inches or so. And once you’re done, you can use cable clips to conceal these larger cable mash-ups along the underside of your desk.
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dinny
December 03, 2010 at 6:01am
Anyone with a computer knows that this is a hassle. I know I hate it and every time it's possible I leave this task to someone else in the family. Thanks for sharing the tips, I'll take a closer look and see what I can do, so far my cables don't look too nice.
Dinny - custom power cords
jonfleck88
August 09, 2009 at 10:43pm
I've been testing different ways to organize wires for a while now and I've found that the best way to organize wires is with a combination of carabiners and Velcro straps. If anybody is interested I wrote a full tutorial on how to orgainze wires and cables with Velcro straps and carabiners .
rkinne01
July 23, 2009 at 2:16pm
I don't like the zip ties, they're a pain in the rear end! I like using either velcro, rubber bands, or even those little ties that you find on bread bags. The bread ties are the best, they're cheap as hell, can be trimmed to size using scissors, and are easily removed.
Here are a few of my tips:
1. Eliminate the cables. I switched to a wireless keyboard and mouse combo, and a blue tooth printer. Also consider installing a wireless card to your desktop PC. You just eliminated 4 cables!
2. I've hidden many of my remaining wires by using some old plastic PVC pipes. You can lay them on the floor or mount them on the wall, they can also be painted to match wall coloring. In a pinch you could also use hollow dowels, but finding ones to fit could be hard, but they are easier to paint.
3. Use your USB ports to your advanatge. For example, my monitor has 4 USB ports built into it, so I've elected to plug most of my external devices (game controllers, web cam, external hard drives) into the monitor. It saves me from having to get down on hand and knee to plug my game controller into the PC, the ports on the monitor are easier to get to. I suppose a USB Hub would serve the same purpose.
4. Buy shorter cables. Why have 20 ft of network cable when you only need 6 ft? If you shorten the cable make sure that you leave some slack, I usually like about six inches.
SticknGo
May 28, 2009 at 8:25am
Stick’nGo® Cable Labels are the
fast and convenient way to manage your cables. They identify all your portable
device, home entertainment, home office & computer peripheral cables and
power cords, and are easy to attach to cables in seconds. There are 48 labels
in every pack, including blank labels for your USB & A.V. cables.Stick’nGo® Cable Labels are
available in 4 colours, so each family member can identify their own cables in
the color of their choice - now that's smart! You can even record your name and
contact details (such as your phone number & email address) on the back of
each Stick’nGo® Cable Label, assisting
in the return of portable devices if you lose them, or leave them behind when
travelling. That’s real peace of mind ...Further product details are available at www.stickngo.com.au
jasonla
October 01, 2008 at 3:03pm
This is a reason i've chosen desks with open backs on them and not placed against the wall the cables you always seem to need access to them or at least me. I have to connect my camera constantly to the USB port mess with audio cables etc. Such a mess I have more routers stacked then need be fax/printer lamp and other misc stuff all tangled up tie wraps are great especially for the monitor and computer power cords which are the thickest and heaviest.
vanrooijen
February 14, 2008 at 7:27am
Used cable ties once like this... I also managed to slice a cable when attempting to remove the cable tie!!!! Would HIGHLY recommend using velco instead...
Also, I have been told previously to avoid strapping power with other cables... Is this a valid theory?? Should I be concerned with having my typical monitor and pc power cables strapped to my network cable? Are they typically shielded enough?
PSU - SILVERSTONE DECATHLON DA850 ATX 12V 2.2 & EPS 12V 850W Power Supply - Retail
MBrd- Intel BOXD975XBX2KR LGA 775 Intel 975X ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
CPU - Intel Core 2 Duo E6700 2.66Ghz
Memory (4 gig total) - CORSAIR Dominator 2GB (2 x 1GB) 2
trippisme
April 21, 2008 at 4:10pm
Normally the cables are sheilded enough that you shouldn't have to worry that much about it. I know my set up at home a while back had all my cables going into the same bundle. I've since changed configs and they have seperate groupings but I saw no noticable problems from the older set up. Though you will probably see some problems if you have them going parallel for an extended distance, especially with the network cables.
trojan_horse
February 09, 2008 at 9:11am
I think you should do one for the inside of a PC case. Every time I look through my side window I want to throw up because all I see are a bunch of wires. plz?
trippisme
April 21, 2008 at 4:15pm
Just go get some wire management things from the store. I know Walmart has some decent stuff that works good in the automotive section. For your application and ease of use I would recommend a couple different sized spiral wraps and a handful of adhesive backed cable clips.
suckyn00b
March 01, 2008 at 2:44am
I definitely second this comment. Im not so worried about outside of my box. What about the inside? I have the CoolerMaster 830, with four 120mm fans for a sidewall, and a huge thermaltake 90mm CPU fan...thats a lot of spinning fan blades...Not to mention my 2 GeForce 9750's and my mobo putting out lots of heat...all of this can't be good for cables.
ChrisA
February 08, 2008 at 7:30am
Zip ties are only bad if you tighten them down too much. And even then, it's not that big of a deal for the average user. But if you really want to get down to it, use common sense here: if the zip tie is making an impression on the wire's insulation, you're doing it wrong. Plus most USB cables, etc... are braided wires and not solid. Braided wires are much more flexible than solid copper wires. It's bad to put kinks and crimps in solid copper wires, but braided wires are flexible and much more resistant to kinks, etc. Cat4/5/5e/6 are all solid copper wires, and more care should be taken when routing these wires.
Watcher
February 07, 2008 at 6:59pm
"Two by two, hands of blue" Any one know the movie?
Anyways, one item the article did not mention is that cables should not support themselves!! The cables should always have the weight taken of the connection by some means of support. This may not be that big of issue when your dealing with one or two cables, but can cause problems with a higher amount or heavier cables.
Watcher
alteregowi
February 07, 2008 at 9:06pm
Do NOT ever ever EVER!!! can't stress this Enough!! Ever Use ZIP ties on wires!!
David !! You should be ashamed of your self for even giving a example like that! BAD BAD!!
My Networking Teachers at school whom are also State Network Administrators have said and Stressed big time , Using Zip ties on Cables and wires is the Worst thing you can do it crimps and can crimp wires and cause internal damage to wires and cause EMI ( Electrical Magnetic Interference) also a fire hazard as well!!People please Do not use Zip ties on wires!!
The stores sell these very nice things called Velcro Straps they even come in a wide variety of colors and work very well and are re-use able you can buy them by the dozen and they are not that expensive either >>---->>> http://cableorganizer.com/wire-wrap/ <-- Copy link
trippisme
April 21, 2008 at 4:05pm
Yeah, those are awesome, Those and those flexible tube things with the slit down the side. My recommendation is heading to Home Depot or Lowes or some other hardware store and they should have almost everything you would need there. ^_^
frdbrlw
February 04, 2008 at 7:51pm
This is why i read this magazine it actually gives you tips on how to improve your PC unlike other mags that just talk about the most expensive hardware there is. Great advice now i don't trip over all my damn cables.
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