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In the Forums... |
Written By: Keith "Farrel" McClellan Posted: February 17, 2000 Cable Cleanup Cont. Okay, okay, okay, I am holding out on you - there is one other way to optimize your cables at this point. It's called IDE cable stacking. I saw this at another web site, but I can't remember which one - so if it's your idea, drop me a line and let me know, and I'll try to give you credit. =) Anyhow, you take a flat razor blade (or even your fingernails if they're long enough) and slice between every 5th ribbon on a standard IDE cable (I believe it's every 10th on an ATA/66 cable, but I've never tried it - for that you may need a sharper blade, such as an Exacto knife). Make sure you only cut the plastic. Then you take the strips, fold them on top of each other, and bind them with a lock-tie. That should improve airflow through the case dramatically. You can do this with the floppy cable too. But remember, particularly with the ATA/66 cables, there is a reason why the cables are in a ribbon configuration - so if you find your system is bring plagued by data errors, one of the causes could be the stacked cables. Now that your case is re-assembled and contains your motherboard, processor, RAM, and your add-in cards, it's time to plug in the case. You should have about half a dozen little cables down in the lower right hand portion of your case. These control the lights and buttons on your case, and each one should be labeled with a little sticker (it'll say stuff like reset, power, etc.). Pull out your motherboard manual and find out where to attach each one. Plug them in facing the same direction (face in, or out) and if some or most aren't working, reverse the way they're facing and they should work. Your motherboard manual should cover the specifics. Once you've plugged them all in, bind the excess cable up and out of the way. |
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