Pictorial guide/worklog of modifications to 'HTPC', GAM's Home Theatre PC; Making a cheap, simple case better - Page 15

By Greig Mackenzie

Motherboard is in, let's manage some cables

Ooooh, the fun part. Yeah, I know, I'm crazy.

Getting a feel for where everything is going.

Some cable tying magic. It's looking a little too bulky for the slender space I have behind here...

...just as suspected. That section of 'Yellow Belly Black Snake' you can see sitting proud of the surface needs to be worked down a little flatter. A wriggle here, a squeeze there and... okay, nice. One side panel installed and not bowing out unduly.

Something's missing... bugger, I left out the IDE cable for the optical drive!!! That's a damn shame. At this point I've realised that although I enlarged the cable management slot for the these cables, I hadn't enlarged it enough. And, as the floppy cable didn't fit through the lower slot, it was going through the upper slot and meant I couldn't run both through. Never mind, this may corrected later. It looks neater without it but it must go in.

Okay, the IDE cable is in, visibly unrouted. You may notice though that the cable is missing a connector. I cut off the 'master' connector from the end and connected the 'slave' connector to the optical drive. A little neater.