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The Real Dell Optiplex 790 SFF Sleeper Build

Mechex

Hello, sorry for quite the lengthy break, life got kinda busy. Anyway, this is how the bay ended up, there is no more material to take off :DIMG_20191010_170827.thumb.jpg.b3ba0201031554b437896b9e3920e3fb.jpg Now I need to remove this pointless feature that used to be right behind the cpu socket. Belt grinder should make quick work of that. IMG_20191010_172717.thumb.jpg.3d09911fb4f2da0d7e6937776bfefcd2.jpg Also there are some problems coming;

I can't seem to find any half decent cable combs, (I order these little things from aliexpress) and I still don't know how to go about the front I/O. I might just rip out some from an old case that I have laying around. 

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Okay, so I removed that feature today only to find out this stupid standoff in the front upper corner is in the way too. IMG_20191012_205908.thumb.jpg.96d3f6b4ca28d8e232a6b4e42ecced4a.jpg Needless to say, I'm a little dissapointed, but the psu needs to be in a very precise position in order to clear all the cables, because psu connectors are kinda chunky for this build. Anyway, I'd like to finish fitting the psu already, because after that I'll be making custom cables, which I sense will be more fun. 

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Did I just tell you I did something and didn't show a photo of it? Sorry for being such a tease :D and no, I'm not showing it, it's ugly and I'll most probably fill it with some filler and sand it, (the entire interior of the case will be painted black) so it will look good, even though it won't be visible at all when finished. 

Anyway, I did a quick mockup of how all the parts will fit inside to get an idea for routing cables, etc. (which will be a royal pain in the butt) and I think it will work. The graphics card in there is a stand-in GTX750, which I had laying around, is actually a decent choice for oldschool gamer. Don't worry though, I'll get RTX2070S later on. All the major parts are in there, but the cooling, oh the cooling will be fun!15709108615374238772998537670520.thumb.jpg.bd7f93b9ba70a63079771892ad0e2c44.jpg

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  • 2 weeks later...

That is gonna be some damn short cables! Stay tuned for cable making, I'll make it in a tutorial-like format, should be fun to read! It will be fun to make too, because I've never made custom psu cabling before, but I doubt it will be very complicated. We'll see. 

IMG_20191027_202919.thumb.jpg.8a97052e8322d52a6f0675a51ff1ce4a.jpg

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  • 3 months later...

Just posting to bookmark this thread 

Looks good so far ? 

Please quote or tag  @Ben17 if you want to see a reply.

If I don't reply it's probly because I am in a different time zone or haven't seen your message yet but I will reply when I see it ? 

 

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  • 3 months later...

Thank you, guys! Turns out making custom cables was not as fun as I anticipated. So basically, in a fit of rage I threw the cable I was working on in the bin and paused the project. Now I found some spare time and decided to work on this, the cable tutorial needs to happen, because while making cables is simple, making GOOD cables turned out to be a bit complicated. I really want to finish this thing before the hardware becomes old. :D Anyway, this is how the first cable looked. That's trash.

IMG_20200501_192143.jpg

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Looking like a really solid project! Definitely will be following this closely :D 

Daily Driver: Asus ROG Flow X13 - 5900HS/3050 Ti

Primary Desktop: NCase M1 - 5800X3D/RX 6950XT

Travel PC: Fractal Terra - 5800X/RTX 3060 Ti

I have too many computers. List here.

 

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2 hours ago, Mechex said:

Thank you, guys! Turns out making custom cables was not as fun as I anticipated. So basically, in a fit of rage I threw the cable I was working on in the bin and paused the project. Now I found some spare time and decided to work on this, the cable tutorial needs to happen, because while making cables is simple, making GOOD cables turned out to be a bit complicated. I really want to finish this thing before the hardware becomes old. :D Anyway, this is how the first cable looked. That's trash.

 

I mean if you threw a single sleeve over the cables and heat shrunk the ends of the sleeve it would have looked fine?

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It wouldn't, because the looks, while being awful, isn't the biggest issue. The biggest issue is that I messed up cable lengths, so when one of them is taut, others are loose. Also it is too short anyway. Don't worry though, wires and sleeving will be reused for 24pin, because that one will be a lot shorter.

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9 minutes ago, Mechex said:

It wouldn't, because the looks, while being awful, isn't the biggest issue. The biggest issue is that I messed up cable lengths, so when one of them is taut, others are loose. Also it is too short anyway. Don't worry though, wires and sleeving will be reused for 24pin, because that one will be a lot shorter.

I didn't even see that, see it's fine. everythings fine LOL

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1 minute ago, Bitter said:

I didn't even see that, see it's fine. everythings fine LOL

It is fine, I had literally months to come to terms with it and figure out a better way :D

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Custom Cable Making 101 (from noob's perspective)

 

First, you will need some basic tools: IMG_20200501_225348.thumb.jpg.7625b6d419e6d2faf0a4ee385501b373.jpg

- crimping tool

- sharp knife

- cable cutter/stripper

- lighter

 

...and some materials: 

IMG_20191028_204852.thumb.jpg.0a951636f7c6061cf30e27ea7d227971.jpg

- wires, as you can see I just gutted an old power cord off of something, you need quite a lot them, here is like 5 meters (~15 feet) and it is barely enough for my really short cables. Make sure to get something that is at least 1,5mm² or 16 gauge.

 

IMG_20191028_205948.thumb.jpg.729730524584d67b5a21fb9330962d97.jpg

- these things are what actually makes contact inside of the plastic connector housing, they can be found on aliexpress as 5556-RT Copper Crimp Terminals, keep in mind that you need 2 of these for each line of the cable, that's 48 of them just for the ATX 24pin. They're dirt cheap though. 

 

 

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IMG_20200501_233833.thumb.jpg.a6a951c39c78117185e0bd4de13e9a13.jpg

- plastic connector housings, can be found as Mini-Fit, Molex or 5557 and pin layout, for example ATX 24pin is 2x12pin, CPU is 2x4 and so on. Warning: CPU 2x4 is not the same as GPU 2x4, I could only find those in the 6+2 version. If you're not sure, you can always check the shape of those pins on the top. In the next pic, the left one is GPU 2x4pin and the right is CPU 2x4pin. P.S.: These are usually sold by 10 pieces minimum for like 1,5 euros (~2 dollars), so you will have plenty for mistakes and maybe making some custom cables for a bunch of friends :D1588369985210265711380024707215.thumb.jpg.d138225b65a1cbd768e876842c0c27a6.jpg

 

IMG_20191028_212754.thumb.jpg.2063142205d0fc27ec3f230a5390c5c7.jpg

- paracord, we're getting into the nice to haves territory here, but if you're going through the trouble of making your own cables, you might as well make them look nice and sleeve them, right? The original paracord comes in insane amount of colors and color combinations, and cost of like 10-15 bucks for 30 meters (~90 feet) makes this the most expensive material you will use in this project. Feel free to settle for cheaper off-shore stuff, if they make the color you want. You need just a little bit more length of this than the cable, but the 30 meter package will totally have you covered for this project and you will still have some paracord left for other stuff, it comes in handy sometimes :D

 

IMG_20200501_223355.thumb.jpg.bfe53d1b7bf0b137f44248ff0c6449af.jpg

- cable combs, also really nice to have, because they really clean up those cables and make them straight. There are different types of these out there, I opted for these because they were nicely made (no sharp edges and moulding errors like the others I've seen) and I found the fact that you can take them on and off quite useful. You need just a few of these, I wouldn't use much more than 3-4 per cable, just again make sure to get the right pin layouts. 

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The last very important thing you need is the right mindset. Remember, you will make less waste if you cut it oversized, rather than having to redo the whole cable because it is too short. If you are pretty sure it is long enough, add another inch and you will be fine. Overall though, most of the stuff used is very cheap, but shipping time is awfully long, (especially in these times) so make damn sure you have enough stuff even for some screw ups.

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So now that you have everything you need, you can proceed onto actually making the cables.

 

First, you need to make sure you're not going to blow up your pc, so you need to make 100% sure you know the scheme of your cables, where each cable needs to go. These are usually standard, but I'd always rather check. For example, my ATX 24pin is not standard, because on the PSU side it splits into one 2x5pin and one 2x9pin. You can use a multimeter to check this, but I just stripped the big sleeve and traced them one by one. Make sure to lay it out on paper (or software), it's pretty easy to mess up. IMG_20200503_210530.thumb.jpg.609b592d89875b3bc049a4b7842cc8bc.jpg

 

Second, you need to figure approximate length of your cables. This is just a very rough measurent, you'll make it perfect later. To do this, put your components inside the case, insert those plastic connector housings into the connectors, unwind some cable (don't cut yet) and route the end of the cable loosely from one connector to the other. Then kinda stick the end of the cable into the housing and approximate the right length, give a generous excess and cut. Great, now you have your reference length. Just to be clear, it needs to be a little longer than the real cable length.IMG_20191028_211017.thumb.jpg.4f6c7141889b98c31478b7ee48edcf60.jpg

 

Next you need to prep your cables. Cut the reqiured amount of cables to the same length as your reference, strip like 5mm or 1/4 inch on one end and install your Copper Crimp Terminal on one end of each cable. Now your cables should look something like this:IMG_20200501_220453.thumb.jpg.cdda2f9722d8d5afa53a865b93e5aeff.jpg

 

Now stick those terminals into the housing. You need to push on them pretty hard to get them in properly. Now you're left with something like this: IMG_20200503_223956.thumb.jpg.3c0cbee5d8c2f7364fc064bb2be4139e.jpg

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  • 2 weeks later...

A quick update, this little fella is turning out to be close to a 10 hour ordeal. Cable tutorial will be finished by the end of the week. IMG_20200511_231500.thumb.jpg.361815e5037d1518aebdbdebd3b3d335.jpg

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Next up is the tricky part, but very essential one for nice cables, which is figuring out the actual cable length precisely. You only need to do this once, other cable lines can rely on one measurement, if it is correct. So put every potential obstacle for your cable in the case and route your cable exactly how you want it to be. Now proceed like you did when getting the approximation before, but trim the cable little by little until you are satisfied. Make sure to measure on the far end of the connector (like in the photo), because if you measure it perfectly for the near side, the far side will end up too short. IMG_20200515_235114.thumb.jpg.950872456faadd20ad790b5ab714bd46.jpg

 

 

Now trim all the cable lines to length, and now it is time to decide if you want your cable straight or curved. While curved cables hold their shape nicely, they can't be straightened and are harder to make, so I am going with straight cables, which means all the lines in the cable will be the same length. with curved ones you'll want to make lines inside of the curve a little bit shorter, but not more than 5mm (~1/4"). 

 

Having trimmed all the cable lines to the right length, now you can sleeve them. Take your paracord, cut the end off if frayed and cut the same length as the cable (like in the pic). I found that sharp knife cuts paracord with less fraying than scissors. Cable combs are useful in this stage for straightening out those cables.IMG_20200516_010520.thumb.jpg.f8e53bbab4e04deaea354ebf8260e75d.jpg

 

Now take out all seven white inner strands of paracord and burn the ends with your lighter just enough so they won't fray anymore, but not enough to crumble the opening, because the cable wouldn't fit through. You will get a feel for it after a couple tries. Then feed those hollow pieces of paracord over the cables, which I found surprisingly effortless. At this point you can install your cable combs, especially if you have those with holes instead of clips. The cable is finally looking kinda neat! IMG_20200516_015133.thumb.jpg.17efdf9ec9639fedf50c21d337e05259.jpg

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Before you finish, check if your cables all ended up the same length. They should be close, but mine varied by like 2mm, so I trimmed the to the length of the shortest one. IMG_20200516_211828.thumb.jpg.68d015b8c43820583617e175068673ed.jpg

 

Now strip the ends and crimp your Terminals onto the cables. It's a little tricky to make them all the same length. 

IMG_20200516_213507.thumb.jpg.83abe78a9ddf80e512f47abfb622501f.jpg

 

To finish it off, stick those terminals into the plastic housing. Make bloody sure to get the right cable into the right hole. This doesn't matter much when you're just making cable extensions, but EVGA thought it would be funny to jumble them up. IMG_20200516_214643.thumb.jpg.487c1e91cc0d9152eda1f59f7beab818.jpg

 

And just like that, the cable is finished! Feel free to make any suggestions on what could have been done better. 

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I'm not so sure I'd call that Spyderco knife a 'basic tool' 🤪

 

Looks great! Nicely made cable. The only thing I might consider doing different would be to drop some solder into the crimped joint at the ends if it's a high amp cable like PCIe or motherboard auxiliary power.

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On 5/17/2020 at 7:07 PM, Bitter said:

I'm not so sure I'd call that Spyderco knife a 'basic tool' 🤪

 

Looks great! Nicely made cable. The only thing I might consider doing different would be to drop some solder into the crimped joint at the ends if it's a high amp cable like PCIe or motherboard auxiliary power.

Thank you! Of course, the knife doesn't necessarily have to be a Spyderco, it is my choice though :D

 

I didn't think of adding solder there, but I figure it will be fine, because the manufacturer didn't bother either. 

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2 hours ago, Mechex said:

Thank you! Of course, the knife doesn't necessarily have to be a Spyderco, it is my choice though :D

 

I didn't think of adding solder there, but I figure it will be fine, because the manufacturer didn't bother either. 

I'm more of a Kershaw fella myself, but that's just cause Spyderco is out of my budget!

 

Correct, it's not needed but it does help ensure the absolute best contact if your crimp tool didn't get it 100% perfect and you're pushing the limits of the cabling for power delivery. Completely unnecessary.

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Nice Project.

 

Are you planning on fixing the jagged edges on the cuts in the case? I think it detracts from all the awesome effort you put into the case.

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