This guide was written first and foremost with the intent to educate PC enthusiasts on the finer points of taming the unruly and unsightly monster that we all hate to see inside of our computers, otherwise known as "spaghetti". For the uninitiated, spaghetti refers to the copious amounts of loose, disorganized and multi-colored wiring that exists in all computers today. This messy array of wiring has distinct disadvantages which if not corrected, could have detrimental effects on your computing experience.
This guide will cover the basics of properly sleeving your 4-pin connectors (also called molexes), the procurement of materials needed to complete the task, as well as plenty of visual aids to help you successfully make a disorganized mess in your computer look like you bought your rig from a boutique PC dealer.
Before jumping into the thick of things, you may be asking yourself why you would want to embark on such a task as sleeving the wires inside of your computer. Most often, the easiest answer given is that looks matter, especially with a side window installed in it. Seriously, who wants to see a mass of wiring writhing around in your case, right? People want to see neatness and order when looking inside an enclosure, not chaos. While this is true in many respects, the most important aspect of sleeving the wiring inside of your rig (when coupled with proper wire management skills) is that it can actually improve and increase the positive airflow of fresh air inside of it.
As we all know, better airflow in a computer means cooler temperatures as air can flow freely throughout the case and not become impeded by wayward wiring that blocks the air from reaching the furthest corners of it. By sleeving and properly maintaining your wiring, you may enjoy higher and more stable overclocking frequencies, cooler case temperatures as well as keeping the inside of your rig tidy, orderly and professional looking. With that said, let us begin our journey by outlining the tools and materials you will need to experience spaghetti freedom once and for all.
Most of these items can easily be found around the house, but some of them, particularly the molex pin removers, are specialty items, and as such have to be bought from specialty stores. To save you time, I will recommend and link sites that I implicitly trust to buy these items from at the end of this guide. I will now go through each item, one by one, and explain what the item is, and what each will be used for.
Materials Needed
1.) Hairdryer – This particular hairdryer is a variable temperature model that allows it to heat air from moderate to high levels of heat. This is useful in that you are able to warm heatshrink slowly and evenly (which is what I recommend) instead of blasting it with hot air. This gives the heatshrink a plastic and shiny looking finish, and can also make the heatshrink brittle and more prone to cracking and splitting over time.
Fig. 1
2.) Aim-A-Flame – This item is essential to making a proper sleeving job not just merely okay, but one that is fantastic. This particular Aim-A-Flame is a variable flame model that allows you to dial in the intensity and length of the flame it emits in precise amounts. You will be using this item to melt the ends of mesh sleeving so as to not make the severed ends of the mesh unravel and come apart during installation.
Fig. 2
3.) Scotch Packaging Tape – Any tape will do, but I have found this tape to be the best by far. It comes off cleanly without leaving a lot of leftover adhesive residue behind, as well as having a slick outer surface which allows mesh sleeving and heatshrink to slide easily over it.
Fig. 3
4.) Sharp Scissors – These are indispensable as they do a number of tasks besides cutting sleeving and heatshrink to various sizes. There will be more on this later.
Fig. 4
5.) 4-Pin Molex Y-Power Adapter – This item is a must in any PC enthusiasts’ toolkit. This particular item is what we are going to be using in this guide for demonstration purposes of how to properly sleeve and heatshrink 4-pin molex wires.
Fig. 5
6.) Molex Removal Tools – These are specialty tools that are needed to remove molex connectors from their wires in order to reveal their contact pins. These tools come in a variety of styles and compositions, plastic and metal respectively. I highly recommend metal versions as they seem to release the contact pins inside of a molex connector more readily than their cheaper, plastic cousins. This is very important, because most often with plastic models, they will bend and crease the tabs on the contact pins which will then break off, thus rendering the locking feature of the contact pins inoperative. The only way to fix this is to remove the contact pin entirely from the molex wire and replace it with a new contact pin with serviceable tabs. This is a job unto itself and should be avoided. There will be more on this later.
Furthermore, I recommend looking for plunger type models as they give a more positive, controlled push than the palm operated ones most commonly found on the plastic versions. It is worth noting that you will need two separate tools. One for removing male contact pins (male molexes) and one for removing female contact pins (female molexes). The larger diameter tool you see on the left in the picture below is for female pins, the smaller diameter tool on the right is for male pins. Tips and proper techniques on how to effectively utilize these tools will be demonstrated and discussed later in this guide, complete with pictures and short video clips.
Fig. 6
7.) Mesh Sleeving – This is what we are going to be using to sleeve our Y-power adapter with. Sleeving comes in a variety of colors, lengths and diameters. In this guide, we will be using a 12” length of black meshed sleeving, 3/8” in diameter.
Fig. 7
8.) Molex Connectors – While we are sleeving our Y-power adapter, we are going to throw on a couple of black molex connectors while we are at it. Sure, we could have re-used the white molex connectors, but really, white connectors are lame and clash with our all-black adapter we are sleeving. Notice that we will need three molex connectors: two female and one male. In the picture below, the female connectors are the two on the left; the male is the one on the right.
Fig. 8
9.) Heatshrink – This is what will be used to join together and hold in place the four bare wires branching off the molex connector and the sleeving which covers them. Going with our mono-color scheme, I am using black heatshrink in this guide. Please note that the heatshrink being used is approximately 6” long and 1/4” in diameter.
Fig. 9
Methodology
Step 1: With your male molex pin remover (please see the de scri ption of
Fig. 6 on how to identify the male molex removal tool from the female) insert it over the first pin in the white male molex connector (
Fig. 5).
Fig. 10
CAUTION: You will only use as much force as necessary to release the contact pin inside the molex. If you use excess force to push the contact pin out, you will damage the tabs that hold the contact pin inside the molex. See Fig. 14.
Step 2: With your other hand, support the molex connector, and with your forefinger and thumb, push the wire you wish to be removed forward, into the connector. This allows the contact pins inside the molex connector to move freely inside, thus giving the removal tool the clearance to slide over the tabs that hold the contact pin in place.
Step 3: Lightly push forward on the removal tools’ plunger while simultaneously gently pushing the wire you are removing back into the connector. Again, this releases the pressure of the tabs from inside the molex which allows for easier extraction of the contact pin. Ensure that you use as little force as possible when pulling the contact pin out of the molex. The objective here is to have the removal tool do the work of removing the contact pin. You should not have to forcefully pull the wire out of the molex; the removal tool should ‘pop’ the contact pin right out of the molex if done correctly.
Please click on this LINK to view a short video clip of how to remove a male molex contact pin.
Fig. 11
As you can see in the picture below (Fig. 13), all four contact pins have been freed, and the male molex connector removed. If you look closely in the next picture (Fig. 14), you can see the tabs that I was speaking about earlier have been bent in the process, but not broken off. Contact pins in this condition are serviceable, and will still result in positive contact with its female connector. Avoid attempting to bend the tabs straight again, however, as the tabs are made of very thin aluminum and will break off.
Fig. 12
Fig. 13
Step 4: Provided that you did not break any tabs off on the contact pins, the next step is to prepare the wires for the installation of the black male molex connector (Fig. 8). The first thing I like to do is ensure that the tabs on the contact pins are protruding outwards, not lying flush or recessed against the contact pin. There are eight tabs total, two tabs on each side of the four molex contact pins. For demonstration purposes only, the following picture shows female contact pin tabs lying recessed or flush against their respective contact pins instead of male contact pin tabs.
Fig. 14
Tabs in this condition need to be bent out so that when inserted into a molex connector, the tabs catch the inner lip of the hole they slide into and thus are not able to back out. The method in which I accomplish this is by using my female molex removal tool (Fig. 6) to gently pry the tabs out again. I recommend using the female molex removal tool to bend out contact pin tabs for both male and female wire connectors, as the larger diameter hole at the end of the tool is better able to accommodate the tab. Please be advised that the following picture is for demonstration purposes only, that the contact pins shown below are female, not male.
Fig. 15
Simply slide the tab into the hole of the female molex removal tool and bend the tabs out, being careful not to break or damage the tabs themselves in the process. This is how your contact pins should look once the tabs have been bent back out. Please be advised that this is for demonstration purposes only, that the contact pins shown below are female, not male.
Fig. 16
Step 5: Now that your contact pins and their tabs have been prepared, they are ready for molex connector installation. Grab your male molex connector (Fig. 8) which in this case, is the one all the way to the right in the picture. At this point in time, you are going to want to become familiar with the orientation of the wires that connect to it and the molex connector itself.
Fig. 17
As you can see, the molex connector has a sequence of numbers corresponding to the holes beneath them. These numbers are not for show; these are what help you avoid potentially damaging your computer and its components. There is one hole for each number, thus, four holes for four wires: one yellow, two black and one red.
CAUTION: Ensure that when inserting contact pins into a molex connector that you insert them in the same sequence as when you first removed them. If that means numbering the wires individually with a piece of paper attached with tape, then do so. YOU DO NOT WANT TO INSERT THE WRONG WIRE INTO THE WRONG HOLE! DAMAGE TO YOUR COMPUTER EQUIPMENT COULD RESULT!
The numbered sequence is as follows:
1 = Yellow
2 = Black
3 = Black
4 = Red
