Corsair 100R issue with psu sata power cables thickness

[whitestar_999]

I have a corsair 100R cabinet in which I am using 4 HDDs & I have been facing this issue from the beginning where I am not able to close the side panel because of the sata power cables. For reference see below images:

The psu is corsair CX550. I have not seen this issue being mentioned much online(only 1 review I found that too on amazon US site saying side panel clearance is not enough).

 

[whitestar_999]

@omega44-xt @SaiyanGoku @sling-shot @chimera201 @Nerevarine

 

[SaiyanGoku]

Looks like you do need flat cables

 

[whitestar_999]

Looks like you do need flat cables

TIL psu also come with flat cables, I always thought all established manufacturers psu come with all braided cables.

 

[omega44-xt]

TIL psu also come with flat cables, I always thought all established manufacturers psu come with all braided cables.

Having so many HDDs is rare for today & sadly newer cases don't even allow more than 2x 3.5" most times (I'm yet to get even 1x 3.5" yet as I'm using a laptop HDD on my desktop ).

Goku's assessment seems correct. See if you can do better space management, tedious task for sure.

Cheap PSUs still come with those non-braided cables, like Gigabye P450B:

 

[whitestar_999]

Having so many HDDs is rare for today & sadly newer cases don't even allow more than 2x 3.5" most times (I'm yet to get even 1x 3.5" yet as I'm using a laptop HDD on my desktop ).

Yeah I have seen this, still I often search for some cases having at least 3-4 hdd bays but all such recent cases have hdd bay alignment perpendicular to the cabinet so always same doubt whether side panel has enough clearance to accommodate thick braided sata power cables. Only budget models still available nowadays having the old hdd bay alignment are coolermaster K380 & Force 500(has top psu placement) besides the ultra budget Elite 310C model & a bit costly CM 590 III(has the possibility to convert 3 5.25" bays to 3.5" bays using adapter besides the usual 4 hdd bays).

 

[whitestar_999]

Goku's assessment seems correct. See if you can do better space management, tedious task for sure.

It is just not possible in my case as side panel clearance is too less to accommodate the thick braided sata power cables.

 

[patkim]

I am using the same cabinet 100R. However, all of my drives are 2.5” and two in all so while I am also using Corsair PSU with braided cables, I have spaced the cables (plugs) in alternate fashion. The immediate second split of plug is left unused pushing it inside the cage so that the cable does not come in the way of the side panel. But you may not have that option with four HDDs.

I am not very sure if this will help, as in your case the clearance may even be lesser due to 3.5” HDD, but have you tried SATA power cable extension? Just check if you can get SATA power extension cable (Actually a splitter but in your case used just as an extension) and put the thick braided part inside the cabinet/cage and extend the power cable slightly using the splitter. Excellent if you can get angled plug but may be hard to find.

Quality may be slightly inferior but cable gauge should be standard so as long as it properly powers on 12V HDD it should be ok.

Now SATA to SATA are available. Back in days when Molex was standard and SATA was optional, I have used Molex to SATA extension cables and they worked well with my 3.5" HDDs.

 

[whitestar_999]

I am not very sure if this will help, as in your case the clearance may even be lesser due to 3.5” HDD, but have you tried SATA power cable extension? Just check if you can get SATA power extension cable (Actually a splitter but in your case used just as an extension) and put the thick braided part inside the cabinet/cage and extend the power cable slightly using the splitter. Excellent if you can get angled plug but may be hard to find.

Quality may be slightly inferior but cable gauge should be standard so as long as it properly powers on 12V HDD it should be ok.

Now SATA to SATA are available. Back in days when Molex was standard and SATA was optional, I have used Molex to SATA extension cables and they worked well with my 3.5" HDDs.

I have thought about it but decided not to take chance. I have also earlier used such extension cables/splitters but that was years ago when sata drives used to be around 500gb-2TB. Nowadays a typical hdd build quality has also gone down while capacity has gone up. I will maintain the status quo until I get a new cabinet/good psu with flat cables.