96 DECEMBER 2019|COMPUTER SHOPPER|ISSUE 382
HOWTOFITINTERNALCABLES
W
ith the bulkof the peripherals inyour
case, it’ snow time to start connecting
everything up.In this guide,we’ll sho wyou
howtorun all thecase cables thatyouneed.
If youcan, routecablesto the backof the
case and bring them throughto the front
using the cutouts provided. This will give
youaneater build.
FITINTERNALFANHEADERS
Most cases will ship with some internal
fans pre-installed, butyouhavetohook up
the powercablesto the fanheaders on
your motherboard.Your motherboard’s
manual willtell youwherethe fanheaders
arelocated.
Fanheaders usually havefour-pinPWM
connectorsforadvancedcont rol; they’llwork
with three-pinconnectors fromfans, too. To
insertaconnector,line up the ridges on the
fan’s powerconnector with the plastic plate
on thefanheader and insert downward s.
Repeat forall the fans youhave. 1
FITTHEPOWERSWITCH
To turn onyour computer,you needto route
the powerswitch from thecase (it will
probably havePowerSWwritten on it).
Plug this into the jumper marked inyour
motherboard’smanual. Thecable will slide
down easily,and it doesn’t matter which
wayround it goes.
FITTHEPOWER,RESET
ANDLEDCABLES
To turn on andresetyour computer and get
the harddriveactivity lightsworking,you
needto hook up thecables fromyour case,
which should be labelled,to the connectors
on the motherboard. These will be clearly
labelled inyour motherboard’smanual(see
the diagram belowfor anexample^2 ).
Forthe powerand resetswitches, it
doesn’t matter whichwayround thecables
go. Forthe powerand HDDcables, make
surethat youget the cable with the ‘+’ on it
connectedto the ‘+’terminal on the
motherboardoritwon’t work, andyou
could end up damaging the LEDs. The
cables should slide into place.
FITTHEUSBHEADERS
If youhavefront USB ports,youneed to plug
these in.Your motherboardwill likely have
USB2 and USB3 headers. USB2cables can
only be plugged in oneway: look at the pin
layout on theconnector and line this up with
the motherboard. With USB3 headers, the
job’s easier: line up the notchonthe
connector with the cutout on the
motherboardand you’regood to go. 3
FITTHEAUDIOCONNECTORS
Front-mountedaudio makes it easierto plug
in aheadsetorheadphones. Theconnector
lookssimilarto aUSB one, but will be
marked HDAudio. Find the matching header
on your motherboardand connect thecable;
it canonly go in onewayround. 4
TOPTIP
Missingapin on thefront
panelconnectors is easily
done, and maymean that
lights don’t work oryour PC won’t
turn
on. If you getthis situation, carefully
checkthe front-panelconnectors.
1
2
3
4
Power
LED
2
+
++--
-
10
19
HDD
LED
Power
switch
Reset
switch
JFP1
