Desk Cable Management......

[Oneslowz28]

I am OCD when it comes to cable management. I hate having to trace what wire goes to what. I spend hours on my PC making my cables invisible but still orderly. What I can not seem to tackle is the rats nest cables that anyone with a desk seems to accumulate. On or leading to my desk I have:

Power cords for 2 monitors
Video cords for 2 monitors
iPod USB Cable
HDD Dock power cable
HDD Dock eSATA Cable
Cordless Phone Cable
1 Empty USB Cable for plugging in CF Card Reader, Arduino, or any other USB device
Gaming Mouse cord
Cell Phone Charging cord
Ethernet Cord for direct connection to laptop for fast file transfer
iPod stereo dock power cord
Gaming PC power cord
Gaming PC Ethernet cord
Photo PC power cord
Photo PC Ethernet cord
2 external HDD power cords
2 external HDD USB cables
1 Desk Lamp power cord


Anyone figured out a solution to keep everything organized and still take up a small amount of space?

[Drum Thumper]

put a false bottom under your desktop. Route cords through there.

[BuzzKillington]

and put a backing on your desk if you don't have one so you wont see any wires running down back there.

[slaveofconvention]

Usually, the biggest problem with desktop cables is that, with most of them, you're stuck with them length-wise. Sure it's easy to rewire the power cables, but pretty much everything else has to stay as it is. Lots of cable ties is about the only option and it'll still be like a rats nest when you're done. Fixing the problem is almost impossible - so you're stuck with either 1. Dealing with it or 2. Hiding it... lol

[OvRiDe]

Panduit, Velcro, and something like this ...

http://lifehacker.com/229408/build-a-cord+and+charger-organizer

http://cache.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/17/2009/07/340x_charger%20box.jpg

[d_stilgar]

I put hooks under my desk (like wall hooks) to wrap all the extra length around. The only wires that ever need to change length are the mouse, keyboard, and Novint Falcon, so those three aren't wrapped or velcroed like the rest. You could say it's a bit of a mess under my desk, but you can't see it unless you stick your head under there.

This link to my website shows the before and after. I've moved since then, but the cable management is the same. http://modsandends.com/?p=601

[x88x]

Sleeving! :D

[silverdemon]

as OvRiDe said: velcro is your friend here. It's easy to place and easy when you need to add or remove 1 cable.
as for knowing which wire is for what I use colored wires for LAN connections and you could use colored tape (on both end of the cable) for cables that only come in one or two colors...

here's a picture of my 'wire management'... glad you brought it up, needs some work again:
http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j139/rstakelbeek/IMGP0557.jpg

[Airbozo]

I am lucky. The back of my desk has a cable management tray built in.

I am also OCD with cables. I use the velcro wraps to keep them bundled and neat in the cable tray that is not even visible unless I move my desk out.

[TheGreatSatan]

I don't like messing with it either. When I bought new speakers though, I had to take the time to address it.