Are round IDE/floppy cables good?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Andrew J. Rozsa
  • Start date Start date
A

Andrew J. Rozsa

Has anyone used these new round IDE drive and floppy cables for any
length of time? They appear a terrific idea, but one never knows until
one works with them for a while. Does anyone has issues with them:
become brittle under constant heat, don't conduct reliably/as fast a
ribbons, are poorly inserted into the connector, etc? Or, conversely,
does anyone report good experiences and recommend them heartily?

Best,

Andrew
 
Andrew J. Rozsa said:
Has anyone used these new round IDE drive and floppy cables for
any length of time? They appear a terrific idea, but one never
knows until one works with them for a while. Does anyone has
issues with them: become brittle under constant heat, don't
conduct reliably/as fast a ribbons, are poorly inserted into the
connector, etc? Or, conversely, does anyone report good
experiences and recommend them heartily?
Click to expand...

Have you handled one? The so-called round IDE drive cable I've seen
is just a parallel cable crammed inside heat-shrink tubing.
 
John Doe said:
Have you handled one? The so-called round IDE drive cable I've seen
is just a parallel cable crammed inside heat-shrink tubing.
Click to expand...

Yup, it's no better or worse. Some think it improves airflow,
hough. -Dave
 
Andrew J. Rozsa said:
Has anyone used these new round IDE drive and floppy cables for any
length of time? They appear a terrific idea, but one never knows until
one works with them for a while. Does anyone has issues with them:
become brittle under constant heat, don't conduct reliably/as fast a
ribbons, are poorly inserted into the connector, etc? Or, conversely,
does anyone report good experiences and recommend them heartily?

Best,

Andrew

--


Birmingham, Alabama, USA
(e-mail address removed)
Click to expand...

I had to replace someone's rounded cable last week as he couldn't burn cds.
I changed the cable with a normal flat one and it's been fine since.

Chris
 
|
| > Has anyone used these new round IDE drive and floppy cables for
| > any length of time? They appear a terrific idea, but one never
| > knows until one works with them for a while. Does anyone has
| > issues with them: become brittle under constant heat, don't
| > conduct reliably/as fast a ribbons, are poorly inserted into the
| > connector, etc? Or, conversely, does anyone report good
| > experiences and recommend them heartily?
|
| Have you handled one? The so-called round IDE drive cable I've seen
| is just a parallel cable crammed inside heat-shrink tubing.

Some are, especially floppy cables. But most 80-wire ATA133 cables aren't. I
haven't had any problems using round cables, but I've heard ribbon-type cables
are better since there's greater enforced separation of wires. The tradeoff
with ribbons is that they tend to interfere with ventilation flow in the case
more than the round cables do.

With all factors considered, neither type is clearly superior IMHO. i use round
cables because my case seems to stay cooler with them.

Larc



§§§ - Change planet to earth to reply by email - §§§
 
I've been using them for several years now with no problems. I switched to
them to improve airflow in the case.

-g
 
Has anyone used these new round IDE drive and floppy cables for any
length of time? They appear a terrific idea, but one never knows until
one works with them for a while. Does anyone has issues with them:
become brittle under constant heat, don't conduct reliably/as fast a
ribbons, are poorly inserted into the connector, etc? Or, conversely,
does anyone report good experiences and recommend them heartily?
Click to expand...

I recently converted from a flat 68-pin SCSI LVD cable, to its rounded
equivalent, with no measurable differences.

Prior to swapping out the cable, I ran a series of benchmarks with HD
Tach, that I repeated after the swap. The results were identical.

I would also note, that my CPU and internal case temperatures are no
different either.

A_C
 
Agent_C said:
I recently converted from a flat 68-pin SCSI LVD cable, to its rounded
equivalent, with no measurable differences.

Prior to swapping out the cable, I ran a series of benchmarks with HD
Tach, that I repeated after the swap. The results were identical.

I would also note, that my CPU and internal case temperatures are no
different either.
Click to expand...

have you noticed an increase in noise through your speakers? Noise from the
mouse leaking into the sound? This was the biggest problem for me.
 
Andrew J. Rozsa said:
Has anyone used these new round IDE drive and floppy cables for any
length of time? They appear a terrific idea, but one never knows until
one works with them for a while. Does anyone has issues with them:
become brittle under constant heat, don't conduct reliably/as fast a
ribbons, are poorly inserted into the connector, etc? Or, conversely,
does anyone report good experiences and recommend them heartily?

Best,

Andrew

--


Birmingham, Alabama, USA
(e-mail address removed)
Click to expand...

NOISE through the sound source...biggest problem with cheaply made round
cables for me.
 
have you noticed an increase in noise through your speakers?
No.

Noise from the mouse leaking into the sound?
Click to expand...

Not sure what you're referring to... My mouse is solid state; it
doesn't 'leak' anything.

A_C
 
Andrew J. Rozsa said:
Has anyone used these new round IDE drive
and floppy cables for any length of time?
Click to expand...

They arent generally a great idea, because they
flout the ATA standard with the hard drive cables.

That doesnt mean they dont work, but flouting
the standards is never a great idea.
They appear a terrific idea, but one never knows until one works
with them for a while. Does anyone has issues with them: become
brittle under constant heat, don't conduct reliably/as fast a ribbons,
Click to expand...

That last is the main problem.
are poorly inserted into the connector, etc?
Click to expand...

Its harder to do the connector detail properly too.
Or, conversely, does anyone report good
experiences and recommend them heartily?
Click to expand...

Quite a few do like the better ones.
 
I use them. Try to find the ones with the cable split
into groups of about 4 wires ... and then put into
either shrink tubing, or just small tie wraps. I like
the tie wrap ones best, because I can tell there is
no stress at the connector. The heat shrink ones
look stressed to me.

johns
 
Andrew said:
Has anyone used these new round IDE drive and floppy cables for any
length of time? They appear a terrific idea, but one never knows until
one works with them for a while. Does anyone has issues with them:
become brittle under constant heat, don't conduct reliably/as fast a
ribbons, are poorly inserted into the connector, etc? Or, conversely,
does anyone report good experiences and recommend them heartily?
Click to expand...

The main problem with round cables is that low quality ones degrade the
signal quality exessively because some of the signal wires are adjacent
to one another rather than separated by ground wires to prevent their
signals from interfering with one another, and some cables also have
metal sheathing that isn't even grounded. Reject any round cables that
lack twisted pair wiring, where each signal wire is twisted around a
ground wire to maintain signal integrity, similar to what's done with
network cables, and this allows reliable operation even when the cable
is 3' long. Othwrwise, round cables offer only 1 advantage: Their
sockets are much easier to disconnect without being damaged.
 
They work excellently and greatly improve air flow and cooling in the
computer case. I've used them for about 5 years with no problems.
 
Has anyone used these new round IDE drive and floppy cables for any
length of time? They appear a terrific idea, but one never knows until
one works with them for a while. Does anyone has issues with them:
become brittle under constant heat, don't conduct reliably/as fast a
ribbons, are poorly inserted into the connector, etc? Or, conversely,
does anyone report good experiences and recommend them heartily?

Best,

Andrew
Click to expand...


I tried using the round IDE/Floppy cables once. They are the
same as ribbon cables, except they allow for better airflow in the
case. If your like me (handicapped), and can not grasp the connector
on each end when unplugging them, then you stand to easily damage the
cable's wires. I damaged the floppy cable like this, and eventually
one of the IDE cables. I went back to ribbon cables, as they can
withstand me pulling on the wires instead of pulling on the connector.
 
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