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Rounded Cables?

J

jitspoe

Senior member
Well, it's upgrade time again, and as I've been browsing for new hardware, I've noticed a new fad -- rounded IDE cables. I guess this goes along with the increasingly popular windowed cases (don't want those ugly grey ribbons all over the place), but don't rounded cables increase data corruption/crosstalk? I thought the point of the ribbon cables was to space out the wires to prevent this. Do any of these rounded cables use twisted pair, or are they something I should stay away from?
 
On the contrary - nearly all rounded cables are less subject to EMI than the flat ribbons because they are shielded with braided metallic mesh. They are also all Cable Select capable, and do permit a freer air flow. I suppose if one got el cheapo brand not shielded, they could be a problem - but usually that is not the case.
 
Rounded IDE cables can be a nice way to clean up the insides of the computer a bit as well as to improve airflow. Before they became commercially available people would make their own by just splitting the standard ribbon cable, stacking the wires and wrapping them up. There were, as I recall, some issues with crosstalk among the wires, but I haven't heard of people complaining lately with the commercially produced ones.

Personally, I wouldn't bother. They are amazingly expensive in comparison to the free cables we get with a purchase of any drive or motherboard. And considering serial ATA is on its way, the cost isn't even worth it long-term.
 
The air flow isn't going to improve very much if at all unless someone did a poor job of folding and tucking their flat IDE cables away properly. Also, as far as windowed cases go, I think those red/blue/whatever round ide cables freely floating around don't look very nice. Well tucked and folded flat IDE cables can be even less obstructive and they certainly don't look as tacky as those rounded cables (seems as though people think because they're nicely rounded that they look good just floating in place. Ugh, just looking at the many pictures of people's windowed cases with those cables makes me cringe)...but whatever floats their boat...


Anyways, if you do go rounded, don't DIY, get the nice factory made ones that have twisted pairs. I'll take twisted pair over mesh shielding, but if you can get both, that's even better 🙂
 
This may or may not be true, but it looks like the shielding is only on the outside of the wires; while that wolud protect from outside interferance, it won't stop it between the wire, will it? As for the prices, the ones I saw were ~ $7... that doesn't sound amazingly expensive (though it is > free).
 
Originally posted by: jitspoe
This may or may not be true, but it looks like the shielding is only on the outside of the wires; while that wolud protect from outside interferance, it won't stop it between the wire, will it? As for the prices, the ones I saw were ~ $7... that doesn't sound amazingly expensive (though it is > free).
Click to expand...

Right, that's why I said I'll take a cable with twisted pairs over a cable without twisted pairs but with mesh shielding. There should be plenty available with both twisted pairs and the outside shielding though.

 
Originally posted by: jitspoe
As for the prices, the ones I saw were ~ $7... that doesn't sound amazingly expensive (though it is > free).
Click to expand...

Free = $0
Rounded = $7

7/0 = divide by zero error.

Here's another:

Free = 0
Rounded = r

0(r)=$7.00

Solve for r.
 
this is something you ppl have not thought of at all...

current "rounded" cables are actually made from twisted pair ribbon cabling. if you have scsi, you have seen them, only they are laminated. the twisted pair greatly reduces the crosstalk, and provides easy rounding since each pair is not attached to another pair except for a few spots so the connectors could be easily attached. and there are even rounded cables that are shielded, not just a metal mesh, but a metal mesh with a grounding wire for true grounding, well, to the case anyway.

if you know who cautery is, well, he made an ata cable with CAT5 cabling, made for much longer cabling with high transfer speeds.
 
Well, if you save $10 by getting an oem HD with no cables or anything, and then buy a cable for $7, you're actually saving $2. 😛

As for the twisted pair -- A lot of the rounded cables aren't actually twisted pair -- they're just cable shoved into a little round tube, so the question arises -- when I'm ordering one, how do I know which ones are twisted pairs? Anyone know what companies make twisted pair ata cables vs cheap rounded cables? Do the ones that bother to put the shielding in them put the wires in twisted pairs as well?
 
The problem I see with rounded cables is in the part nearest the actual connector itself wherein all 80 wires are just "bare" and touching each other(which somewhat defeats the purpose of twisting pairs, braiding, shielding, etc).

Here's an article about rounded cables,

A1 Electronics UK
 
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