Has anyone ever seen where flat 80 wire IDE cables run faster than round ones. Or does this not matter as long as they are 80 wire ATA 133.

Same speed. the benefit comes from lower case clutter, and better air flow front to back.

That's what I thought I was just maybe thinking the contoured aligning of the wires in a flat cable would affect speed in a good way but that is pretty stupid since data doesn't care how nice the wires look. I'm getting ready to do my whole case with round IDE cables.

I use round cabling in my new build and no problems. Click on my new build (finished) in my sig and you can see mine. I use 4 of them.

I have (at last) been reading up on -
Primary/Secondary Connectors
IDE ATA cables
80 wire/40 wire
Master/Slave

The 80 wire cables use the extra 40 wires as grounded shields, so that 'cross talking' between the main 40 wires, is minimized.
I wonder whether that advantage is lost with the round cables, as the grounded wires are no longer physically between the main wires ?

Rob

RobCr...yes the possibility of crosstalk is higher when you use round cables. This was a real problem when the round ones first came out, but has been mostly solved by using better shielding in the cables.

Of course you get what you pay for, and you should probably avoid the cheapest round cables.

Thanks Kerry,

I picked up a long one at a 'computer swap meet' cheaply.

Based on your reply I won't use it, because it was $5 Aust.

What do you feel is the maximum safe length (of a non-cheap one) ?

Thanks,
Rob

Rob, can't say I'm an expert on cables They make 36" round and flat cables, but the PATA standards only allow for 18".

Lots of people use longer ones successfully. The longest flat cable I've used is 24" but that was a long time back.

. I do use rounded cables, I have found that the shielding is not very good on the one I have had. I will only use ribbons.

Doesnt really matter, PATA is slowly being outphased.
Flat seems to have better quality in general though.
//Danne

I have never experienced any problems from using round 18" IDE cables in the past but
the best bet is to move on to SATA Hdd's/burner's if you have the plug-ins on the mobo
to use it or just purchase a add on SATA card then you won't have to worry about round
or flat cables anymore.

I have to disagree. I've been using round cables for 5 years or more. If you buy good cables there is no problem.

I have many PATA drives and they won't be leaving anytime soon.

Check out my Finished Build pics By the way where are some pics of your builds?

PATA --> Legacy hardware
Of course its going to stick around for a few more years but there's no point in getting PATA over SATA.
I have no pics, do I need to? =)
//Danne

Hi
The question of ribbon vs round.
Should've been done & dusted by now.
Round cables are superior to ribbon.
BUT.
In order for this to happen, the production of round cables is more expensive.
As a a rough guide.
The best ribbon cable (you can pay more [for the brand], but no more gain).
Should cost no more than £3 GBP.
To better this with round cables, you should be looking @ more than 5x the cost.
In fact my round cables are custom made & cost more than £30 GBP each.

As for the future.

"Doesnt really matter, PATA is slowly being outphased.
Flat seems to have better quality in general though.
//Danne "

&

"I have to disagree. I've been using round cables for 5 years or more. If you buy good cables there is no problem.

I have many PATA drives and they won't be leaving anytime soon.
Bob"

The fact is (as already seen,dropping IDE from two to one).
If manufacturers drop IDE altogether.
Apart from IDE controllers.
How would /could you use these IDE DVDRW's.
The need for clear air in these ever increasingly pwerful PC's is the overiding factor here.
If buying with longevity in mind (if there's any such thing in this world).
SATA is the direction to go.

Only if you have something to show off

I have never actually seen any round cable cause a problem and I have installed many, and use many myself.

I personally have a couple 36" rounds in my server chassis, and it is doing alot of file IO almost all the time, and it never caused a problem.