I ordered a round 80 conductor cable with my drive and it was listed as having 3 fourty pin connectors, but alas it just has two - one for the main board and one for the drive.

I'd really like to hook my old DVD drive up too so I'm shopping for cables. I've seen round 80 conductor cables and flat 80 conductor cables - both OK, or is one design preferable?

-Bob-

Use only the IOSS Gladiator RD3XP if using a rounded. Otherwise, use a flat ribbon. Do a search for IOSS and my username in the forum to find the thread where I go into detail on why.

I don't know about the IOSS Gladiator RD3XP cable, but I've seen before and after scans in here that have convinced me that round cables in general are a BAD idea.

Round cables are ok if they are properly shielded and a good brand, but if you dont go higher as ata 33 for dvd/cd burners a simple 40 wire flatcable is good enough, that can keep up at least with dvd 16x writing

I agree with you there. IOSS Gladiator are the only rounded cables to preserve the live / ground / live / ground layout of the flat cable. They alternate on layers, and then even foil shield between layers, as well as foil shielding the entire outer cable. They even terminate the shielding with a ground wire to connect to the drive cage. Results show they can improve data integrity by as much as 15%, but usually from 8-10%, over a standard 80-wire flat cable.

An 8-10% increase just by making a cable choice seems like a good idea to me.

I just got a MSI neo2 Plat and I am using there round cable included for ata100 use(ie HDD) I assumed this was a good cable to use??

I sure would like more opinions on this..

also how good are the included cables from IO magic..it looks like a 40pin not 80pin that many have recommended

I know that these are cheap and in no way up to the quality of other cables. However, I have used 5-6 of these for over 3 years with a number of different MBs and drives and have never had a cable problem.

http://www.svc.com/

I have rounded cables in 2 computers now and have never had a problem with any of them.............................

You may not be aware of the problems.

I saw a report somewhere here in CDFreaks showing quality scans contrasting the round/flat cables, and there was an increase in PIF count when the round cables were installed. The increase wasn't bad enough to cause notable issues, but it was still measurable. It was enough to convince me to avoid cheap round cables.

For a marginal burn, this increase might be just enough to push it over the edge.

Me too!......... Some time ago after reading this discussiion here in another thread, I spent a few weeks and probably 50 burns trying to prove their was any difference between flat and various rounded cables. I never could get the slightest indication that there was............ To each his own.

did you check quality scans...I wonder if some of my issues with high dvd-r errors may be a result of the round cable

Burn speeds and quality scans were how I tested............

Just as one futher aside for those saying cables make no difference, furioustech.com tested these cables and found under SiSoftware Sandra that the Gladiator scored 28,529 kB/s vs. an Antec Cobra Cable at 27,067 kB/s (shielded outside and ground wire, but no shielding of individual data wires per 80 wire spec) vs. a generic rounded cable at 22,708 kB/s.

Tweaktown found a 10% increase in SiSoft Sandra over a normal RIBBON cable (non-rounded).

Pimprig found a 9% better score on a RAID5 array under HDTACH over stock cables that came with the 3Ware RAID5 card. In Sandra, the score increased from 30,602 to 31,742. PCMark 2002 went increased to 619 over 613. Competing against a generic ROUNDED cable, Gladiator was 14% faster (notice the reduction vs. a standard ATA133 ribbon cable...was 9% against a ribbon cable) in HDTach, Sandra was 6.8% faster with Gladiator, and PCMark scored a 0.5% better with Gladiator cable.

Themodfathers in the uk tested against two rounded cables and a flat cable. in SiSoft Sandra, the IOSS cable scored 27287 vs 26545 for flat vs. 26696 and 26343 for the other rounded cables, a 2.8% increase over a flat cable. Interestingly, one round cable scored 0.5% better and one 0.7% worse than a flat cable. In HDSpeed results, the burst read was 0.38% better and read 0.36% better for the IOSS. For one rounded, a 0% burst read and 0.18% improved read speed, and the other a -0.12% burst and -1.45% read. These tests were done with case lighting, CD, DVD, secondary HDD, and floppy all disconnected.

PCHardware out of Austrailia tested them on both a Maxtor ATA133 (the cables are rated at ATA100) master and WD ATA100 slave drive. They were tested against a generic rounded cable. The Maxtor showed a 4% gain in Sandra while the WD showed a 15% increase.

Very interesting post sumrtym maybe i will have to do some tests or look around the net for some more info on this...
As i said i have never noticed any difference but as you point out it still might be there..

hmm..how expensive are these cables..they sound real nice..I know I kinda forget how important they can be since all our data is moving across them

where can you buy them

You can buy them here

bummer..shipping looks lime $10 each...it makes these cables very expensive ...since I live in the US

If you have to guess, go with an 80 wire ribbon cable of shortest workable length. Now, folks, it is possible to find an 80 wire cable that is TOO cheap, so do look for a name brand. The cable matters.

If you want a better guess, go with an 80 wire ribbon cable that has reinforced ends (an extra-thick ridge across the connector and some sort of handle for disconnecting without pulling on the cable itself), and make it of shortest workable length. This is similar to the cable included with retail units. Some evidence of extra effort going into the manufacture of the cable is a good sign.

If you want really bad performance, take a shot in the dark on a thin round cable.

If you want slightly below optimal performance, go with an obsolete 40 wire ribbon cable. That's like the cable mistakenly packaged into the I/O Magic boxes. LOL!!
Still, this is much better than a thin round cable.

Some large, thick round cables have enough sheilding to conform to the 80 wire ata 133 spec of one sheild (or reverse) per data line. These are good, however a low-noise, quality power supply becomes more important when using rounded cables (because now the 12v power lead that operates the interface and light is firmly pressed onto the data lines).
Check reviews to find out which round cables are "good" because most of them totally violate IDE specs.

If you have the DVD Writer as the only IDE component in an otherwise SATA system, then you should consider using a converter block. Abit makes a good converter block. Thes plug into the back of the drive and then you can hook up the drive with SATA. After that, disabling the onboard IDE system (Bios setting to disable) will increase your overall system speed by freeing up a considerable amount of computer resources (2 irq's, 2 dma, 4 memory addresses, and numerous software drivers).

Above all, use short, heavy, name brand, and well shielded cables--for everything.
This reminds me of the thin Chinese electric blanket I had when I was 3 years old, and one night. . .ZAP!! That's another story.

Not a good idea. The minimim length on the IDE spec is 10", so use 10" as the shortest cable you buy.
Agree regarding 80 wire (you DON'T under any circumstances want a 40 wire on a HDD or optical drive with the speed of today's drives). I again, disagree about the distance as from before. The removal tags are nice and make hard to unplug cables a lot easier to deal with, but not necessary as you grab the sides of the plastic IDE connection rather than the cable itself to unplug. It might just require a bit more horsepower / wiggling.
I don't know of a single rounded cable that adheres to the IDE spec OTHER than the IOSS cables. All other rounded cables simply bundle the grounds and live wires together with absolutely no isolation from one another. Those quoting themselves as "shielded" cables are shielding the OUTSIDE of the bundle from external signals, not shielding the live wires from one another anymore.

Minimum IDE spec is 10", maximum is 18". The two IOSS I recommend are 12" and 20", single or dual. (The extra 2" on these is more than made up for by the design and assembly, and supported in the tests of these against other cables"

sumrtym,

That's some good stuff. Thanks for the recommend on IOSS cables.

P.S. You will not find 10" long IDE cables inside a laptop. There is no possible minimum required length for paralell communications unless the wire itself has a required amount of resistance other than zero. IBM original IDE spec is more comprehensive and lists gauges corresponding to lengths, and that goes from zero to 9' 7". Original Western Digital specs go from zero inches to three feet, again cable-specific. But, that's not the topic. We were discussing "optimal" IDE cables. And, I think I'm going to buy some of the cables you recommend.

thanks i may need to switch cables again...abit makes some good 80 pin one I think..at least the one with my IT7 Max2 rev2 ..always seemed of good quality...I need to check the spec on my highpoint sata adapter it was $20 and works great with my PATA hdd

is there a difference with IOSS cables with a given length or is performance the same for them...

Question: Is it reasonable to believe that IOSS is the only one that makes a good IDE cable? I don't think so...... If the discussion is who makes the best, then you can choose your preferences just as we all do with processors, motherboards, hardrives, etc. But to imply that the industry is wrong and the authority on the topic is a manufacturer trying to sell you $40.00 IDE cables is ridiculous. Hell, we’re close to buying $40.00 drives today, do we really need to pay the same for a cable………. I think not!

This topic has been brought up many times over the past year, and to my knowledge there has not been "ONE" example (scans/burntime/etc.) posted that validates this position. Like all other things, if you believe you just have to have the best (and you think this is it), or that these cable will bring you piece if mind, or maybe it’s simply a “Bragging Rights” issue, by all means go for it…….... I’m only suggesting that this investment will most likely result in a zero-sum gain………

Regards-

I tried many different types and brands of round IDE cables during the last couple of years. Have experienced no difference in quality or speed compared to flat cables. One thing to be added though: Never bought any cheap, unshielded cable.
I could reach 50 MB/s when copying from one HD to another, both attached to these round cables. My DVD quality scans look just like any you can find around this forum
I must call this another urban legend...