System temperature has a huge impact on your CPU temps. Many times, I hear stories of people who have huge heatsinks and loud fans on their CPUs, but still get below average cooling. If your case is cramped and sweaty like my underwea...., nevermind, your CPU is gonna be a little toastier than it should be. Warm air won't let your nice, big heatsink/fan do it's job.
For about 3 years now, I've been making my own round cables. Actually, they weren't really round, but I folded them and used tye wrap to keep them tidy. Later, I decided to use electrical tape, but it never looked quite right. I eventually opted for wire tubing, and that gave a much more professional look to it. Still, the tubing wasn't thin, and it was pretty hard to bend.
was kind enough to supply me with some round cables for testing. Until you've seen these up close, you'll be amazed at how much space these cables can free up in your case. Pictured above are the 2 different floppy cables, and the ATA100 IDE cable.
They have a variety of colours and different lengths for you to choose from, but they really are no different from other round cables you'll find at most computer vendors. Vantec has always made good quality heatsinks in the past, and although these cables were nice, I wouldn't wear them around my neck, like a necklace, and try to pick up chicks.
Specifications
ATA 100 Rounded Color Cable Support 2 Devices
Three Length Avaliable: 18", 24", 36"
Four Colors Avaliable
Floppy Rounded Color Cable Support 2 Devices
Floppy Rounded Color Cable Support 1 Device
Length Avaliable: 24" Long
Four Colors Avaliable
Ultra 160 LVD/SE Rounded Color Cable Support 2 Devices 30" Long
Ultra 160 LVD/SE Rounded Color Cable Support 4 Devices 50" Long
Ultra 160 LVD/SE Rounded Color Cable Support 2 Devices 30" Long with Terminator
Ultra 160 LVD/SE Rounded Color Cable Support 4 Devices 50" Long with Terminator
Four Colors Avaliable
Anyone who has had to make their own cables before can probably tell you that they can be difficult to bend. This may be a concern if you need to bend them to navigate to different areas of your PC. Thankfully, Vantec's cables are extremely flexable, and you shouldn't have any problems fitting these anywhere.
So, why should you get round cables? Well, they look good! Oh, and they do cut down on case temperature since the idea is thin cables will not impede airflow. Until Serial ATA makes it's mark, this is the way to go. Serial ATA is an upcoming standard designed to replace the ribbon cables we all know and love. Other than being compliant with the newer ATA standards, they're supposed to be designed like PS/2 cables, so they'll assist a bit in overall system cooling.
You can see the difference in size above. Imagine how much more air you can have circulating inside your case!!!!! Ok, it's not that exciting, but trust me, it looks alot better than ugly, grey, 1970s looking cabling running inside your futuristic PC.
Many who make round cables properly will slice their IDE cables up so that they can be bundled up better. At the same time, this will probably make them more flexible. Considering I can't open a bag of chips without tearing the bag apart accidently, and having chips strewn all over the place, there was no way I was going to put a blade to my IDE cables. Vantec did a nice job splicing the cables, and binding them nicely with the rubber housing.
Before any of you start making snide comments about my cabling job, keep in mind I made it messy on purpose for dramatic purposes. This is when I scream, "THE HORROR!!!"
Funny thing is, I don't think I made things better than they were before. Even though they are smaller, and more flexible than regular ribbon IDE cables, you'll have to spend a few minutes to install them nicer than I did. The floppy cable was a blessing because I always found that cable the toughest to tuck away.
Final Words
Well, they look nice, but is that all? Well my system temps didn't really change. It usually stays about 31C at this time of year, and at last check, it's at 31C. I always did do a good job at wire bundling, so my case cooling was efficient to begin with. I also got a nice full tower, so airflow was never an issue. Those of you who have messy case interiors will benefit from the neatness round cables provide. Hard drive performance was pretty identical. I did run a few benchmarks, but nothing worth mentioning. Sometimes the drives performed better than before, other times not, and I'm going to stress the not...
Why did I score it just a 7 then? Well, there are a few reasons for that, though not necessarily Vantec's fault. To begin with, if you're neat with wiring, your system temperatures won't likely benefit from this. These cables run between 15$ to 20$, plus shipping and taxes, where your current cables likely came from your motherboard. These do look nicer, but if your PC sits under a desk with no side display window, do you really need round cables? Finally, something I only learned this week, but can confirm... Cable length is important! I read over at Dan's Data (), but other webmasters report this as well, that IDE cables exceeding 18" in length violate the standard ATA specification. What this means is they won't be as reliable as they would be at the standard 18". Vantec did supply me with 18" cables, but also a 24" cable. I didn't know this, so at random intervals, I'd get data corruption. It was so bad in fact, I wasn't able to install Windows XP (lol, and no, that isn't a bad thing :P) properly, after several attempts. I pulled out the longer of the two IDE cables, and replaced it with a regular ribbon cable and BAM! Windows XP installed without incident. In my opinion, Vantec should supply some documentation warning about this, but for now, read Dan's article at . I would like to point out the floppy cable didn't cause me problems.
So, do some research first, but I'm pretty sure the cable length arguement holds water to it, whatever the heck that sentence I just said meant...
Vantec:
Pros: Look cool, keeps your system cool.
Cons: Watch that cable length, expensive.
If you have any comments, be sure to hit us up in our forums.
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