Rounded IDE Cables vs Normal IDE Cables

[aviationwiz]

What is the difference beetween rounded IDE ata 133 cables and the normal IDE ata 133 cables?

To me it just seems like the rounded cables are for looks.

[glock20rocks]

Looks, yes, but they help improve airflow in the case. Plus they tend to be a bit easier to bend around into wierd angles, and come in longer lenghts than standard cables.

I've got 'em in my system, and they really do make for much neater wiring inside the case. I just tuck them away behind the drives. Plus they are the only cables than can reach from my PCI IDE controller card at the bottom of my case to the CD drives at the top of my case...

[Action Jackson]

You could also round the ATA100/133 cables yourself, but it takes some time.

The nice thing is that it's easier to bend it to the shape you want over a pre-rounded cable.

The bad thing is if you accidentally strip the sheathing to it's bare wire.

[Spazmogen]

Oddly enough, I was just shopping for a 24" ide cable @ www.ncix.com and thought I'd check the forums to see if anyone's tried them yet.

Looks like I'll be trying a couple of 24" ATA100 cables.

Are there any problems (data errors or slower transfer rates) with the 24" cables? The standard 18" are about 3" short of reaching my PCI ATA66 add on card in the bottom of the case (drives are at top of 5 1/2 bay in tower case).

[Action Jackson]

I bought a 24" rounded ATA133 cable from Bigfootcomputers.com

I haven't run any tests for data integrity. I needed a 24" b/c the standard 18" was just too short.