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Vantec Rounded IDE Cable


Date
: 02/19/02 – 11:47:20 PM

Author
:

Category
: Misc

Page 1 : Introduction

Manufacturer: Vantec
Price: $11.49
Kindly supplied by eXtreme PC Gear

Introduction

We all use them in our computers, cooling nerds love thin ones and modders love stylish ones. What am I talking about? Indeed, IDE cables. The ones that are included with your motherboard, the flat ones, don't look good, restrict airflow and are hard to use. Rounded cables on the other hand are much easier to use than the normal flat cables and besides the practical part, they look a lot better too. Another important factor they carry, is that they do not interfere with the airflow in your case like normal cables do.

Of course you all know those rounded cables that come in yellow, red, blue, green and black plastic wrapping but the ones I am going to discuss today are wrapped in a more "stylish" fabric: braded wire mesh!! Around the wire mesh, there is of course a clear plastic coating to protect it. Now who is the mastermind behind this new kind of rounded cable? Well, it's Vantec, a company that obtained its popularity with its line of high performance air cooled heatsinks like the CCK-6035D and the CCK-6027D which are both excellent socket A heatsinks. "Should I trust a heatsink company with the production of rounded cables?" is a question that will come to your mind, and the answer is definitely
YES
. As the article will show, these cables have a perfect finishing, look astonishing and they come in several different flavours to fit your needs perfectly.

Page 2 : Specifications

Specifications

To be quite honest, there isn't much to say about the specs of these cables. Let's give it a try …

- Made by Vantec
- Comes in 3 different sizes: 18", 24" and 36"
- Comes in 2 different flavours: support for one device and support for two devices
- Wire mesh finishing
- Clear plastic coating
- Supports all current UDMA standards (66/100/133)

As I the list reveals, these cables are available in three different sizes in order to accommodate every single one of you. For a normal case, the 18" model will do fine, but for those server tower cases I am sure that 24" or even 36" won't be a luxury. Actually it is quite nice to see cables that come in these measurements because if you install hard drives in the top level of i.e. an AOpen HX08 full tower. You will almost certainly run into problems with the length of the "normal" IDE cables out there …

Another interesting factor about these cables: they are available with support for one device or with support for two devices! Why would you need a cable that only supports one device? Well, for RAID setups for instance … users of Promise RAID controllers (onboard anyway) can only connect one device to each channel so there is one connector that goes too waste and restricts airflow too. Not anymore. Need I add that an unused connector looks ugly as well??

As I already mentioned in the intro before, these cables come with a fine looking wire mesh finishing. This looks really sweet and when you replace all your cables with these babies, the inside of your rig will probably look like the inside of a T-1000 in T2: Judgement Day ;). Imagine all those mesh wires routing through the case … enough said? Of course the mesh in protected by a clear plastic tube so it stays nice and shiny ;).

These cables are used just like the normal cables you got: plug on end in the device and the other one in the motherboard and you're set :). Easy heh?

Page 3 : Conclusion

Conclusion

Although Vantec's rounded mesh wire IDE cables won't increase the performance of your box, it will certainly boost the "WOW" factor. If your rig is modded with a window, these babies are a must-have. In my humble opinion they look a lot better than all those other rounded cables I have seen before. Add to that they are available in several different flavours (length and supported devices) and you know that there isn't much competition out there. A big thanks to the nice people over at eXtreme PC Gear for supplying us with these cables! If you want to buy these cables, make sure you check out there site as they offer a good price.