Create your own rounded IDE cables!

[Mm9004]

The easiest thing in the world:

1. get the flat, annoying, IDE cable

2. Get a nice sharp knife

3. get a hard surface

4. get some Duck tape

You can guess the rest: Cut between each wire one by one. Then pull each wire apart from the rest of the bunch until they are all in a shambles and you can't make since of them. They will look like a bowl of spagieghti. Twist the wires together and use one long strip of Duck Tape to go around them all. The whole process takes 20 minutes max.

I just did it with my floppy drive and tested it. It works great!

[chubtub]

get some Duck tape

Colored eletrical tape works great too.:t

[crossedup]

Might hamper your performance a bit with an 80 wire IDE ribbon

Every other wire is a ground wire put in there to help keep the signal from getting mixed with the next wire, as on a 40 wire cable. Slicing them apart and mixing em all together might screw up your performance. Not sure if noticebly or not.

Ive read a few articles on the round cables from the HD manufacturers where they state the round wires are actually worse for performance. Ive got two in mine and ive never tested them so i cant say for sure.

:t

[neverwhere]

sticky-fi this one!

[Strawbs]

buy some, they're cheap!

[neverwhere]

$$ & college... they dont mix :(

[crossedup]

You dont have to slice cables either, just sort or curl them up and tape em. Lessen your chances of slicing a wire minutely and probably a bit more durable as well.

And, yeah, use colored electrical tape. Much prettier than duct tape. :D

[Mm9004]

Yeah but see the thing is if ya just twist em' they'll be bigger. For me, thw whole point is to allow for air flow. I don't have a window so looks matter not for me.:D

Therefore, this is what works best for me, I'm sure other cases are diferent, so for a modder, yeah colored tape all the way baby!

Also: you don't have to cut every single wire; That hit me too, especialy with the HDD cable, that was a pain! Just slice every third wire or so.:t

[Mm9004]

BTW, I now have all my cables rounded, and unless your working in a top-secret super computer at the CIA you definetly don't have to worry about performance, it's fine.:t

[Bovon]

Originally posted by Strawbs
buy some, they're cheap! Yep..best bet for sure, but just in case the $$ are not there, and you really feel like the extra airflow is needed, simply take a flat ribbon cable, lay it out flat and fold the outer 1/4th back in to the middle, then fold whats left in the middle..you now have a square "rounded cable' about the same size as a rounded one. You can tape up or apply some silicon adhesive to the folds as you make them, tape until the adhesive cures..leave on or untape. Do not "force" the folds when getting near the connectors.. you may damage the pin-puncture type needle connectors.

I have made the rounded cables by the knife between each wire trick, and believe me..this way is soooo much simpler and just as good..

[bonz_dragon]

I have also done this and the easiest way is to split every 4th or 5th wire and then cabel tie together then use spiral wrap that can be bought at most auto parts stores.
I haven't seen any difference between this and flat cable performance. Didn't take that long to do either. Besides what else ya going to do sitting up all night and no ones online!

[crossedup]

With no window i can understand the duct tape, was thinking looks not reduced airflow only. Ive got window and lights so i lean a little more toward the looks.

Glad it works out well.

Like I said, ive got round cables myself. Been thinking of switching to test out performance theory but i really cant tell the differance either so why bother.

:t

[bushmaster]

If your going to use round cables (and I do) go for the Antec cobra cables. You really don't wanna frig around by chopping up ribbon style IDE cables.

[Kurylo]

Look here how I've done this:

The biggest problem is to arrange those x10 lines near the connector.

[Magua]

I don't think you save enough money to make it worth it, and a real rounded cable will always look better.

[leprechaun_40]

Some of the higher quality rounded cables are designed so that they have the same effect as the flat ribbons. A ground next to the data cable to help keep out interference. I think it'd be worth a couple extra bucks and would look better than a sliced cable. I'm also not sure I could cut a cable and not ruin it:eek:

[Mm9004]

Just how much does a round cable cost anyway?

[bonz_dragon]

I don't have a window so looks dosen't matter. I was having a problem with air flow in my case though and I had a bunch of IDE ribbon cables available to waste. Besides the IDE ports on the MB are right next to the drives and didn't want or need a 18"-36" round cable just stuffed in there. What would be the point when all I needed was 10"-12"? Nice and neat.
So call me CHEAP if you must.

[Magua]

I think they are around $3-$7 for rounded color IDE cables.

[Rat]

You can use split loom in place of tape. It's available at your local auto parts stores and comes in many different colors including chrome.


Rat

[leprechaun_40]

You can get rounded cables from http://cyberguys.com

Anywhere from $5 to $25, depending on what you want. You can get a rainbow of colors and even glow in the dark ( would work great with blacklights):t

[bushmaster]

The retail on the Antec cobra's are $12.95 USD. You want to take measurements and get the cable that will leave you some slack but still be only as long as needed to get from one IDE connector to the other, because the longer the cable, the greater the the possiblity for signal degradation. And if you try to save $$ and buy the really cheap cables that will be an issue.

[dajogejr]

If I was back in college, oh...wait I didn't go.
Ok, If I ever went to college, had nothin better to do..I would sit around and try this.

If not, I'd go to some type of local flea market/computer show and spit out the 8 or 9 bucks per cable it takes.

Not to mention, a new flat IDE will cost you a third of that, should you accidentally cut into one of the wires...

[gjimene2]

www.frozencpu.com has some El' GLow Wire 2 IDE Device 24" for 5 Bucks plus shipping. For a bit over 20 bucks you can get two ide's and a floppy, plus they already have the power inverter for the cables. they look sweet :)