Are all these the same?

nexus_7 · Post by **nexus_7** » Wed Sep 25, 2002 1:24 pm

http://www.so-trickcomputers.com/Mercha ... _Code=RC18

http://www.highspeedpc.com/Merchant2/me ... y_Code=IDE

http://www.holomaxx.com/trade/product_i ... cts_id/100

I would rather buy at highspeedpc or holomaxx as they support PCA but if the one at So-trick is the Same I will get that. I want shielded and grounded. (I dont really care about the 2" differance that the holomaxx one has over the other 2)

Thanks

Greg

smb · Post by **smb** » Wed Sep 25, 2002 2:41 pm

I think they are the same. All 80 pin ATA cables are grounded and shielded to begin with. It's just that the shielding is the normal grey pvc covering on the cables, and 40 of the 80 lines are ground lines, if i'm not mistaken. I doubt very seroiusly there would be enough interference from other sources to affect performance, unless your computer is sitting next to a powerline.

Jim Z · Post by **Jim Z** » Wed Sep 25, 2002 4:23 pm

All 80 pin ATA cables are grounded and shielded to begin with. It's just that the shielding is the normal grey pvc covering on the cables, and 40 of the 80 lines are ground lines, if i'm not mistaken.

Yes, 40 of the wires are grounds. However, PVC (polyvinyl chloride) is plastic and has no shielding ability whatsoever. You need a good conductor such as aluminum or copper for shielding. Anyway, the better-quality rounded IDE cables use twisted-pair conductors which are somewhat self-shielding as is, so these things with a shield braid and ground strap are extreme overkill, and their usefulness is dubious. The primary difficulty with higher-speed drive interfaces is cross-talk and interference between data lines, not interference from the outside world.

I want shielded and grounded.

well, it's your money.

nexus_7 · Post by **nexus_7** » Wed Sep 25, 2002 4:25 pm

you guys ever read the reviews here?

http://www.pcabusers.com/reviews/gladiator/p1.html

Greg

Jim Z · Post by **Jim Z** » Wed Sep 25, 2002 4:28 pm

Sandra's disk benchmark results vary so much as to be useless. I've had swings of up to 20 MB/s on an Ultra160 drive. The simple fact is that the IDE channel runs at a fixed clock frequency. Any fatal interference is likely to cause read or write errors and/or data corruption, not effect performance. Data can't go "faster" than the maximum practical transfer rate.

nexus_7 · Post by **nexus_7** » Wed Sep 25, 2002 4:30 pm

ok, well, eithor way, I am getting one of these.

I have a 200g 8meg cache WD drive here, and I want the most I can get out of it as Iam getting rid of my scsi hd for it.

Greg

Jim Z · Post by **Jim Z** » Wed Sep 25, 2002 4:32 pm

not trying to stop you, like I said, it's your money.

blade · Post by **blade** » Wed Sep 25, 2002 6:32 pm

Frankly, from my experience they are a waste of moola. Though I was sent the longer cable instead of the shorter one, so that may be why my results were not what I expected.

smb · Post by **smb** » Wed Sep 25, 2002 6:55 pm

If anything they are cool to look at if you have a window in your case. I have the silver braided ones, and they are cool.