The RD3XP Gladiator Super Shielded Round IDE Cable Review!

Dashken · 27th Sep 2004, 10:39 PM

Rounded IDE cables improve air flow and are more flexible compared to the standard flat IDE cables. They also look a lot better and are much easier to install. That's why rounded cables have always been the choice for those serious about cooling and case modding.

Today, we will take a look at the RD3XP Gladiator Super Shielded Round IDE Cable. Of course, you can tell that this is no ordinary round IDE cable. But what's so special about it? That's what we intend to find out in this review!

Link : The RD3XP Gladiator Super Shielded Round IDE Cable Review!

Maximus_Detritus · 28th Sep 2004, 05:27 AM

Nice review. But that cable looks....over-priced, to say the least. If it could glow in the dark, as well as suck up all the dust that gets into my case at the same time, I mightconsider shelling out that much for rounded IDE cables (=

Max_87 · 28th Sep 2004, 02:49 PM

Hehe

Thanks!

Yeah, it's pretty expensive

SeanCameron · 1st Oct 2004, 05:11 PM

You probably need to do considerably more testing before forking out that sort of money on a rounded cable, the article was very short on testing (at the very least you should test the cables with a new hard drive and an ATA133 controller), and the small difference in performance is statistically negligible. Standard 80 wire cables use 40 wires for data and the remaining 40 for shielding, which effectively avoids crosstalk. While I am not an electronic engineer, I rather doubt that the extra shielding will improve performance, especially as the controller is already compensating for signal skew and the extra wires ensure that there is no crosstalk.

Personally I would skip the cables until I moved entirely to SATA hard disks, but that is just me

Adrian Wong · 1st Oct 2004, 07:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SeanCameron

You probably need to do considerably more testing before forking out that sort of money on a rounded cable, the article was very short on testing (at the very least you should test the cables with a new hard drive and an ATA133 controller), and the small difference in performance is statistically negligible. Standard 80 wire cables use 40 wires for data and the remaining 40 for shielding, which effectively avoids crosstalk. While I am not an electronic engineer, I rather doubt that the extra shielding will improve performance, especially as the controller is already compensating for signal skew and the extra wires ensure that there is no crosstalk.

Personally I would skip the cables until I moved entirely to SATA hard disks, but that is just me

Agreed. The results are statistically insignificant. Unfortunately, Max_87 does not have a newer hard disk.

However, the cable is designed differently from regular IDE cables so the effects of the 40 ground wires will differ from what we would see in a regular IDE cable.

As you can see from the structure diagram, crosstalk CAN occur diagonally between different data wires. That's why VICS Tech put in those aluminium shields. Therefore, those aluminium shields could have a real effect on data integrity.

Therefore, if we have the opportunity, we would retest the RD3XP Gladiator with an ATA-133 hard disk against a regular IDE cable as well as another rounded cable.

Max_87 · 1st Oct 2004, 09:28 PM

I don't have a new hard disk, sorry

I'm still stuck with that crap ATA66 30GB hard disk

27th Sep 2004, 10:39 PM	#1 (permalink)
Dashken Administrator! Join Date: 21 Apr 2003 Location: Penang Posts: 30,231 Reputation: 2352 Rep Power: 60	The RD3XP Gladiator Super Shielded Round IDE Cable Review! Rounded IDE cables improve air flow and are more flexible compared to the standard flat IDE cables. They also look a lot better and are much easier to install. That's why rounded cables have always been the choice for those serious about cooling and case modding. Today, we will take a look at the RD3XP Gladiator Super Shielded Round IDE Cable. Of course, you can tell that this is no ordinary round IDE cable. But what's so special about it? That's what we intend to find out in this review! Link : The RD3XP Gladiator Super Shielded Round IDE Cable Review! __________________ \| Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 @ 3.2Ghz \| ASUS P5B-E Plus \| G.SKILL 2x1GB DDR2 800 \| 6 HDDs (2TB+ only ) \| NVIDIA GeForce 7600GT \| Dell E248WFP 24" Widescreen \| \| Intel C2Q Q9450 \| MSI P45 Neo3-FR \| 2 x 2GB OCZ DDR2 PC2-6400 Gold Edition \| 1 x Seagate 250GB HDD \| 2 x Seagate 750GB HDD \| 3 x Seagate 1TB HDD \| NVIDIA GeForce 9500GT \| Cooler Master CM690 chassis \| Cooler Master eXtreme Power Plus 550W PSU \| Dell E248WFP 24" Widescreen \| Windows 7 Ultimate x64 \| Blog : Dashken's I-Blog Gallery : Dashken's I-Paintings

28th Sep 2004, 05:27 AM	#2 (permalink)
Maximus_Detritus Moderator Join Date: 14 Sep 2004 Location: Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia Posts: 2,127 Reputation: 242 Rep Power: 10	Nice review. But that cable looks....over-priced, to say the least. If it could glow in the dark, as well as suck up all the dust that gets into my case at the same time, I mightconsider shelling out that much for rounded IDE cables (= __________________ Ceramic White PSP - 3.52M33-4, Metallic Blue PSP - 3.52M33-4 ARP Reviewer PlayStation Network : Maximus_Detritus

28th Sep 2004, 02:49 PM	#3 (permalink)
Max_87 h@x! Join Date: 11 Aug 2003 Location: the land of bandwidth cap Posts: 11,430 Reputation: 2090 Rep Power: 38	Hehe Thanks! Yeah, it's pretty expensive __________________ Max_87 Tech ARP http://www.techarp.com Dell Studio 15 / P7350 / 3GB DDR2 / Radeon HD 3450 / 250GB 7200RPM / 15" @ 1920x1200 E8600 @ 4.4GHz 1.36v / Asus P5E3 Deluxe / 2x2GB DDR3 / Radeon X1800 / Barracuda 7200.9 120GB / 7200.10 320GB x2 / Caviar SE16 WD5000AAKS / WD6400AAKS x2 / Dell 2007FP x2 / Silverstone ST56F

1st Oct 2004, 09:28 PM	#6 (permalink)
Max_87 h@x! Join Date: 11 Aug 2003 Location: the land of bandwidth cap Posts: 11,430 Reputation: 2090 Rep Power: 38	I don't have a new hard disk, sorry I'm still stuck with that crap ATA66 30GB hard disk __________________ Max_87 Tech ARP http://www.techarp.com Dell Studio 15 / P7350 / 3GB DDR2 / Radeon HD 3450 / 250GB 7200RPM / 15" @ 1920x1200 E8600 @ 4.4GHz 1.36v / Asus P5E3 Deluxe / 2x2GB DDR3 / Radeon X1800 / Barracuda 7200.9 120GB / 7200.10 320GB x2 / Caviar SE16 WD5000AAKS / WD6400AAKS x2 / Dell 2007FP x2 / Silverstone ST56F

1st Oct 2004, 05:11 PM	#4 (permalink)
SeanCameron Newbie Join Date: 1 Oct 2004 Posts: 1 Reputation: 0 Rep Power: 0	You probably need to do considerably more testing before forking out that sort of money on a rounded cable, the article was very short on testing (at the very least you should test the cables with a new hard drive and an ATA133 controller), and the small difference in performance is statistically negligible. Standard 80 wire cables use 40 wires for data and the remaining 40 for shielding, which effectively avoids crosstalk. While I am not an electronic engineer, I rather doubt that the extra shielding will improve performance, especially as the controller is already compensating for signal skew and the extra wires ensure that there is no crosstalk. Personally I would skip the cables until I moved entirely to SATA hard disks, but that is just me