Author Topic: High quality computer cables. (Read 384 times)

Nilsen · « **on:** June 25, 2005, 07:58:25 AM »

Is there any point in getting them?

I have a ton of USB, Cat5 and FW cables lying around and it seems that none of them are long enough or simply too long.

Gonna throw out (in the basement) all of them and get new cables that have the correct lenght so i can clean up the place abit for the arrival of my new laser printer.

Is there any real point in going for the more expensive (Monster etc) cables, or is that just throwing good money out the window?. Im also gonna need a real good powered USB2 hub with a minimum of 7 outputs... any tips?

I know good AV cables makes a real diff compared to cheapo crap butits easyer to see the diff there.

Saintaw · « **Reply #1 on:** June 25, 2005, 09:39:48 AM »

My only tip will be that if you have a cat or a rabit in the house, throw them out before the arrival of the cables. I speak of experience

PS: I don't know about icebears

beet1e · « **Reply #2 on:** June 25, 2005, 09:41:53 AM »

Nilsen.

There's a retail outlet here in Limeyland called PCWorld which sells USB printer cables for around £14. I cn get the same thing by mail order for 50p (half of £1). The "Monster" tag just sounds like a marketing ploy to make you feel better about parting with your krones.

As for RJ45/network cables, look on ebay. I got a 5m ethernet cable for £1.50 brand new. It works just fine.

Nilsen · « **Reply #3 on:** June 25, 2005, 09:44:30 AM »

No rodants or cats in this house. The lab doesnt show any interest in my cables whatsoever.

Havent seen an icebear in days.

Nilsen · « **Reply #4 on:** June 25, 2005, 09:47:32 AM »

Quote

Originally posted by beet1e
Nilsen.

There's a retail outlet here in Limeyland called PCWorld which sells USB printer cables for around £14. I cn get the same thing by mail order for 50p (half of £1). The "Monster" tag just sounds like a marketing ploy to make you feel better about parting with your krones.

As for RJ45/network cables, look on ebay. I got a 5m ethernet cable for £1.50 brand new. It works just fine.

Yeah, im worried that expencive cabels are "scams" too, but im really not sure so i asked. Someone told me that the more expensive USB cables have more bandwith than the USB2 standard requirers and are therfore better for use on hubs were there may be alot of traffic. Not sure if this is true either.

Chairboy · « **Reply #5 on:** June 25, 2005, 10:57:47 AM »

Nope. Total scam designed to tax the ignorant. You did well to research it.

Nilsen · « **Reply #6 on:** June 25, 2005, 11:00:11 AM »

That settles it, thx.

I'll try to find some cables that are really soft. Some of those i have now are so stiff and brittle that bet i could break them in half.

Gunslinger · « **Reply #7 on:** June 25, 2005, 12:33:02 PM »

From my experience,

These 'monster' type cables are usually just a little beefier, have a slightly better conductor, and are slightly more shielded.

That's about it. IMHO, to the common user you WILL NOT notice a difference in performance between the $1 cable and the $10 cable. (sorry I don't have a euro button on my kb)

eagl · « **Reply #8 on:** June 25, 2005, 12:35:16 PM »

If you have a REALLY long cable run, shielded USB or monitor cables might help, but the "monster" brand cables are just flat-out overpriced. Almost any cable labelled "shielded" ought to be enough if you find that you're having problems with long cables.

Nilsen · « **Reply #9 on:** June 25, 2005, 12:37:30 PM »

Doesnt matter Gunslinger, we dont use the Euro

So there is a point in having shielded USB/FW cables?

eagl · « **Reply #10 on:** June 25, 2005, 12:55:22 PM »

I really don't know with the digital stuff, although you could test it fairly easily if you had a short and a long cable and a USB or FW hard drive. Just plug it in and run a hard drive benchmark with each cable and see if data transfer rates drop with one or the other cable.

I know that it's important with analog cables like monitors, and I know that all digital specifications have maximum cable length specs, but I haven't done any testing to see if interference is a problem with long serial cable lengths.

Cat5 for ethernet should not matter at all unless you're running hundreds of feet of cable or having problems using older wiring for gigabit ethernet (or so I've heard).

Most clear plastic sheath usb cables I've seen appear to have shielding underneath the sheathing, so maybe they're all shielded. A really flexible one may have less shielding, but I don't know. Again, if you're actually having problems with long cables, then your only solution may be to buy a high quality cable. If you're not having problems, or if you can measure the same performance with short and long cables, then it's probably not a big deal.

I have heard of issues with cheap DVI monitor cables, but I don't remember what the real issue was.

Nilsen · « **Reply #11 on:** June 25, 2005, 01:03:16 PM »

Oh yes... when it comes to monitor cables wether its VGA or DVI its important to have shielded good cables.

I am going to need one 5m USB2 cable and the rest are going to be 0,5m and 1m. The long cable is the one that i think ill spend abit of money on because its exposed to the sun (lying in a window) and runs to my future 7 port (or more) USB2 hub. All the other USB2 cables will go into that HUB.
5m Monster USB cabels are really expensive, but i can prolly buy el cheapo USB2 cables for connecting printers etc to the HUB.

The FW cable is going to an external Lacie harddrive and needs to be about 3 meters so i cant stuff it in a shelf.

Gunslinger · « **Reply #12 on:** June 25, 2005, 01:18:35 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by Nilsen
Doesnt matter Gunslinger, we dont use the Euro

So there is a point in having shielded USB/FW cables?

yes shielding is importent for eliminating EMI BUT you don't need a 500 strand 1/4" thick braided coil to do it.

If you worked for nasa and were computing trajectory variables and orbit renetry equations on s supercomputer in real time then yes I'd want all my cables to be reliable and sheilded.

Other than that go with the standard brand. I never go too cheap but NEVER to expensive. Especially because my wife likes to re-arrange the furnature every 3 months (she is German) and the previous cables I bought might be usless.

Nilsen · « **Reply #13 on:** June 25, 2005, 01:27:58 PM »

Know how you feel.. Im glad I have the home office all to myself and can do whatever i want with it. The rest of the house is more or less her territory. Only woman "allowed" in is my daughter.

Where would boys be without their little caves.

2bighorn · « **Reply #14 on:** June 25, 2005, 02:26:27 PM »

15 ft (about 5m) is pretty much limit for USB 2.0 cable length, so don't save too much on it.

For USB 2.0 specs cables over 10 ft buy quality cable, they have less voltage drop and lower connector resistance.

In long run it'll save you some headaches.