Can SATA Cables Make A Difference?

[wulf109]

I've been tweaking my i7-920 computer. I made two changes,#1- I moved my HD's to the Gigabyte controller and off the X58 chipset controller - #2 - I replaced the Sata cables with round Sata 3 cables. My X58-UD5 motherboard and HD's are Sata 2.
I use BDRB in high speed BD25 mode to compress BlueRay disks. I was getting 36FPS,just about what Anandtech benchmarks indicate. With the two changes I made I'm now getting 72FPS. I'm amazed.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812400035

[Hoser Rob]

You changed two things. I`d suspect it was the controller, not the cables. Unless your old one was intermittently faulty.

[jman98]

I agree with Hoser Rob. I had some issues with my SATA III cables but this showed up as stability issues. Specifically my two SATA III drives used for storage (I boot from an SSD) would do a "now you see me, now you don't" routine on my PC where they would vanish. Replacing the cables fixed this issue (the new cables had better quality connectors - the old cables couldn't get a firm connection) and I saw no performance difference.

[PartingShot]

According to Maximum PC, the performance difference between a SATA2 cable vs. a "special" SATA3 cable is pretty much nil.

Link:
http://www.maximumpc.com/article/features/your_sata_cable_slowing_down_your_data_transfers_m ax_pc_investigates

Just like premium (read: expensive) Monster cables for A/V, the SATA3 data cable is probably just "snake oil". FYI.

[fritzi93]

Interesting article; thanks for that.

I too have had "disappearing drives" and came to the conclusion that it was the connection, not the cabling, that was the problem. Re-seating the SATA cable always fixed it, at least temporarily. Made me a believer in the value of latching cables.