The Official PC building thread - 4th Edition

Not responding to loaded comments like that, is a waste of words and moderator's time. I know full well what's being implied (and how rude it is), but such is life.

 

My questions were meant to be rhetorical, the color of the outside having nothing to do with the quality of whats inside...Correlation ≠ Causation and whatnot...

 

I figured as much it seems like pretty simple concept really.

 

Well the way I've always seen it the color can give you a slight clue as to the OEM of the cable. Traditionally cheap generic cables are red. Asus packs red cables with motherboards. Asus cables are cheaply constructed(in my experience) = Profit! If that has any real impact on reliability you have to decide for yourself.

 

I don't know if this is relevant, but all my blue ones are SATA 6, which makes it easy to plug them into their respective ports.

 

Intel packs red cables too and they are typically very good, color has nothing to do with anything other than it is a different color.

I have some short latchable red cables that I prefer the most they also have one end with a 90deg connector which is really nice for the MB's that the headers connect horizontally.

 

still honestly perplexed that people think colour means quality.

 

Diddo...

 

On an unrelated note, I'm putting an old build in a new home. The new case has top and side 200mm fan mounts for which i would like to purchase fans. What color fans would work best?

 

That's really a personal taste issue. I used to like LED lights but they kind of get on my nerves if I can't switch them off. Personally I like red LEDs, they're less intrusive than blue/green.

 

What do you think about Pink I hear pink fans are much more reliable.... LOL

 

Generally you should be buying black fans. LED fans are often made of clear acrylic which is brittle and causes vibration.

This is getting into semantics. All I'm saying is color is a good indicator for a lot of stuff from OEM to the quality of the material. The trained eye can easily see it. It's not an infallible way of thinking but it's far from rating a product based simply on its color.

 

i like my gentle typhoons, and they are grey.

 

Estuansis,

I use the Silverstone FN-121BL, which is clear acrylic w/Blue LEDs, and it's about the quietest and most vibration free fan I've ever had. The only thing quieter in my computer is the 800 rpm Scythe Kama Bay Fan. It's even quieter than the manufacturers claims for it, by about 3 Dba, at 23.5 Dba. Silverstone says 26.6 Dba in their literature!

Russ

 

I should apologize. I feel I helped fuel a fire. The color of a S-ata cable is really negligible(To an extent). The transparent blue one for instance, suggests to me, that a different process was used(Not talking about the transparency). It was slightly different than the typical S-ata cables. I'm sure the manufacturers of the cables are not segregating the different colors to different factories. THe machinery used is no doubt virtually identical. Other than the dyes/plastics used. Though of course there are different styles of S-ata cable as we've mentioned. And I'm not talking about eSATA here. I for one have an oddball laying around here that is brown. Strangest one i've come across. Quite possibly the cheapest build of one, that I've seen. I'll see about taking a pic of it, and sharing it in the forum. I believe it came out of an old build, by either HP or Dell. One of the earlier cables perhaps.

I guess what my problem is, I recognize cables by color. I remember the Transparent blue one well, because I found it highly questionable. I remember it best by color, and slightly different design. And a black one was replaced of my brothers, because it was highly questionable(CD/DVD media burning trouble). It's likely coincidence that they were of a rare color, that they should go tits up THe black one had the same exact build quality of the red ones Something about the yellow ones seems different :S

 

For the fan issue, it's primarily a question of material. Opaque frames (black, and in certain cases Ivory) are far better for vibrations than translucent or transparent frames because of the plastic they're made of.

 

With fans it is more about bearings than materials. Ball bearing fans typically are better although some sleeve bearing fans are good, ball bearing are much better and last longer, less vibration. The plastic if the fan is balanced shouldn't matter the drive system does although rigidity will be a factor if speed isn't constant. If the fan blades seem brittle they are probably more rigid and would be better but if they are cracking and falling apart then it can be a problem.

I typically use the old black muffin fans but have clear with LED's too and the only difference I see is the quality of build, speed control, and bearing style. Again the color doesn't make a difference.

 

I will install a CD/DVD-RW in this new build. The burner came with a white faceplate and a black faceplate. Which should i use for better performance?

 

Definitely white. It'll absorb less heat

 

I second that!