We're gonna take a look at something that should be on every case modder's Holiday List this year. The Scorpio EL IDE cable. We've seen automotive neon's transformed into PC hardware use, then Cold Cathode lights, and who can escape the wrath of the LED fan review. Just when you think you've seen it all, Cool Max USA whips out a rounded EL lighted IDE cable. Damn they look sweet!!! Now I wouldn't recommend a whole set if these (I currently have 4 IDE cables plus the floppy cable), but one, maybe two strategically placed cables can finish off the interior of your case very nicely. Manufacturer: | Cool Max USA | | Product: | Scorpio EL IDE Cable | Price: | USD$19.95 | Availability: | NOW | Edited By: | SPeeD |
Intro
Packaging and Contents
What can I say? Here it is in the packaging 
When you finally get the cable out of the plastic (of course if your smart, use scissors instead of trying to caveman the plastic open like I did...) you see that its your average rounded IDE cable with a clear mesh sleeve and the EL cable spiraled in-between the cable and the mesh. The power converter, and molex connector is found at the top of the cable, which for my setup (Baybus) worked out well. I was able to totally hide the converter and molex where the connection to the Baybus is made. 
Installation/Performance
Well if you need instructions on how to install an IDE cable...JUST PLUG IT IN!!! Seriously though, our affiliate Dean over at Overclocker Cafe brought up an interesting point. With the EL cable wrapped around the IDE, my first worry was there would be some signal interference with the juice running through the EL cable. So out comes good ol' Sandra and the Drive Benchmark...With my worries, I wasn't about to just throw the cable on my HDD's so I hooked it up to my CDRW and fired off some quick tests. I used the first disk of Sysmark 2002 which has a nice 670 MB file to index. The Current Drive is the CDRW with the Scorpion Cable installed. The COMPUTER on Friday... is the CDRW with the regular rounded IDE cable installed. As you can see, there was no change in score with the benchmark, so thumbs up to Cool Max USA for this sweet looking cable. 
Conclusion
The addition of the spiraled EL cable to the rounded IDE cable is something to be seen in person. Not too overpowering, just enough to make you look twice. The fear of signal degradation was put to rest by running some disk indexing benchmarks, so this is a cool little product that would make any geek smile if they found it wrapped this Holiday season. PROS - Ingenious design that will add style to any windowed case
- EL cable does not cause any signal degradation
- Available in Blue and Purple
CONS - There were no cons with this product
I would like to thank Cool Max USA and SideWinder Computers for providing the sweet stocking stuffer. We believe this product should receive the OCA Recommended award for it's innovation, reasonable price and sexy looks for your pimped out modded case. 
We'd like to thank you for joining us here today. If you would like to discuss this article or others, please head into the DevHardware forums for a chat. See you there. | DISCLAIMER: The content provided in this article is not warranted or guaranteed by Developer Shed, Inc. The content provided is intended for entertainment and/or educational purposes in order to introduce to the reader key ideas, concepts, and/or product reviews. As such it is incumbent upon the reader to employ real-world tactics for security and implementation of best practices. We are not liable for any negative consequences that may result from implementing any information covered in our articles or tutorials. If this is a hardware review, it is not recommended to open and/or modify your hardware. |
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