WOW! I knew it was going to be a small number, but 0.1%?!?! My, my, my... that's really a shame. It truly does say something great about that 0.1%, though, just as Mike said!

May be that I was hoping to see my own dreams being supported this way in the far future while donating... Nevertheless, I'm glad for being able to help, albeit by a small amount. It's a great site that I always enjoy revisiting. Rising the bar even higher is the only way to go for the true professionals - happy to see you doing it!

Prizes for the May 1 draw listed:

This site has provided me with a lot of advice with its reviews and great community so I decided to contribute $25. I would have liked to give more but being a poor student it's all I can afford at the moment

Good luck achieving the rest of the target!

Are donations being linked to forum usernames at all? Since the email addresses used on PayPal and on the forums might not be the same, this could be interesting (though I believe mine are the same, so I'm not sure why I'm even asking).

Anyway, I'm poor and can't do much, but I threw in my $25. Keep up the good work!

When you click on the "Profile" link at the top of SPCR, under the two banner ads, does it show the email address there that you plan to donate with? I noticed Mike had no trouble associating my email address with my forum name (although in my case, use of my first name probably helps anyway) but I figured that since my email address is in my profile, that is what confirms it.

that's a good point - my Paypal email is different to my SPCR email. Oh well

Actually, I made that post just before I donated, so I can now offer an update. Right after I made my donation, I received a thank-you email from Mike including a request for my forum username. So it is being dealt with.

With paypal you can send the person a message when you send the money, i just put my forum name in there.

FYI, the original post was updated. Yesterday was a banner day, we hit nearly $1000 with 24 contributors! Listing the prizes must have had an effect... or maybe it's just that this draw date is looming. Whatever the reasons, we're actually half way there. "One step at a time..."

BTW, Canadians are now fairly represented, and Americans have higher representation than their geostat proportion of site visitors.

NOTE: The results of this random draw will be announced here at 9AM Pacific time on May 1. Emails will be sent to winners within 24 hours after that in order to arrange delivery details.

wow looks to be going really well! interestign demographics for the contributions as well...maybe it's because we have smaller houses in england so we always have computers in our bedrooms / lounges that need silencing! (i speak from experience of living in a number of pokey london flats!)

Count in a small contribution from (Eastern) Europe.. Such geeky endeavors deserve support.

I know what that's like. Being in a little studio apartment my PVR is only a few feet from my head when I sleep at night. My friends have turned it off by accident thinking they were turning it on!

Mike, I sent more of them duckets your way because I love this site so much.

Speaking of heat - it occurred to me to wonder. If this room won't have ventilation, how will you control the temperature while testing? Or are the test runs short enough that even a beefy PSU won't heat the room much.

(I know, the build details will come in future articles ...)

I've been lurking for the past two years or so. Haven't posted anything, but this site has given me so much that I had to give something back!

Keep it up!

This is the absolute best PC enthusiast community I have ever experienced. Very deserving of my money! Thanks!

As my current (SILENT) PC is almost completely build on reviews from this site, I did my part. A small but hopefully useful contribution for even more high-quality reviews like we got in the past.

Keep up the good work.

R.

Thank you!

Daily update of original post:

Stats note: Most countries seen in the geostats for visitor traffic to SPCR are now reflected in the contributors. The absence of Asian nations may be a reflection of weak Paypal reach in that region.

Just donated 25$ from the email Sauerruler[at]gmail.com . I really enjoy the articles and reviews on the site so keep up the good work. =]

Another reason I chose to donate. They need a smiley with taped glasses. I'd use it all the time (because I can relate). I'm such an engi-nerd

i was under the impression that the sound room would only be used for noise level measurements and recordings, and the stress testing , temperature measurements etc would all be done in a different lab

In general, you're right, wim. There's no compelling reason to do both thermal and acoustic testing in the chamber... except maybe in the case of load/heat sensitive fans in complete systems. Then we'd have to establish basic guidelines. This could be easily done tho -- leave the door to the chamber open during the stress testing to ensure reasonable air circulation and close it only when we're wanted to record/measure a change in the noise -- which we'll listen for.

donated 25 buckaroos for now. if there would be another drawing soon i would be tempted to give some more $ for the good cause.

this place has been awesome

got my badge in the post (cheers Mike!) - looks very swish! can i buy another (or donate some more) for my second system...or is that gonna set me back another hundred?

Congratulations to the Winners of the April 14~30 Giveaway Draw!

1. Corsair TX650W 650W PSU - Brandon F.
2. Corsair Survivor 16GB USB drive - Colin J.
3. Corsair XMS2 DHX DDR2 PC2-6400 4GB kit - John L.
4. Intel E7200 Core 2 Duo - Ray L.
5. Intel E7200 Core 2 Duo - John J.
6. Intel E7200 Core 2 Duo - Timothy B.
7. Seasonic Eco 300 power supply - Terence A.
8. Seasonic Eco 300 power supply - Jon P.
9. Seasonic Eco 300 power supply - Jason T.
10. Seasonic Eco 300 power supply - Conroy L.
11. Seasonic S12II-430 power supply - Fredrik M.
12. Seasonic S12II-330 power supply - Steve L.
13. Seasonic M12-700 power supply - adrian t.
14. Seasonic M12II-500 power supply - James P.
15. Antec MX-1 external HDD enclosure - carl b.
16. Antec MX-1 external HDD enclosure - Bruce L.
17. Antec MX-1 external HDD enclosure - Alan S.
18. Antec P182 Advanced Super Mid Tower case - Amy H.

Prize winners will be contacted by email in the next 24 hrs to their paypal-related address to arrange delivery. (NOTE, 2 hrs later: all 18 emails sent.)

Great thanks to all the contributors who help to raise nearly $6000 towards this project so far; you are all winners in my book!

Congrats to the winners!

Congratulations to the winners! Wish I had been in the contest, but, oh well.

Also wanted to say that seeing the companies who donated, it makes me proud to own some of their products and really makes me want to continue buying their awesome products!

Mike, just for clarification, you mentioned "corporate sponsors". Were these products donated by the manufacturers or by vendors? I just want to ensure I'm giving my respect to the proper companies!

Perhaps reason for another upgrade down the line but...

You could always run chilled water through pipes under a sub-floor to allow for cooling of the room to a reasonable (23-25C or 73-77 F) level. Not sure how much that would cost though, but I'm sure by placing the cooling unit far away and running the pipes would not hamper the sound readings as much as an open door.

Obviously I've gone overboard with the upgrade project!!!!

The vendors.

Actually, some of the requests I made to potential sponsors were being answered positively only in the last day or two. As a result, these prizes were not included in this morning's draw. So it looks like there will be enough products from sponsors to run yet another giveaway draw to keep encouraging contributions for this project!

Look for full details in the next day or two.... and you can rest assured that any contributions made after the last draw will be included in the next.

FYI, one of the new audio tools has already been purchased: The full version of SpectraPLUS, whose site you'll see advertised on a banner on the main site, and listed among the sponsors. This Audio real time analyzer can be used with any reasonable PC, plus good sound card and mic -- the latter items are key. I've only just begun exploring it in full detail over the past few hours, hooked up to the existing silenced Shuttle PC + MAudio Firewire 410 + Sennheiser ME66 mic... but it's already quite closely calibrated against the B&K SLM (about a dB or better in the 20~30 dBA range), and I'm only scratching at the sheer range of functions offered. SpectraPLUS starts at just $300 for the basic package btw.

congrats to the winners and bugger I haven't won again in equal measure! One day, one day

Keep up with the updates Mike, it's fascinating to watch these projects develop. A photo blog a la Anand Home theatre thing would be a good idea too - people are always more likely to contribute if they see how their money's being put to use.