(Mind you, nexus 120mm fans don't really vibrate :)) That's what I thought, too. But if I crank my Nexus exhaust fan up to 12v, the whole case hums, and that's with some (obviously inadequate) isolation. My solid pine board construction is going to be more resonant than your MDF, but not by all tha...

The transistor radio test (TRT) may not tell you very much about the RFI coming from a computer. Any RFI from a computer is likely at frequencies that are on the order of gigahertz or several hundred megahertz and a typical transistor radio operates at a few hundred KHz for the AM band and around 1...

I wouldn't worry about the aluminum foil. My wood case leaks less RFI than my lcd monitor does, according to the transistor radio test. Make sure you have some sort of isolation mounts for those fans on the side, or you're likely to run into resonance issues.

My (extremely successful) DIY case design includes a couple of the elements you're looking at here. Various ideas that came up in my design thread might be helpful. Sooner or later Mike should be posting the article I wrote up about the whole affair, too. If you've any questions (or would just like ...

I would think that the freq balance difference would be audible in free air if it was big enough for the case to have that much of an effect. I can't say I have ever heard this. Usually, what I hear in free air is pretty much what I hear when the fan is mounted in the case, except for low frequency...

1) Invariably, this is related to vibration, which cannot be picked up directly with acoustic measurements. You CAN feel it and comment on it. You can also record / measure it as sound-- but only when the fan is mounted on something that will vibrate in sympathy with the fan and make noise. Invaria...

If this is so, then it would seem safe to conclude the difference is not meaningful & thus irrelevant. Yes and no. Obviously what we're ultimately concerned with is the subjective impact of our computers on our auditory systems, and any difference I can't hear from my chair is irrelevant. This cert...

For my scratch-built case I cannibalized the mobo tray and 5.25" drive cage from my old box. The article should be up any day now, as Mike told me two weeks ago that it should be up in about two weeks. That said, I certainly thought about leaving my old case intact, and it wouldn't have been that di...

Yeah, but when it oxidizes it'll be that cool green colour.

Ohm's law would apply if the fan motor could be modeled as a purely resistive load. But it looks like that's not always the case . Well, it isn't, but the point remains that the fan won't be drawing half the watts at half the volts. When you cut the voltage in half, current will be cut approximatel...

If you connect the Molex and rewire it for 5V or 7V, is it still OK to plug in the 3-pin connector for RPM monitoring? Or will the 12V coming from the motherboard header do bad things when it is mixed with the 5V/7V combination from the Molex? It would do bad things. You'd be shorting the 5v and 12...

It may be worth asking your local shop if they can order the 3000B. They obviously have a supplier who carries Antec, so it probably wouldn't be a problem.

Thanks. :) I'm not real concerned about dust, because there's pretty substantial air movement underneath the thing. When I stick my fingers under the lip I can feel the air wooshing by, so I think dust buildup isn't really likely. Definitely don't want to let stuff pile up around it, though, you're ...

Three things: I don't think you're going to need intake fans. Which is good, the fewer fans the better. The exhaust in the bottom half of your case is working against convection. I think you're going to end up with a bunch of hot air pooling up, likely right where your video card is. There are no hu...

I'm happy to report that my new wood case attenuates my mobo hissing enough that I have no inclination to replace the mobo any time soon. Watch the front page for a full writeup on my project.

Dunno if this is aimed at me, but I'll answer. Several reasons: Size - my new case is lots big enough. A cabinet large enough to house the old one would have been even larger. This would not only have been more obtrusive aesthetically, but bigger = more lumber = $$. Ventilation - part of my problem ...

My exhaust fan finally arrived yesterday, and I borrowed my boss's B&K spl meter. It only reads down to 30dBA, though, so some extrapolation is required to understand the results, since I didn't register any reading at all from 1m, not even at the back. My best guess is somewhere in the low 20s at 1...

Shouldn't lose much video quality if you use well-shielded cable. I've run upwards of 100' of vga cable between a data projector and input jack, and the picture's been clear as anything.

I've got an old Slot 1 PII 266. I took off the little 40mm whiner and wedged an 80mm L1A in. I just hooked it up at 12v because I'm lazy and because the system is rarely turned on, and when it is the hdd drowns out the fans anyways, but I'm sure it would be fine at 5v. Heck, it might be fine with no...

Finally got the front door on. The right door wasn't fitting quite right, so I took it off an planed it a bit, and then had to refinish it. Tedious. Anyways, it's all done except that the 120mm Nexus still hasn't arrived. So, one last picture of the finished product and I'll stop taxing the connecti...

Update: panel is in and cuts the annoying high frequency mobo coil hiss even further. The remaining hiss is emanating entirely from the rear of the case, largely through the exhaust fan port. Because of the beam-like nature of high frequency sound, I could nearly wipe it out with another acoustic pa...

Nearly there! A couple more pics: http://members.shaw.ca/djklassen/progress4.jpg http://members.shaw.ca/djklassen/progress5.jpg Just have to mount the front door and put in the acoustic panel, which is complete and leaning against the wall in the hallway. My exhaust fan hasn't arrived, so I've tempo...

I'm going to suggest that this 3dB rule exception thing is due to being very close to ambient noise levels. Two identical sources are clearly going to be doubling the noise energy being put out, which is 3dB, so long as that's the only sound energy you're talking about . But if the noise source is v...

I have several other pics, though I didn't do closeups of the woodworking. I do plan on doing a reasonably extensive writeup, though it will be a little bit yet, since I'm still waiting on the delivery of my exhaust fan, and I want to see if I can borrow the boss's spl meter to do noise level compar...

For what it's worth:

NCIX has 120mm Nexus back in stock, or so their website says. Hopefully this means the one I ordered a couple weeks ago will arrive soon.

Progress report: Assembly complete except for hanging doors. Some sanding to do; hope to finish that and get the stain on tonight, then multiple coats of varathane tomorrow, along with mounting the interior stuff and building the switch panel. http://members.shaw.ca/djklassen/progress2.jpg http://me...

Hi y'all. :) > it is possible that the "fatwallet" code word will still get you a 10% discount?! Try techbargains as another code. Haven't tried recently but mcexclusives is another 10% off code you can try. It may be dead by now. Coupon code will only work on some items. Won't work on geek-special...

Is anyone who purchased 10 fans interested in selling a couple? I ordered a Nexus from NCIX but they're backordered indefinitely according to the person I just spoke with. I'd order a couple Yate Loons from one of these vendors, but shipping to Canada on a couple fans tends to be unreasonable, where...

That said, if you do want to hear just the psu on its own in the open, you can do so by plugging in the power cord, flipping the switch on, and shorting the green wire on the mobo plug to any of the black wires. A paper clip works fine for this. I've heard it said that you shouldn't power up a psu w...

In light of Tibors' suggestion, I've been playing around a bit more. The results: http://members.shaw.ca/djklassen/case9.gif http://members.shaw.ca/djklassen/case10.gif Last night I had the psu sitting flat with the exhaust going forward and ducted down, and the hdd suspended horizontally above. Now...