Rackmounting yer PC

[TOR]

Considering getting a 4U rackmount case for my PC... is it a good idea to chuck it in there under all the analogue gear what with the large amount of electrical noise I'm assuming it generates?

~Tor

[mtsupiano]

You should not only be worried about electrical noise, but the noise generated by fans and hard-drives. I would do some investigation on those new isobox thingies. Supposedly they do a pretty good job at blocking noise.

What motherboard are you intending to use? 4U rackmounts are intended for servers. Typically an off the shelf motherboard will not fit into a server case (4U rackmount). Well, it's not that it won't fit, its just the holes aren't drilled right to screw the motherboard down. My guess is that you would have better luck putting a Asus or Abit motherboard into a 4U case than a motherboard from a standard Gateway/Dell/HP/Compaq system.

Just a thought

Andrew

[TOR]

Cheers Andrew!

The one I'm looking at is a used government IT rack server case (but comes with a P3 mobo in it, and they said it will fit any mobo) I'm gonna chuck my KT Ultra AMD motherboard in it, and I've already got a quiet Spire CPU fan, and havent been using any system fans on the current setup, and no overheating has happened. I was also thinking, because it is so big, I might be able to fix some foam onto the inside of the case to help dampen noise as well (tho this doesnt affect electrical noise does it?)

here's some pics





Am i on the right track here?

~Tor

[DanV]

If you decide on getting a brand new one I highly suggest you check out the casetronic line, see www.casetronic.com , they are solid. I have a 3u one that looks hot and it's design is layed out well.

[spoon]

http://www.inkydust.com/dawpic.html

I think it is the only way to be neat and clean with the gear. I actually have mine in a 20u in an isoloation "closet" (along with an MDR). I use 15' cable extensions to the "control" room....
http://www.inkydust.com/wkstpic.html

I think it would be too loud if you keep it in your "listening" environment...to much white noise as mtsupiano wrote. I thought the iso boxes were too expensive. Luckily I had the adjacent room to use as an iso closet.

Good luck.

spoon