Ideas on getting the loud computer out of the room

  How do you guys deal with computer noise etc?  I realizie that there are quiet cases/computers/power supplies available.  My current solution is to have it outside the room and run the cables under the door.  It works pretty well but is a pain for obvious reasons.
    Has anyone experimented with wall plates for vga, usb, and in my case, the delta style cables? (I think they are dsub)  Ideally I would like to be able to have another monitor and kybd etc upstairs as well. (running off the same computer. I have a couple links on wall plates and wiring but am just asking if anyone here has done it.

my computer is so quiet, i track vocals standing directly beside it.

i custom built my PC to have ultra quiet fans, and an insulated cabinet.

Antec Solo Black/Silver Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 
Thermaltake TR2 RX W0134RU 550W ATX12V Ver2.2 SLI Ready Modular Passive PFC PFC Power Supply

This is something I've been trying to figure out also. I don't really want to have it in another room with cables going thru the wall.

I was going to build a box to enclose it but, was concerned about the heat build up.
Jeff, How do you monitor your temperatures?

I was screwing with it today checking temps (as I finally put the side panels back on after like 4 months) and I had to keep rebooting to go into the bios to get a read on the temps.


My computer is pretty quiet, but, it would be nice to get an extra couple/10 db more silence out of it. 

A wall plate would work OK, here's some reasonable limitations: USB2 craps out at about 5 meters, make sure you use an extension with an active buffer on it. A single extension with a hub would be fine for key and mouse etc. Hard drives or audio adapters should be plugged in the PC directly to avoid potential problems. Video depends on the type: VGA starts to degrade at length, the higher the resolution the more you'll see the problem. For analog VGA at modern resolutions above 1280X1024, I'd limit it to about 6 feet depending on the cable quality. DVI and HDMI are digital and more tolerant of some longer cables. Long HDMI cables are easier to find if you can use them. I've seen as much as 20 feet cables. Going further will require a special distribution system. There are systems that use a box with HDMI connections that re-transmit the signal over standard Ethernet cables for easy long distance distribution. Another option is to use Windows Remote Desktop to control your DAW from another room. That would require your DAW to be running on a professional version of Windows (not home premium). If you've got a quiet laptop that would do the trick, just select the option to keep the audio at the remote computer. Re-directed RDP audio is useless.

Hi timidi sorry it has taken a while to respond. The cabinet I use has air vents right across the top left and right sides which is important for bringing air into the cabinet. If you have a door on the back all you have to do is make sure you have a cutout where the power supply fan is located so that air can go directly out of the box. If you don't do this, then the warm air gets pushed around down the back of the computer and things get much hotter than they should.

Opening the back door 2" also achieves the same effect and the sound level still does not come up. The computer inside a small rack with a front door is really nice and very very quiet. I also have it under my main table which also drops the level somewhat.

I have found even on the hottest days the computer stays as cool as a cucumber as they say. I am on the ground floor and there are two floors above me so the studio stays the coolest for longest. I am lucky in that regard.

Stick to PS2 mouse and keyboard connections. Wireless often means the mouse is heavier due to the battery. Wirelss has been known to interfere with DAW in some situations.

The only issue with the computer in a cabinet though is it took longer for me to discover that I had a C drive that was making a scraping noise (bearing etc!) It was only by accident almost I heard it. I was able to save it by cloning it perfectly using Acronis True Image. Now I do regular checks in there!

HighAndDry


  How do you guys deal with computer noise etc?  I realizie that there are quiet cases/computers/power supplies available.  My current solution is to have it outside the room and run the cables under the door.  It works pretty well but is a pain for obvious reasons.
    Has anyone experimented with wall plates for vga, usb, and in my case, the delta style cables? (I think they are dsub)  Ideally I would like to be able to have another monitor and kybd etc upstairs as well. (running off the same computer. I have a couple links on wall plates and wiring but am just asking if anyone here has done it.

H&D-  The answer to one of your questions is yes-- it can be done. We do it on campus for classroom technology and video conferencing setups all the time. There are (expensive) systems that can do most everything you want to accomplish using CAT6 cable and some fairly costly switching units.
To solve your immediate needs, there are the plates with the connectors, and there are also plates that allow the tidy pass through of any type of cable. They look like mini exterior dryer vents. The nice thing about them is that you can stuff boatloads of cables through them, and you're not limited to the type of cable.
My DAW is really really loud! Too many fans, and it's rack-mounted with a server power supply. It sounds like a jet. Using the above pass-through with R-19 insulation stuff in the hole, I can't hear it at all. The dryer vent looking things come in different colors and look nice installed.
Hope this is useful.