The SATA power connectors have a different length copper strip for the ground wires as the other wires. So the ground wires are always connected before the plus wires. How could you implement this with a switch, without resorting to using two switches :?: It wouldn't hurt to leave the grounds perma...

Has anyone tried 'potting' a hard drive?
RS Components do a thermally conductive epoxy which would be interesting to try.

www.rswww.com item 552-668

Will still need to find a reasonable size box to put it in though.

I have a horrible Maxtor thing I might try it on when I get a minute.

My XP2500, 512Mb, 9800 Pro, 120gb HD and 17" monitor uses 140W when folding, 80W with the monitor in standby.
Core voltage is quite low at 1.3v, but I was suprised that at idle the consumption only dropped 5w.

Or try squash balls cut in half, worked wonders for me when my PC sat on a desk.

I'll admit not reading the thread fully, so forgive me if I have missed something. Surely the PC must be properly grounded, else the static charge on the user wouldn't be discharging quite so readily? I haven't been able to prove it yet, but often when I touch the case of my hi-fi, I get a static di...

Soldering would be best, but you could try using some scotchlok connectors. These let you splice a wire onto another one without cutting it, so you could connect your fan to the wires inside the psu.
Have a look in your local car parts store.

Try Maplin's http://maplin.co.uk Codes ZZ06G or ZT37S may be what you are after. I think you will find that floppy and cd drives use a fine thread of some sort (M3 I think) and hard discs a 6-32 UNC (coarse) thread. I think you can use the hard disc screws everywhere else, but normally hard discs us...

Have you tried the sewing/fabrics bit of John Lewis?

I've been using a wooden trunk as a case for about the last six months, with the hard disk and PSU on one level and the motherboard in a seperate compartment above. The rom drive and floppy drive sit on top of the trunk at the moment, still to get round to making a seperate case for them. Been meani...

Cpemma, surely you have just missed a golden opportunity to plug the wonderful little 555 PWM circuit you have on your website. Always hits the fan with 12V (ish), so no problems starting and it doesn't seem to throw much heat out. Cost me four quid including a nice knob and took an hour of my time....

air conditioners and radiators have fluid distributing heat through them and because of this, the air can go all the way through it and out the other side. For computers this isn't possible without heatpipes. Often wondered this myself. Put the fan on the side and air can go all the way through, pr...

Thinking of a doing a similar thing myself. I'm going to use a small wooden chest 700x350x350mm in size, will put a shelf in it so the psu and hard discs are at the bottom, and the motherboard above. I'll have loads of room for ducting, with fans sitting part way along from each end. I'm going to tr...