Actually a post in another section here gave me the idea of isolating the mobo tray/backplate from the rest of the case using rubber grommets. That might be enough to solve the resonance issue. If I decide it's worth the effort - there really isn't a lot of noise coming off the thing. And you're rig...

I was about to post about how I'd love to softmount my motherboard because of the resonance issues in my wood case, but that I couldn't figure out how to do it since the video card has to be held securely to it. Any wiggling of the motherboard when the videocard is screwed securely to the case has t...

...and finally you would need to clean your case out often as you pretty much created a vacuum cleaner. This isn't really the case. I have a completely open bottom intake, no filter at all, and after not touching my case for almost a year I had some dust inside, but not enough to be causing any pro...

So, the upgrade bug bit me, and I retired the old Socket A system (temporarily) in favour of an almost completely new build. Only the optical drives and peripherals have been held over. The new goodies: AMD X2 3800 AM2 w/ Thermalright HR-01 Asus M2N-E motherboard Corsair 2x1GB TwinX DDR2-800 PowerCo...

I'm a big fan of the bottom intake. It has been extraordinarily effective on my custom wood case . With the only possible paths for sound to escape from the computer on the bottom and rear of the case, what little sound the computer makes is swallowed up by the carpet and a small acoustic absorbing ...

So long as the air pathways around the edges of the motherboard are reasonably unrestricted, I don't see any reason why a bottom intake beneath the mobo wouldn't work. Sounds like a good way to have a large intake without leaving a direct pathway for sound to escape.

In short, it's just not possible. How we perceive sound is very subjective - a sound in one setting might be far more unpleasant the exact same sound in another setting. Background noise levels are hugely variable, and it's just not possible to "set" your ambient noise to a specific level without a ...

I think this is the first review I've seen someone test the vf900 on an x1900 series card I've got a vf900 on an X1900GT (which admittedly is nowhere near as hot as an XT or XTX). Stock cooler temps were 57 idle and 90 load, vf900 with the fan at full speed 37 idle and 54 load, vf900 with the fan a...

Most Thermalright coolers will fit with either their rev.A or rev.B mounting adaptor. That gives you a good range of quality alternatives in either tower or conventional configurations.

Arctic Silver will be marginally better than the generic white thermal grease supplied with the heatsink. Either will be superior to a thermal pad.

If you go with an M2N-E, be aware that it can only deliver 1.95v to the RAM, so doublecheck the RAM specs to be sure it doesn't need more. I just built a system very much like what you're looking at doing, bit higher specs, and my ddr2-800 is having issues - and it's specced at 1.9v. Though it's sta...

I've just set up a new system using an HR-01 on an X2 3800. Under load with no fan on the heatsink the temperature was in the high 60s and still climbing when I shut down prime95 (though it seemed like it was stabilizing), with a 120mm Nexus at 800rpm as an exhaust fan just a couple inches from it. ...

It's just the shell, shouldn't be an issue. If you like, apply some epoxy or crazy glue to prevent any movement or further cracking.

You can get thermal epoxies from Arctic Silver and probably other manufacturers of similar products. Sticky heatpads like those one video ramsinks are probably available too.

Are 7900GTs still experiencing all those artifacting issues? I read a 5-page thread on the Arstechnica forums about everyone and their dog rma-ing those things over and over again, and the eVGA support forum....yikes. Scared me into going with a X1900GT. I'd tell you about how it works, but I'm stil...

It seems to me it shouldn't be too difficult to support the heatsink itself directly, either by blocking it up from the case floor, or hanging a wire from the top of the case (should you have one with the fins above rather than below the card). Supporting the corner of the card won't take any of the...

Not sure about standard am2 clips, but you can get the Thermalright rev.A and rev.B clips to convert to 939 and 775 mounts from ncix.com. I'm not sure if they're compatible with just any heatsink using those mounting standards, though.

All those black wires in the 20-pin ATX connector? Those are grounds. If you like, you could run an extra wire between the psu chassis and a mobo mounting hole, but I haven't found it to be necessary.

Yes, hopefully the exhaustfans can help cooling the PSU so it never ramps up. Thats the idea anyway :-) Well, for whatever it's worth my psu is completely isolated airflow-wise, directly intaking fresh air and directly exhausting it outside the case, and it never ramps up without anything assisting...

Is there any reason not to turn the psu sideways or something so it vents straight out, and let those two exhaust fans suck air in past the hdd and dvd without any intake fan assistance? It seems to me you'd get as much air moving through the main chamber without any of the psu exhaust added to the ...

Massive is good if you're trying to contain the sound, and aesthetics are subjective. So long as Jani likes the appearance, it's all good.

Nice work!

(possibly coming soon to a message board near you - Doug's Quiet Wood Case: HTPC Edition)

Or, to put it more succinctly, it's better to have three fans you can't hear than one fan you can.

There's the matter of wood expansion/contraction in various levels of humidity. I wouldn't build a computer case like Danger Den.....YMMV. If those cases are really solid wood, no wonder the cheapest is $800..... The cost has far more to do with them being custom hand-built than it does to do with ...

I can't get anything at newegg. They don't ship to Canada.

I hate to sound like a crank, but it would perhaps be useful if people actually read the OP before posting?

So, like, just ignore the stated budget and recommend a system at 2x the cost? Well, okay, 1.5x the cost. Depending on how far above msrp conroes show up for.

I appreciate all advice, but there's just no way I'm spending enough to buy a conroe and a x1900xt.

gorsnak , I note your point about upgrades, but my recommendation is to leave the option available. If you're buying new RAM anyway, get AM2. That will allow you to swap just mobo & CPU if you later decide that you want an Intel chip. OTOH, if you have 1GB in your current rig, going 939 would allow...

Since wood isn't conductive, you can just mount the motherboard directly to it using plain old wood screws (the kind with pointy tips, rather than the flat tipped bolts that you normally use in computers). You could do this, but I wouldn't. I'd put spacers between the mobo and the wood (plastic was...

The system gets used for a variety of things, but the only things that will actually stress it are games. But I don't want to design just to run a specific game - it's very likely I'll be using it for at least 3 years, and I expect that I won't play just Oblivion during that time period. The 7900GT ...

I've decided that the time has come to move on from my old Athlon XP 2100+ system, in no small part because I'd like to play Oblivion. I also happen to have a bit of coin to spare atm, so I'm looking at a major system upgrade. Actually, I'm looking at most of a new system, with only optical drives, ...

Generally, the rougher the surface, the more sound absorption you get. In fact this is how sound absorption works. Vibrations that hit a hard, flat surface bounce back with full force. Vibrations that hit an irregular surface scatter in all directions instead of returning intact with a repeat of th...