A metal case would be a priority for someone like me that does location recording though. A plastic case doesn't rackmount easily and doesn't hold up as well when hauled around. But that is still good to know for studio use. I do know that some metal cases are lots quieter than others and isolating hard drives and optical drives is the same process regardless. What most companies do not do however is line the inside of the case with damping material and line the drive bays in similar fashion. Quiet cases tend to be at least three space and much more usually four space because of the size of the fans. Large fans moving slow are much more quiet and move more air than smaller fans moving at even medium speeds.

Looking again, the PAL is actually all Steel except for the front face ( I thought it was all plastic but its nice paint..hmm... ) . Good to know. Even more impressive.

hey, I have two rack mount CP, both never used for mobile.
The older ADK core 4 is beautifully built but is a bit noisy compared... I've considered selling it or upgrding the core 4 to an i7 for a bigger mobile rig.Its this possible?
But the laptop is here so... .

Don't you use a laptop?

I do use a laptop but am considering a rackmount desktop instead in order to utilize PCIe cards back at home. Laptops are perfectly adequate to me for remote location work. I'm just also thinking about paring down the number of machines I have as well. A rackmount would be both mobile and expandable.

In regards to the ADK, changing processors is dependent on the pin count since the sockets are very often different in different generations of CPU's. Also, motherboards are made specifically for AMD or Intel chips and never the two shall meet. What exactly is the quad core?

The ADK is an Intel quad. 2.8 with SATA and swap drawers ready. Its got 4 hours on it. I tossed it because it had too much noise for what I needed at the time and no firewire that was visible. I found the FW later hiding behind a removable tab that the company never removed. Having multiple CP's here, it was easy for me to shelf it . Now that I'm full steam ahead in the mobile business, its looking better now and although I'm certain it will work for what I'm doing, I've thought of upgrading it and either keeping it or selling it.
The ION is an AMD and I now see its ideal use. Its built for cooling and serious A/V . I've been thinking about using it for my main mastering rig now. I simply have too many CP here.

Intel Q9550 CPU?

It is likely an industrious sort can quiet the case down. If it is fan noise you are hearing the key is to replace them with controllable fans that are set low and larger fans if there is room. Also, if one can add large slow moving fans this helps too. If the rattle is in the case parts, one can get thin auto gasket material and line the spots where the case sides meet or indeed line the inside other than vent holes. It isn't hard but is a bit laborious if you have to strip the computer down to bare essentials.

Thanks for all the info!
The ION has 3 fans that work in stages. They also speed up as heat is generated. Its a noisy beast compared but its performance and stability is amazing.

I'm not sure what the ADK is but I'll have a look tonight. I'd love to make than an i7. I wouldn't worry about the fans for remote work at all because I'm not recording with microphones beside them. I only need a quiet system for the control room where I do testing and all my detailed stuff. Silence is big for me. The PCAudioLabs is choice but after reading your tips, even better!

Hi John,

man time flys.Seems not long ago I shelved this on. I'm on it right now. Its a Q6600 2.4 Quad core 2. It runs pretty nice. I just upgraded the brwoser to Firefox and its causing a popping sound (like buffering) through my HD screen. Never heard that before on any of my other PC's. Do you know what that is?

Can this be upgraded easy?

Found the sparking sound. I had the volume turned way up on the flatscreen when its always bypassed for the sound to go through my FF800.

Its works great. Just would love to upgrade the motherboard. Is that possible? How do you find out?

Well, you can upgrade the cpu if you stay within the same family and pin count.

You could upgrade the mobo and ram and cpu but you would lose the audio tweeks ADK used and any custom bios. It might still be worth it. If there is room in the case you could duplicate the parts in the PAL machine you like so much. This route guts the box and requires a reformat of the operating system.

Seem's a shame to let these go to dust.

The PAL I have, I tried upgrading the OS and ended up starting from scratch. I reformatted it to win7 64 and did the tweaks myself. Its unreal now. The bios setting. Is this something that can be copied?

How valuable are the parts to a local shop here. I wonder if this would be better bartering for a SSD and other things? When I open the CP's up and look inside, they are works of art of are really.

The bios is on the mobo. It is mobo specific. If you like the machine as is swap the cpu. If you want a duplicate of the other you have to buy the parts. There won't be money in trading the parts I don't think. It's still a viable machine and would take Win7 without issue. Or sell at RO.

Upgrading the CPU sounds more logical. Is this something like swapping memory? All new to me...

Is the bios like current balancing or something? What is that? I know I see that when you boot. It sounds like bias settings via the old tape machines :)

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There's a site for DIY quieting of your PC.

I use rubber grommets on my hard drives and fluid -or- magnetic bearings on my fans. Much quieter. Still could do more, though.

Upgrading the cpu is not hard but one has to be careful. Also a new CPU will likely require a new heatsink and fan. In your case you will have to stay with the Core 2 "Q" series so no i7 for that box.

The bios is the basic instructions for the routing on the mobo. Basic Input Output System. It is housed in a chip on the mobo with non perishable memory. The battery on the mobo keeps the clock and the bios settings which are stored in perishable memory. New bios either come from the mobo manufacturer or custom bios from the dealer (dell, hp, acer, adk, rain, pal etc).