EMI Shielding Case???

[=[PULSAR]=]

I know that OCZ sells their shielded VGA n HDD cables and it does cut down on the EMI, but has anyone ever tried to insulate their case with some kind of EMI dampening material? I have read many reviews and see that these cables cut down the EMI in half and gives roughly a 2.5% increase in OC's on video cards. It would be nice to get a little more out of a video card, CPU, and RAM.

[=[PULSAR]=]

bump

[Disposibleteen]

now that would be alot of emi shielding material, i dont know if it would be worth it or not, depends on how expensive the material is, i wonder where you would find that much emi shielding

[oublie]

apparently braiding all your wiring in the case with silver braid (it has a certain metal content), will help with emi, not sure to what extent though but its a bit like a poor man's version of the emi braiding on the ocz cables (tagan psu's have the same on the mains power connector)

[kouch]

I am not sure how much this would help either. It would depend on your psu thats for sure. If you already have a high quality psu, I don't think it will help much at all.

[Disposibleteen]

yea because dont higher end psu's have emi shielding on the inside of them anyway?

[STEvil]

Not worth it, all the EMI is comming from within the case, not from outside (PSU's with windows suck!).

If you want EMI sheilding just ground your CPU heatsink and maybe video card/nb/sb heatsinks. Everything else is trivial.

[=[PULSAR]=]

Well I'm not talking about just the PSU cables, I am talking about the entire case, the psu is only the power signal EMI affects all the components on cards and MB, all components are widely open to EMI after the power gets to them. They have EMI sheilding paint its not that expensive I guess it would be something to try when I recieve the funds.

[STEvil]

Not worth it, all the EMI is comming from within the case, not from outside (PSU's with windows suck!).

As in painting the case with EMI sheilding paint will not help.

Even just the metal of the case itself will protect against EMI (this is why PSU's only need a case and not a faraday cage).

If you really want to stop EMI that bad, ground all the major heatsinks and put ferrite donuts along the PSU power cables.

[=[PULSAR]=]

Not worth it, all the EMI is comming from within the case, not from outside (PSU's with windows suck!).


You think theres something to put over the window to stop EMI, I cant live without a window...lol, maybe something like a thin metal mesh?

[STEvil]

yes, metal mesh (square grid) is exactly what is used to construct a faraday cage.

[enzoR]

yo wont notice a difference... all the EMI is comeing from INSIDE the case... move your PS, HD's n stuff out of the case and put some ferrite cores on the power lines...

[STEvil]

enzor - I think he was referring to a window on the PSU.. thats all I can guess anyways since i've said what you just said a couple times ;)

[Noxeos]

I think one poster mentioned internal EMI, as there is also external EMI. Living next to a large radio manufacturer like myself, you may benefit from building a faraday cage around your entire system (or on the inside of the case). Building a faraday cage around the PSU would help as well. Ferrite donuts around the cables themselves would also help, I'm not sure which would give you the best amount of benefit for the effort. A faraday cage is compromised of different width (gauge) wires in different size squares that form an overlaping box to attenuate different frequencies. I'm sure if you do a search for them you will find schematics and possibly a commercial retailer. Grounded wire mesh would also help to insulate a signal cable from EMI, with the best results would be to ground the cable every so many inches (maybe every few inches). A large sturdy steel case would also cut down EMI, I know the latest case I bought was a flimsy piece of crap from DiabloTek.

I could see maybe building a small faraday box around the PSU and measuring the difference in EMI levels with a spectrum analyzer, but would it be worth the effort?

[STEvil]

nice first post noxeos ;)

external sources shouldnt be worried about really... some large 120/220v fans if placed within 1-2 feet can cause issues with an open case, but no worries with the side on for example.

[fastvfr]

Specs for my Skull case (check the 'Side Panel' entry):
http://www.cooltechzone.com/images/reviews/cases/skull%20021.JPG

[ZEROKOOL]

wtf are u guys talking about, metal cases are considered shielded aslong as the I/O cover is in place and the powersupply is firlmy screwed in. acerlic and clear cases and ones with windows are far less shielded, this is basic A+ training. . . .
i would kind of be scared for myself to be in that room if there was that high of EMI level

[STEvil]

We know this zerokool, that is why we are explaining the EMI to be comming from within, not from outside.

[ZEROKOOL]

well from inside? i wouldnt think there was alot you could do about that unless u section off parts from eachother with metal dividers but that kills airflow! what about thoes new lan-li cases with the hdd's and psu on bottom vc1000 i think i have 2 there nice...

[STEvil]

ground the heatsinks is about the only option for components inside.