computer under floor? also long mouse/keyboard cables?

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nickmpower

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Jul 3, 2007
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well we have a crawl space under our house, and im working on builting a HTPC that will also replace the computer im on now. my question is, since noise might be an issue, why not just put the computer under the floor and have the nessisary cables along with a cd drive and card reader coming out through a hole?

also has anyone had experience with long mouse and keyboard cables? I think its about 35ft, so usb is out of the question, but will regular cables work?
 
Shove it in a insulated box and duct the heat through a insulated duct.
 
Why USB out of the question? You can get some pretty long cables and you can get adapters to link cables together.

I think the hardest would be the video cable.
 
i cant imagine there being many bugs, probably less then in our house and probably less dusty too, also cooler!

usb is not reliable over distances over 16 feet
 
I'd say your worst problem would be morning dew under the house. Hot computer on a humid night might contract some moisture.
 
whens the last time you saw a hot cup of coffee have water condense on it?

f1y said:
I'd say your worst problem would be morning dew under the house. Hot computer on a humid night might contract some moisture.
Click to expand...
 
I second the worries about morning dew. The crawlspace in our old house got so dirty and damp.. it'd be horrible for a computer. Can't you put it under a bed or on a bookcase or something? Good luck to you!
 
For the amount of effort you will spend routing cables to make it actually useful, you might as well just invest in silent cooling, hard drive isolation, etc.
 
A friend has done a similar thing to his PC.
His PC is underneath the stairs so we cut a channel in his concrete floor to route the cables into the living room. Total cable length is about 7 metres for USB keyboard/mouse, hifi and VGA.
His only problem is excess heat in the summer so he points a house fan under the stairs when its hot.

For resolutions above 1280, the picture gets a bit fuzzy so any video extension needs to be verified before deciding on the final cabling solution. You will likely struggle to cover distances like that with a DVI/HDMI cable
Higher quality oxygen free copper cables will perform better over longer than spec distances. Try to match metal types on connectors. ie gold to gold, copper to copper, nickel/zinc to nickel/zinc.
The USB keyboard and mouse work fine with a powered USB hub in the middle.
He is using analogue connections to his hifi so suffers a bit of quality loss through the long extensions but he isnt unhappy with the result.
Optical digital audio will need a special long cable.
Digital audio using Phono leads should be fine over that distance if good wire is used.

I wouldnt put a PC under the floor, as pointed out earlier, there will be insects and some nasty dust under there.
Keeping a PC at floor level isnt the best idea either as thats where most dust/dirt is.
My PC is on a table and is way cleaner than when it was on the floor

FYI :)
 
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