[gogo]

you can get pipe wrap insulation at most stores that carry weather seal stuff. There is this type that is about 3/16 thick and has foil on one side. It helped EMI. It also worked like a fill in a speaker box, made it sound like the box was bigger. the good thing is that it also made most of the noise come out the holes instead of the sides. on my proto type I had a 90mm on the side, a 80mm over the CPU and the fan from the PSU. The fans acted like very badly tuned ports.

Then again I've become very sensitive to noise.

Also remember that even if you were to 5V the fans, they would be very quit on the desk, but when you put the case into the cabinet with your A/V Equip, it'll be noticably louder. If you stack it on top of other equip., like an amp, the fan vibrations will probably tranfer and appear louder.

By no means am I trying to be negative or say don't do it (redundant?) Just relaying what I discovered. Strangely enough this is what got me into learning about speaker design.

I would sugest hooking up the fans and PSU. placing the other equip in the box so you have approx the same box relexes and putting the case where it will stay. Power it up and check the sound. Far easier to make adjustments now than later. It may save you from having to brak about glue.

I discovered that not having a side fan greatly redused noise levels. Because it was 17in wide the side fan ended up being 1/2 inch from a wall on the entertainment center. the sound just bounced around like crazy.

since all this I've moved to a smaller case and went woodless. I got an old Sony cd player online for $10, and cut the crap out of it.
I modified the front panel to hold a VU meter and a CF634 LCD. It doesn't have a CD or DVD any more, nor does it have incredible video. But it does play my mp3's of the server with no problems. It has a VIA933 so I just snaped on a Dragon Orb 3, took off the loud ass fan and put in a blue orb fan at 5V, just enough to get some air circulating. the only other fan is from the PSU and that's heat controlled.

After doing all this I thought I had a bad ground (getting feedback from the speakers when the PSU was plugged in and random resets) so I ran a ground wire from the PSU to the MB. It stlill got feed back and resets. Took it to the workbench and no problems. I tried replacing the power cord. no luck. Tor all the AV equip down and hooked it back up. still reset, but the noise was less so. I then realised the the Meter was on the same wall on the outside of the house. Plugged everything in to a line conditioner. No noise. and a lot better sound and picture. Just something else to consider I suppose. Though if youre on a budget a line conditioner is probably out of the question. They're pretty pricey.