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I wish the FCC would go back to doing their job re: radio interference and unintentional emissions. The entire concept of a computer case 'window' is about equally as anti-social and rude as littering in a public park. But it's so pervasive and socially accepted when I bring it up the only responses I receive are all quite hostile. Even worse are the computer builds that don't have any metal case at all. They're broadcasting that <30 MHz interference from the high speed switching electronics around the world, ruining a shared medium for everyone, and they have no idea.

And really, it's not the consumer's place to be aware of these things. It's the regulators'. And they've dropped the ball.



> computer builds that don't have any metal case at all

Would be nice to have more metal cases for SBCs, like the one on R4S, https://www.androidpimp.com/embedded/nanopi-r4s-review

KKSB makes metal cases for some SBCs, https://kksb-cases.com


I run a handful of odroid sbcs constantly with 3x rtl-sdr usb radio receivers each. For their cases I used the cardboard box they shipped in covered in overlapping 2" conductive-glue backed copper tape. And lots of type/mix 63 ferrites on the cords.


I also don’t get the point. Why would you want to look inside your PC or even have lots of coloured lights in it to look at?


I think the insides of a PC look more interesting than a flat piece of sheet metal. Adding addressable LEDs make that even more true.

Visually, I don't care particularly much one way or the other, but on a 6-12 layer PCB, there's plenty of opportunity to closely couple and shield fast-changing signals, so I wouldn't expect surrounding in a Faraday cage would be needed (and certainly I've never noticed an issue from the computers near my RF receivers).


Neither is very visible under your desk, except for possibly the front of the case.

I went out of my way to avoid extra lights, which sadly wasn’t possible for the GPU. I had to figure out how to turn those off in software.


It is a form of costly signalling.


Metallized windows would be nice at least


One workaround is conductive mesh (metal/fabric) over the window interior, bridged to bare metal of the case interior.




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