USB setup (no noise) - Need advice

[Batistuta]

Since I want to get rid of any computer noise in my living room, I plan to put my PC in another room (maybe basement).
Distance (cablewise) will be 10-15 meters (30-45 feet).
What I want to do is pull 2 cables; monitor (either DVI og Analog) and 1 USB (2.0 is same cable as 1.1 I guess?).
Then connect a USB 2.0 hub, and attach to this the following:

Dual optical mouse / Keyboard / SoundBlaster Extigy / Sony DRU500 external DVD+R+RW-R-RW (usb2.0)/ printer / scanner / camera / USB to Ethernet adapter (usb1.1, for "networking" other comp.) / Logitech MOMO wheel / and maybe a TV-tuner (possibly usb2.0).

Does anyone have experience/comments/suggestions regarding such a setup???
I'm also thinking about; problems with cable length, CPU usage with so many USB devices running

Machine is a P4 1.6@2.4GHz, 512mb DDR, GeForce 4 ti4200, USB2.0 is add-on pci-card, 2mbit permanent connection.

Any and all advice/comments/ideas is much appreciated.

B.

 

[Gunbuster]

10-15 meters is going to suck with an analog monitor cable

The Extigy is a hog and will bog down on games from what I have seen

 

[dpopiz]

here's a better idea: replace all your drives with a big maxtor DM+9 and put your rig in an SS51G, or g-box or something if you want to keep your 2 5-1/4 drives
no noise, no space, no hassle

 

[dpopiz]

well, also if you really want to do your crazy set up, you oughta get KMV over ethernet...that will consolodate everything to one thin ethernet cable and will avoid the problem of using a 45ft vga cable

 

[Batistuta]

I have read a number of reviews on the Extigy, and I agree, that it will consume more cpu power than a normal pci soundcard. It will cost some fps, but I don't think it will make any of my games unplayable in the near future - I believe I have enough cpu horsepower for that?

As for SS51G - Nice box, which had caught my attention before, but two things prevent it: 1) Currently I have ~400 gigs of storage on 4 discs and will probably add two 10-15.000 rpm SCSI drives when I find a new job...so I need room for drives. 2) I don't want any fans in my living room, no matter how low noise - I have tried too many expensive cases and fans for that. What I want is 100% noiseless!

How does KVM over ethernet work ??? I know of power over ethernet, but not of picture. I guess using a 45ft DVI cable should be fine ?

B.

 

[dpopiz]

oh yeah, if you're using dvi, that should be fine,
also for the 45ft usb cable, don't use a normal cable. You need to get a special active buffer cable such as KDS's...otherwise you'll have problems.
overall I think this whole setup sounds crazy...there are too many little things that make it impractical -- but if you really want to, it should work, just as long as you use dvi and an active buffer usb cable

 

[SUOrangeman]

I've got a few KVM-over-Ethernet kits in use in my lab at work. It seems to be OK, with little to no lag. I'd say the cable run is probably between 100 to 300 feet. The units are from Cybex (now Avocent); called KVM Companions. I'm only pumping VGA (no more than 1280x1024 for sure; often less), PS/2 keyboard and mouse, and a little audio for NetMeeting use.

My lab is moving to a new building next month. We've had to go fiber with the KVM situation because the distance is much greater. It's easily now a $100K investment. I think we'll even have Gigabit-to-the-desktop once we get over there ... just no adapters in the workstations to really use it. Sigh.

-SUO