"ferrite" ring

[Ots]

It's in the bag of parts that comes with a new case. It has been referred to as a "ferite" ring, although I don't know if that is the correct term. My friend thinks it should have the case wires go through it that attach to the MB. Noise reducer he called it. None of this makes any sense to me. Does anyone know what this ring is for? If you know and can provide a technical explanation I would really appreciate it. Thanks!

 

[waylander]

Ferrite is an iron based alloy or just iron (Ferrum is latin for Iron). Don't know what they are used for. What case did they come with?

 

[nobly]

Can you post a picture of it or something?

 

[deweycd]

they are used to decrease an unwanted noise on the wire. They help to decrease small level serges and will help to possibly stop magnetic induction in the wiring that would create their own small power serge

 

[Pain]

If I'm not mistaken, it's for the speaker wire, or possibly all the front panel wires.

You'll pass the wires through the bead and loop them around one time and pass them back through the bead.

 

[inplainview]

Ferrite is used to isolate circuts.

I can't remember if it's from AC or DC though.

I'm pretty sure it's to block high frequency AC.

It's been a while since my electronics training. >.<

 

[Arctucas]

I believe it is referred to as a "choke". It is used to remove stray electrical signals and/or to prevent unwanted induced voltages/currents.

 

[Kholonar]

One of the guys above was correct in what they are for. When wrappingwire into a coil you get an inductor and inductors in essence resist changing current. You can think of them like electronic dampeners (think about shock absorbers in your car. As the current increase or decrease, the inductor generates a magnetic field to resist the changing current. The same principle is unsed in the x phase voltage regulation in your motherboards.

Here's a pic of a ferrite ring setup

I severely doubt you need to use the ferrite ring as they are meant to stable low tollerance systems. Perhaps you will get a minor improvement with your speakers but it shouldn't noticable.

 

[maury73]

You should group ALL the wires that go from the mobo to the front panel and pass them inside the ring making one or two turns (not more!).
It's purpose is to limit EMI (Electro-Magnetic Interference) especially if you have front panel USB and/or Firewire ports: they run at high frequencies 400 to 800MHz and due to the long cables they can generate or capture radio interferencies, so you should always let them pass trough the ring.
Refer to the Kolonar's image picture, but wire up only 1 or 2 turns around the ring, preferably the nearest you can to the front panel.

 

[Ots]

Thanks to all - good responses. The only irritating thing is that there was a bit of truth in what my friend had told me! I hate it when he guesses correctly! Thanks again to all.

 

[MrCommunistGen]

HaHA! Maybe this will fix an annoying problem I've had with my front panel audio. Especially with headphones there is a high pitched buzz/whine, especially when I have devices drawing power from the front panel USB (it gets worse when I turn on the backlight on my G15 keyboard). I remember running across a few of these when I was taking apart an old server. Now if only I could find them!

-mcg