Yeah, never any noise or latency issues from firewire cables here either. I bought some heavy duty cables from cablestogo.com and they seem to work great. As for physical noise from the computer(like fans and drives), isolation is the way to go, and it can be done cheaply. I built a box out of oak plywood, that was oversized. I lined it with Auralex Sheetblock, slid the tower in and then put 2" foam on the sides and top. The foam extended out the back about a foot past the end of the computer, creating a foam tunnel. Even with the front uncovered, I could record vocals and acoustic just 5-6' away