seeking info and advice on said topic.

is it effective?
cost effective?
difficult to install?

9/10/2007 12:24:17 PM

yes (somewhat)... sound still get's out the front and back, pretty much anywhere you have fans
yes (depends on what you get)
no (though 1 of the 4 panels is typically a pain b/c it's on top of the PSU, depends on case)

I used this with good success on my last case:
http://www.svc.com/49spsoundpad01.html

Best things you can do though are buy better fans like Scythe Fluid Dynamic Bearing fans:
http://www.svc.com/sy-fan-sff21e.html

Fan vibration absorbers, either grommet or fan mounts... soft silicone feet for your case, silicone grommets or suspension system for your hard drives, etc... use a fan controller, upgrade to a larger cpu/chipset heatsink with minimal fan noise...
http://www.svc.com/sounddampening.html
http://www.svc.com/quietpc.html

really though for what it's worth (unless you go the $10 route), you should just invest in a new case like an Antec P180 series that has thicker door panels, isolated chambers, silicone grommets, etc..

[Edited on September 10, 2007 at 12:40 PM. Reason : .]

9/10/2007 12:34:15 PM

i should mention i utilize all the above strategies and for a high performance computer it makes a huge difference, my computer is virtually silent (<20db @ 3ft)

the really big impact items for cost effectiveness are the rubber grommets for the fans & hard drives since those all produce the vast amount of noise, the 2nd most cost effective items are changing the fans to the Scythe FDB fans, at the highest setting they can move 49cfm's and still only reach 20db, if you need 80mm fans go with Vantec Stealth, Nexus or Panaflo

sorry if this was a bit OT, but case dampening is like a band-aid, better to go to the source of the problem

[Edited on September 10, 2007 at 1:21 PM. Reason : ,]

9/10/2007 12:57:36 PM

http://www.atomicmpc.com.au/article.asp?CIID=26054

Quote :

"The Atomic Super-cooled liquid PC By Staff writers | December 1, 2005 Who said liquids and electronics don't mix? Here, in its full glory, you can see the Atomic Oil PC built by our own master-modder Ron Prouse -- a completely submerged, fully functional, computer (power supply included!) cooled by a pump system with mineral oil and a little help from nitrogen pellets. The result? An incredible -61 degrees celcius inside the tank! Watch video of this remarkable machine! "

9/10/2007 12:59:47 PM

ty x 5 for all the great info prosp

i guess i should elaborate on my problem / idea


my case sits rather close to my subwoofer, and the sidepanel (from what i think) vibrates during music, or any game involving heavy bass (bioshock big daddy's anyone?)..however it might be the top of the case against the psu.

anways i recently upgraded to a zalman 9700 and its rather quiet, all 3 case fans are 120mm and (from what i beleive) are decent in air flow and provide little sound. The loudest noise maker other then the vibrations is my psu (kingwin mach1 modular)

im mainly concerned with the vibrations but i figured if im going to fix that i should look into dampening the rest of the case...

but i am deffinately interested in the fan dampeners.


one more thing, is there any type of material you can buy at the hardware store that will do the same thing? i havnt shopped around and know next to nothing about what materials are used but im thinking the ones specifically made for case dapening are going to be more expensive and probably equal in performance compared to another similiar material found at a local hardware store

9/10/2007 2:16:55 PM

^ i thought about that too but couldn't come up with anything, best thing to do is probably go and check out what's available... basically all you need is some high density foam or rubber... just make sure it's anti-static

[Edited on September 10, 2007 at 2:23 PM. Reason : .]

9/10/2007 2:22:19 PM