case temps with noise dampening question

[cmge]

i was thinking of putting some noise dampening mats on my case... and i was wondering does it affect the temp inside the case?... and some ppl have told me its over rated... does it actually more good than bad?

 

[Ken90630]

I think the conventional wisdom is that yes, it will likely increase your interior case temp a bit. However, if your case has good "fannage" and an effective airflow scheme, adding some good quality dampening mats isn't likely to raise the temps so much that the bad would outweigh the good. Obviously, the more dampening material you use, the more your case will be 'insulated' and thus retain heat. How much quieting you achieve depends on the quality of the dampening material and how much you use (of course).

Below is some info I copied from SPCR's Web site. It's from a very loooooong article on quieting down PCs. At the end I've included a link if you wanna see the original article, which has hyperlinks that didn't transfer over in the verbiage below. Maybe you'll find it useful. Good luck.

9. Acoustic Dampening material
Acoustipack is a heavy sound deadening material you can apply to your case. There are several versions, including pre-cut kits for some Antec cases and ones made specifically for HTPC cases. If you have already have a quiet system, it won't that help much. If you have a loud system, especially with high frequency noise or a lot of case vibration/resonance, it should be a significant help. The Acoustipack Deluxe V.2 comes with extra foam blocks and a better sheet of acoustic dampening material than the normal version, or versions that are pre-cut for particular case models. A warning, most dampening materials will add significant weight to a case, so expect your computer weight to increase by 7-10lb.

Mutemat seems to be similar to Acoustipack according to the SPCR review, but there is no definitive answer as to whether it is better or worse than the previously reviewed Acoustipack. The reviewer didn't do any "scientific" testing, but he believes that it's about the same quality as Acoustipack. As reported in review, this is made by a U.K. company, and should be easily available to people there.

Nexus Damptek has gotten a couple of feedbacks in the forums. The Nexus kit has the blocks for 3.5/5.25 bays sold separately from the sheets that are cut and mounted to the walls of the case. The blocks are reportedly easy to tear, according to nicci, so you should avoid purchasing them. I?ve read somewhere that the foam is somewhat meh in terms of effectiveness and somewhat hard to remove after installation, unlike Acoustipack.

For those in Germany, Silentmaxx also makes a dampening kit. No users on this site have reported using it, so it's unknown how good it is. See here under Produkte

The four above are expensive in the $60-80 range. Cheaper stuff like Paxmate (around the $20 range) is useless. Buy the good stuff, or not at all. Unfortunately, the four dampening agents above have not been tested in head to head comparisons, so it is a mystery as to which may be the best. Alternatively you can try to make a DIY dampening kit from Mcmaster-Carr as outlined here using Sorbothane, a very popular material used to decouple hard drives and dampen cases on these forums, and a cheap foam such as egg-crate foam. Others have used floor tiles from Home Depot and the like.

Link to original article -- scroll down a long way for the section on dampening materials

 

[cmge]

i was actaully thinking about getting this... :S

http://xoxide.com/thermaltake-sound-dampening.html

but it looks like its useless if i do get them...

 

[Ken90630]

Originally posted by: cmge
i was actaully thinking about getting this... :S

http://xoxide.com/thermaltake-sound-dampening.html

but it looks like its useless if i do get them...

Ha ha ... well, it's made by Thermaltake, so ....

:evil:

Seriously though, that might just be useless if the folks at SPCR are right. They recommend against using the cheap stuff in "the $20 range," and that Thermaltake stuff is only $15. There can't be much to it (or much R&D that went into it) at that price. Cheap doesn't always mean bad, of course, but I'd prolly go with some Acoustipack material if I were doing this. I think there are some other brands out there too, not just those mentioned in that article.

Surely someone on this site has had good luck with some dampening material and can offer some firsthand advice. Anyone?

 

[Shadowknight]

Originally posted by: Ken90630
Below is some info I copied from SPCR's Web site. It's from a very loooooong article on quieting down PCs. At the end I've included a link if you wanna see the original article, which has hyperlinks that didn't transfer over in the verbiage below. Maybe you'll find it useful. Good luck.

... Somebody actually read all the way through that thing I wrote? Wow.

 

[Shadowknight]

Originally posted by: Ken90630

Originally posted by: cmge
i was actaully thinking about getting this... :S

http://xoxide.com/thermaltake-sound-dampening.html

but it looks like its useless if i do get them...

Ha ha ... well, it's made by Thermaltake, so ....

:evil:

Seriously though, that might just be useless if the folks at SPCR are right. They recommend against using the cheap stuff in "the $20 range," and that Thermaltake stuff is only $15. There can't be much to it (or much R&D that went into it) at that price. Cheap doesn't always mean bad, of course, but I'd prolly go with some Acoustipack material if I were doing this. I think there are some other brands out there too, not just those mentioned in that article.

Surely someone on this site has had good luck with some dampening material and can offer some firsthand advice. Anyone?

Plenty of people have had good results buying some sorbothan from mcmaster-carr and using egg-crate foam. that or acoustipack is your best bet. Otherwise, avoid the cheap stuff and DO NOT use Nexus Damptek... barely anybody's used it, but everything I've heard is bad.

ETA: http://www.silentpcreview.com/article71-page1.html shows a few problems with most deadening materials. It doesn't mention dynamat, but it's supposed to be similarily ineffective.

 

[Elcs]

Originally posted by: Shadowknight

Originally posted by: Ken90630
Below is some info I copied from SPCR's Web site. It's from a very loooooong article on quieting down PCs. At the end I've included a link if you wanna see the original article, which has hyperlinks that didn't transfer over in the verbiage below. Maybe you'll find it useful. Good luck.

... Somebody actually read all the way through that thing I wrote? Wow.

Read the whole article and wrote my own mini review of Acoustipack Deluxe.

SPCR said it well. Acoustic Dampening material should be one of the very last things you try to reduce PC noise. Temperature changes were noted in my review.

Personally, with low volted Panaflo L1A's, Zalman on the video card, Seasonic S12 psu and Acoustipack Deluxe..... Im still finding my PC too noisy but I have no cash to waste on PC's at the moment.

 

[Ken90630]

Originally posted by: Shadowknight

Originally posted by: Ken90630
Below is some info I copied from SPCR's Web site. It's from a very loooooong article on quieting down PCs. At the end I've included a link if you wanna see the original article, which has hyperlinks that didn't transfer over in the verbiage below. Maybe you'll find it useful. Good luck.

... Somebody actually read all the way through that thing I wrote? Wow.

Heh heh ... yeah, unlike some of the kids today, I have an attention span longer than 30 seconds. :laugh: Plus, I write & edit for a living, so I'm used to reading/writing long pieces when appropriate. Didn't even break a sweat reading your article.

 

[Shadowknight]

Originally posted by: Ken90630
Heh heh ... yeah, unlike some of the kids today, I have an attention span longer than 30 seconds. :laugh: Plus, I write & edit for a living, so I'm used to reading/writing long pieces when appropriate. Didn't even break a sweat reading your article.

I'll have to try harder Anyway, what did you think of it?

 

[Elcs]

Personally, I liked it and wished it was longer and in a bit more detail (as a normal reader)

I know you are wanting Ken90630's opinion more but I like to give praise where due and its a bump too

 

[Shadowknight]

Thanks! The post could be longer... but when I was working on it, I couldn't read all of it due to some sort of limitation in Mozilla, at least according to another poster, so I've had to leave out a few components/opinions that would otherwise have been in there. I added a bit more on the second page of the thread as well.

ETA: Anyway, I wrote it because there's a lack of a "consolidated" for lack of a better word, document on all of the little things to make a quiet computer. Finding out that fan isolators exist, or that aluminum is more prone to vibrate than steel? Good luck finding that, unless you accidentally run across a post that mentions them, and even so, parts like isolators generally aren't referred to specifically as to who makes them, or what to use or avoid. It's a good idea to let people know specifically what to buy or avoid when it comes to the little things, like the Sunbeam rubber screws are bloody horrible, or that putting in mass loading material or foam is a concept that even exists when it comes to quieting down a computer.

 

[Zepper]

I use rope caulk (FrostKing and Mortite are common brands) to damp ringy case panels. Impecunious audiophiles used to use it to damp ringy turntables. It's not pretty, but it's cheap and does the job. Just degrease your panels thoroughly before using it so it will get as good a grip to the surface as possible. I used a 10% solution of Simple Green in dH2O (distilled H2O) followed by a rubbing alcohol rinse on mine and the stuff is still clinging (underside of top panel) - it's been nearly a year now.

.bh.