Are These Case and Fan Dampening Products Worth It?

[gba]

I have seen some positive reviews for theses fan dampeners and Spire SoundPad case dampening pads.

Are these products capable of making a machine significantly quieter or are they a waste of time and money?

Thanks..

 

[thecoolnessrune]

Honestly, I just run my YATES, keep my case closed, no dampening, no fan shields, and I'm satisfied. I suppose some people just really hate noise and what a silent world. For those people it does seem to indeed work. Acoustipack Deluxe seems to be a favorite.

 

[Boyo]

I have the Spire and I do not notice a difference. I would pass if I were you. Not sure on the fans.

 

[Zepper]

The silicone rubber fan mounting pins like the ones on this page are better than the silicone gaskets for isolating fans. But if your fans don't make much noise or vibration to begin with then they won't make a lot of diff. There are some applications where the pins can't be used so the gasket might be better than nothing but to do any good, you have to isolate the fan screws too. I do it anyway on all my fans to provide the fans a little protection just in case my case gets knocked over during operation. If you run across a listing for Sunbeam rubber fan screws, just keep on going - those are crapola. The Spire product is the same as the one packaged under the Akasa PaxMate name. You can find reviews of the Akasa product showing they don't do much against either airborne or vibrational noise. Akasa has a new PaxMate http://www.akasa.com.tw > Products > Accessories > PaxMate that may be better (or not) - certainly doesn't look to be any better on first impression.
. Something like rope caulk (Frost King and Mortite are some brand names) with greater mass and density would do a better job for less - I used it on my Silverstone Berserker and it damped the ringy top panel pretty well. Look on silentpcreview.com to find evaluations of a lot of this type of product.

.bh.

 

[gba]

Thanks Zep.. O I have used mortite for mounting speakers... I bet that would work really well! I will do that...

Thanks for the info on the mats and gaskets.. I am just not going to bother with that stuff and see where I am at once I am done with the build. Perhaps I will use Mortite as you have...

Thanks again, Zepper, for another thorough and useful response.

 

[Zepper]

YW. Just wipe down the surfaces you intend to apply Mortite to with alcohol and dry it well for better sticking power.

.bh.

 

[gba]

Gottcha... that makes sense.. thanks once again.. yeah, Mortite used to save my butt getting rattles out of HiFi Speaker systems when I worked in that biz...

.. all of this in prep for my first Aluminum case build, btw.. it is the Cooler Master RC 631 you posted in Hot Deals a little while back.. can't wait

 

[Zepper]

The impecunious vinyl record nuts used it to help damp ringing in turntable platters too - a lot cheaper than the thick sorbothane (etc.) platter pads... Neat stuff.

.bh.

 

[Old Hippie]

The impecunious vinyl record nuts used it to help damp ringing in turntable platters too

Worked very well on my Kenwood KD-500. :thumbsup:

 

[ShockwaveVT]

multi-layer, multi-density linings work much better than the single-later, single-density products like the Spire Soundpad.

There's 2 types of noise that these linings try and stop
1) resonant noise from the case panels vibrating. high-density products are meant to add mass to the panel so its less apt to vibrate, or vibrates at a lower, less audible frequency. most cheap linings are thin single layers of high density foam or asphalt

2) ambient noise from fans, drives etc. low density foam absorbs the sound rather than reflecting them around (and allowing them to escape the case)

dual- or triple- layer liners combine high density and low density materials to address both these noise sources

http://www.acoustiproducts.com/en/index.asp produce some decent stuff, but its pricey.

 

[gba]

Originally posted by: ShockwaveVT
multi-layer, multi-density linings work much better than the single-later, single-density products like the Spire Soundpad.

There's 2 types of noise that these linings try and stop
1) resonant noise from the case panels vibrating. high-density products are meant to add mass to the panel so its less apt to vibrate, or vibrates at a lower, less audible frequency. most cheap linings are thin single layers of high density foam or asphalt

2) ambient noise from fans, drives etc. low density foam absorbs the sound rather than reflecting them around (and allowing them to escape the case)

dual- or triple- layer liners combine high density and low density materials to address both these noise sources

http://www.acoustiproducts.com/en/index.asp produce some decent stuff, but its pricey.

that makes sense.. thanks... I have seen the pricey stuff.. I do not think it is in the cards... at least not for his build.

 

[Zardnok]

Many moons ago I ran an Athlon Mobile system with a healthy Overclock and extreme airflow using Tornado fans. When my machine fired off, it sounds like someone turned a vacuum cleaner on. It was great fun to have a nice big OC, but ultimately, nobody wants to listen to a vacuum all day long, SO I went on a silent PC kick. Enter a gaggle of Panaflo fans with fan controllers and such. At the time, I thought it would be an awesome idea to buy a bunch of the pads to mount my fans on, so I used the full gaskets similar to your first link.

I can honestly say they made absolutely no difference as far as I could tell. Perhaps if you do not tighten the fan screws down all the way, there may be a difference, but I insured my fans were all tight and could tell no conceivable difference. I will still use them, simply because I already own a bunch, but I would not buy them again unless they were really really cheap.

 

[WoodButcher]

I use EPDM rubber roofing for large panels, top sides and bottom. It helps with big cases. Same stuff as an inner tube and it is glued on w/ contact cement. Rubber screws help with fans and rubber washers for drives also help. In my case the HDs are stiitng up on 1/4" foam so they are almost inaudible.
With the exception of the rubber screws I find most sound dampening products that are sold can be made or fabricated at home for far less cost and the same or better result.

 

[Interitus]

If you're looking for a pretty cheap fan vibration reducing solution I use one I picked up from SPCR's forums.

Buy some zip ties of appropriate size and then head to your local auto parts store. Get some soft vacuum hose that will barely fit over the zip ties. Use a hobby knife to cut thin slivers off the hose and mount them between the fan and the case wall and between the other side of the case wall and the zip tie head. You'll wind up using 2 zip ties for each fan hole. Stick one through the fan and out of the case fan mount hole and just use the head of the other to tighten it down. It's very cheap and very effective. If you need a picture or something to better illustrate what I'm talking about just drop me a PM, I'll get a pic of my case to show you. It works very well though. On par with EAR grommets for fan vibration damping. I've used this method for probably 30 builds now. Should cost you around 3 bucks total.

-edit-

Forgot something. Just cut off the excess zip tie with scissors. You'd be surprised how clean it looks when finished.

 

[Jhhnn]

The best anti-noise solution is to not create it in the first place. Results from damping materials are very minor compared to proper component selection up front.

Fanless chipset coolers

Low noise or no noise aftermarket coolers on cpu's and gpu's

Low noise psu's

Quiet hdd's, like the samsungs

large low rpm case fans and open airways to promote flow- rubber fanmounts never hurt, and they're cheap.

Aluminum cases are particularly subject to resonance, so some kind of damping material is a good idea. Self-stick vinyl floortiles are pretty good, if unattractive, but they're only $1/sqft...

 

[Fallen Kell]

I myself just ordered some polyurethane foam absorbers. Got 54"x12"x1" for $11.50, which should be plenty, even for my gigantic full tower Lian-Li PC-201B. You just need to go to the right places. I ordered from McMaster.com. No need to pay $30 or more for this kind of stuff. Heck for $30, you could have enough stuff for 2-3 PC's.

 

[gba]

thanks for all of the great ideas everyone

 

[Zepper]

Hey WoodButcher,

You want to have good airflow under your HDDs as that's where most of the heat in HDDs is generated - don't want them sitting on any kind of stuff that cuts airflow off.

.bh.
.