Custom sound insulation?

[deagz]

Tomorrow I'm going to home depot to see if I can find any cheap sound insulation that I can glue onto the inside of my case panels. The HD noise seems to reverbrate like a subwoofer. Any suggestions that I should look for in paticular?

I don't want to spend the 20 bucks on akasa case foam.

Also btw, does anybody know if it's bad to put the pc next to a home theatre amplifier?

 

[letdown427]

If HD vibration is an issue, mount it using shoelaces. Sounds stupid, but works a treat. There's a guide on how at spcr, Mine is mounted differently, I could post some pictures later once I'm home from work if you want.

I'm interested in sound insulation stuff too, and ditto about the akasa money option.

 

[jmke]

strong rubber bands will also help; look here for a few guides:
http://www.silentpcreview.com/section14.html

(by "few" I mean tons )

 

[letdown427]

Originally posted by: jmke
strong rubber bands will also help; look here for a few guides:
http://www.silentpcreview.com/section14.html

(by "few" I mean tons )

I managed to unceremoniously hang my HD using 4 rubber bands. I just tried to describe how, and it made no sense, so I'll give up.

I've found that shoelaces allow for more precise hanging, and they're far more secure, and the extra can be used to tie down that mass of hidden cables behind the HD rack. Oh and they don't get stiff over time and snap.


(More importantly, they're black )

 

[deagz]

Amazing. I took the shoelaces from a pair of reeboks and tied them into 2 loops around one of my 5.25" bays. I squished the HD in between the 2 loops and and booted the rig. The HD is at least 2X quieter than before. Amazing.

Anybody who still has their HD still bolted to their case needs to put it upon themselves to do a similar mod. The HD will not move if I tilt the case from side to side or front to back, but i would definately not keep it like that if i were to pick up the case for transportation.

Screw akasa, I just did a mod for free. Hopefully my Home Depot visit will be as fruitfull.

 

[letdown427]

I'll have to take some pictures, but you can make them nice and secure without much of a problem.

I tend to mount my drives so they're side on to the intake fans? Standing tall if you will, so the power/data cables are at the top towards the 5.25 bays (normally)

This is for one corner of the hard disk. Basically I put a screw in it sticking out, to use with the laces. Have the laces tied nice and tight, making two lines across the HD cage, one crossing say the top 3.5 bay, one crossing the bay below. I then put the screw on top of the top lace, and pull the bottom one up over onto the top of the screw. This makes a very tight fit around the screw. Repeat this with the other side of the drive, and you can just suspend it like that. For security obviously you could secure the bottom coners aswell, then it definately would not move.

Also, you can slide the harddisk around, although it takes enough force that the HD cannot move by itself. So you can mount it exactly how you want. They also now stay nice and cool thanks to one of the warm edges being in front of the intake fan. Stick some heatsinking on there and it'll be veritably chilly!

Glad to hear it worked out so well for you though, congrats!

 

[Luckyboy1]

Originally posted by: letdown427
If HD vibration is an issue, mount it using shoelaces. Sounds stupid, but works a treat. There's a guide on how at spcr, Mine is mounted differently, I could post some pictures later once I'm home from work if you want.

I'm interested in sound insulation stuff too, and ditto about the akasa money option.

I just wanted to say what an excellent idea that is! That's truly using brain power instead of the wallet! :beer:

The closest thing I could think of to do that would have been the rolls of natural cork that come 1/16 inch thick and have sticky backing on one side. That stuff's expensive!

 

[Zap]

I've heard of using rubber bands before, but not shoelaces. Cool!!! It's 100X better to cut down on noise where it is created, rather than try to cut down on noise by blocking/muffling it after it's created. This means no matter how much insulation you tack on to your case, soft-mounting the HDD will cut down on noise better in ALL instances.

 

[letdown427]

Originally posted by: Zap
I've heard of using rubber bands before, but not shoelaces. Cool!!! It's 100X better to cut down on noise where it is created, rather than try to cut down on noise by blocking/muffling it after it's created. This means no matter how much insulation you tack on to your case, soft-mounting the HDD will cut down on noise better in ALL instances.

Yeah, shoelaces work really well. More secure, more precise, more reliable, and more colour options!

 

[Luckyboy1]

http://www.combifab.com/Cork.html

 

[GalvanizedYankee]

From my reading at SPCR it was noted that the use of sound damping material was near
the last step in the quest for a quiet rig. All other sound generating sources should be
addressed first.


...Galvanized

 

[Maxspeed996]

I took my hard drives and mounted them with rubber o-rings between the hard drive and the drive bay wall , and put my screws in. I've found that it insulates the case from any vibration pretty darned well.
If you want to use something nice for sound dampening material , you can go to the car audio department of your local Best Buy (or similar store) and get a small package of "Dynamat". It's thin , and easy to cut to fit in your case and works REALLY well at cutting down on noise. You can pick up a small package for like $15.

 

[zephyrprime]

There is a sort of foam mat made for placing under hardwood floors to cut down on walking noise. You could try that.

 

[Zepper]

If some of your case panels are ringy, sticking varying lengths of rope caulk (sold under the Mortite and FrostKing brands) onto the inside after cleaning well with degreaser worked well for my Silverstone. Just keep sticking it on until it's dead enough for you. Heavy, not pretty, but cheap! If you need to hide it, just stick some fabric or other onto the inside of the caulk.

.bh.

 

[Talcite]

Galvanized monkey is 100% correct. Sound dampening material is really more on the hardcore last attempt side. However, if you're really desperate or you're just interested, read my guide here