Grommets vs. Gaskets

[slowpogo]

I've got four 80mm Nexus Real Silent fans at 12v in my Praetorian case at the moment, which is very adequate cooling for my basic system. My question is about mounting options.

The fans themselves are plenty quiet, but there is some case resonance happening. How effective are rubber/silicone grommets and gaskets at dampening vibrations? Is it worth spending a few bucks on them, and is one preferable over the other? The gaskets, such as those from AcoustiFan are slightly more expensive but seem like a better option to my amateur mind...they don't leave a "crack" between the fan and the case like grommets. Not sure how much that affects airflow..

Also considering grabbing some Dynamat from the local car audio place. Any thoughts appreciated...

 

[FelixDeCat]

Whatever is cheaper and readily available is always the way to go.

 

[Zepper]

Those black or blue rubber mounting pins like they sell at http://www.jab-tech.com et al. do the best job of isolating fans. Skip the Sunbeam ones altogether - see the thread here.

.bh.

 

[pkme2]

When I bought my 6 Yate Loon 80mm fans, the Anti-Vibration Fan Mounts (rubber pull-throughs) were included.
Yate Loon 80mm @ $4.99 ea
Silencio 777 shipped the 6 for $4.80 to Hawaii in less than 2 weeks.

 

[Operandi]

The gaskets don't work very well since the vibrations are still transmitted to the case through the metal fan screws.

Grommets can make a difference especially with resonance if you already have a very quiet system, which it sounds like you have.

 

[zagood]

Zip ties and grommets:
http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview...atid=37&threadid=1835809&enterthread=y

Otherwise, I understand the rubber screws are great, but gaskets are less effective than grommets.

-z