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The Antec SLK3000B case - my experience

Qbah

Qbah

Diamond Member
It has always been my goal, to make my computer dead silent... Yet, since I've build my current rig, there has always been this extremely annoying 'humming' comming from my case. Barely audible, but EXTREMELY annoying (my hearing is rather good, I am a musician). I just could't trace the source of it. But what do I have?

I had an Antec SP 2.0 450W PSU, which I changed into a Thermaltake Toughpower 750W (140mm fan, yay... NOT!) - both of them almost no sound. The change was a waste of money, as both of them are almost not noticeable. Though I can hear them, a bit, not a big deal, as I hear the flow of the air.
2x Cooler Master Blue (my favourite color) LED Silent Fans - dead silent @ 5V
Zalman CNPS9500LED (blue) on my CPU - one of the few things I can hear from 2m away, though very silent, not completely (bareable however) - 5V.
Zalman VF700-Cu on my GF7800GT - not a peep out of this thing, dead silent - 5V.

I can also hear the electronic circuits on my motherboard, though I have to listen carefully (ASUS P5LD2 Deluxe).

And now to the humming... After changing things, trying different components, it seems that my case is... well... vibrating. The right side of it to be more precise. When I squeeze it tight with my hand the problem somewhat lessens. However I cannot hold my hand on it the whole time! As soon as I take my hand away, the humming sound gets really loud. At least for me. My friends are saying I am crazy and am hearing things 😛 It's unbearable for me (can't sleep with the comp on). From what I can tell, the case just makes sounds when subject to fan thingies (CPU fan being the biggest part I guess). Spending longer time with it gives me a real headache.

So for all of you, who want a quiet system and have a good hearing, I would NOT recommend the SLK3000B. I guess my computer hobby just gave me another bill... a new case (think I'll go for the P180B or a Centurion 5).

If any of you have any suggestions for a case, that doesn't have that vibrating issue and is not extremely overpriced (Lian Li's are VERY expensive here in Denmark), that would be most welcome.

Cheers

EDIT: It seems that it was the drives making the noise. The case is very sturdy and allows for a very good and quiet system. It gets a :thumbsup: from me in the end, well worth the money spent (not that it's very expensive too!).
 
Lian Li PC-6070B is dead silent, except the cooling SUCKS ass (Panaflo L1A's).
I'm gonna try the P180B, but thanks for warning me because I was gonna try out the 3000B before that.
 
I've built several near silent machines now so I know where you are coming from.

Are your hard drives soft or hard mounted? If they are hard mounted that could easily acount for the "hum".

Originally posted by: Rip the Jacker
Lian Li PC-6070B is dead silent, except the cooling SUCKS ass (Panaflo L1A's).
I'm gonna try the P180B, but thanks for warning me because I was gonna try out the 3000B before that.
Click to expand...

I have the PC-6070 mine is only near silent after several modifications, out of the box it's moderately quiet.
 
Look for a pack of self-adhesive vinyl floor tiles (asphalt sheets, cork sheets, and Acoustipack will also work) and apply a layer to the inside of your case panel. This should provide some vibration damping.
 
I've put a layer of foil filled with air pockets between the wall of the motherboard panel (metal) and the right case panel, it made the humming quieter. Yet it is still there, driving me crazy. As for the drives, they are quiet, I can only hear them (though really quiet) when they are working. Otherwise they are dead silent (love the WD drives!). They are mounted in a removable socket thingie, with rubber attachments, which reduces their vibration (hence no sound). I also used a silicon bandadge around the PSU (from the manufacturer) to lower the vibrations from it (that helped a bit too).

-> pkrush : Can you give me a link to those things, so I can have an idea what to look for? Thanks!

EDIT: Spelling

EDIT2: I stopped all of the fans for a test, and the only two things I could hear were:
a) the very annoying and loud (for me) humming
b) the capacitors on the motherboard/graphics card (?) - I guess that's it.
 
Even though WD seems dead silent, the 120Hz (7,200 rpm / 60 seconds) hum could still be produced by it even in mounted on rubber. Have you tried sitting the drive on a foam pad at the bottom of the case? 120Hz, produced by any 7,200 drive, would be a low level hum and could easily rattle your case.
 
With all the fans stopped put the system into standby. That will shut down all of your hard drives and what should be your last source of mechanical noise. If the "hum" stops then you'll know what the source was, if it doesn?t I have no idea.

As for "B" you might be hearing coil whine, capacitors shouldn't make noise unless they are going bad.
 
How about unplugging power to all the fans AND the HDD? If you get noise from electronics, it would usually be more high pitched, IMO.
 
I easily and completely solved the humming of my SLK3700-BQE case by simply leaving the back screws of the offending panel untightened.
 
I'm gonna be an a-hole and say: You pussy, it's not that bad. Try sleeping in a room with a 60mm Delta 4800RPM and a Thermaltake Crystal Orb all blowing like mad. I did. You'll get used to the noise...and if you haven't...then you need to move the computer out of the room that you sleep in.
 
You, Zap and Engineer, deserve a prize!

It were the bloody drives (actually, they still are...). I tried unplugging everything and stopping all the fans and the humming stopped ONLY when the drives were without power. When I unplugged only them, BAM, pure silence (I tried moving the case, different positions, even gave it a kick or two 😛). And I mean like not a friggin' whistle! So, you helped me find the cause, have any ideas on how to stop it? I'll try the unscrewing of the back screws.

I have to experiment with it now, how to stop their vibrations to be picked up by my case... Maybe I'll try to isolate the pocket the drives are in with something? Dunno, am kinda clueless here 🙂

Cheers and any suggestrions are most welcome.

PS. Seems the SLK3000B ain't THAT bad after all. Though it picking up drive vibration is a bad thing.

@ RallyMaster: Tried it several times (one being yesterday). Gave me a headache the moment I woke up, NOT a good thing when you have to work the whole day, ey? And the case is around 3m from my bed.
 
Hmmm... I have the SLK 3700 AMB and it uses rubber mounts for the HD's. I could have sworn that my other Antec cases have them also. I will have to look more closely (I have (3)3700's, (1)1650, and (1) 2600 (honestly, I also have a NSK4400 still in the box in the garage)) so I tend to get confused as to which case has what....

What I am trying to say is that I know for a fact the Antec has addressed 'drive vibrations' on thier 3700 series of cases.

EDIT: Which 3000 do you have? THIS one shows the same rubber HD mounts as my 3700.

EDIT#2: Ooops!
Originally posted by: Qbah
..... As for the drives, they are quiet, I can only hear them (though really quiet) when they are working. Otherwise they are dead silent (love the WD drives!). They are mounted in a removable socket thingie, with rubber attachments, which reduces their vibration (hence no sound).....
Click to expand...
I see that you did mention the rubber mounts.... Now I am really confused as to how you still have a vibration related noise from there... I will be checking back into this thread whenever I can. Please update and let us know what the problem and the fix was.
 
Qbah...If your whine is anything like the whine that I have experienced from WD-800JB drives you won't like the answer.

I had 2 of the above mentioned drives. Both emitted a very noticible whine. (bearings)
My solution was to replace them with Samsung and Seagate drives. (fluid bearings)

I haven't had that problem since.
That said...It has been a while since I have purchased any WD products.

<edit> BTW- I had one of my WD drives mounted in a 3000B and the mounting system had no impact on the drive noise. The drives would emit the hum irreguardless of mounts.
 
Unscrewing the screws on the right panel did nothing (it actually sounds worse...). I also unscrewed both of the drives and that didn't help either... They are just lying in the pocket right now. Well, the thing is, the case is vibrating very much (easily to notice once I put my hand on it). I have no idea what to do now... 😕 I think I'll try to cut some pieces of the air-pocket foil and try to use it as an 'insulator' between the drives and the bay. Hope it helps... Will keep you folks updated.

EDIT @ xbassman: The thing is, once I squeeze the case really tight the sound goes away. Almost completely (by squeezing it I stop it form vibrating). So it's not the drives that make the sound, but the vibrating case... I think 😛 Will take them out, keep on my hands and turn on the computer. That should stop the humming sounds if I'm right on this.
 
well if it is truely a vibration, then you can eliminate it with a rubber or foam product isolating the offenders.

Be patient...with a little trial and error you'll get it.
The 3000B is a great platform for a quiet PC.

(3M foam tape can be a good friend)
 
It's the drives alright! And it's NOT the vibrating case that's making the noise, it's comming from the drives. But... they behave strange.

I've put them outside of the case on a piece of air-pocket foil and they're humming like crazy. Once I picked both of them up, BAM, absolutely quiet. All I have to do it pick them up and not a peep out of them. I tried putting them on the side, didn't help. BUT once I've put them on some extremely soft material, the humming became really quiet. I mean, it was there, not that loud though. Once I've put the drives on the sides on it, they're dead silent. I'm guessing I need to find a way to mount them in my case so that the side of the drives are the only places attached to the case. And I need to find some exremely soft yet sturdy material to put the drives in it. Hope it will help.

Bottom line, the case is fine, it's not making any noise in the end, got two 120mm fan mounting places (front and back), a decent amount of space inside and it looks as if it's qiuet 🙂

EDIT: Ahh, once more thing. Once I took the drives out, the case isn't vibrating anymore. Stands there not doing anything. Really sturdy. And it kept the drives so quiet, as now they are pretty damn loud. Wish I knew that before I bought the second WD drive 🙁
 
Money doesn't grow on trees you know 😛 At least not yet 😉 Besides, I bought a x1950xtx recently (shipping next week I hope, was out of stock), a 750W Thermaltake PSU (these things aren't cheap...) and the second drive. I'm kinda out of funds right now 😛 Need to find a home way to keep them bloody drives shut! 😀
 
The Antec cases have a drive bay fitted with rubber mountings. That didn't help.

Anyway, here's what I did:

1. Cut a plate out of hard paper with the size of the drive
2. Put some air-pocket foil on it
3. Put some extremely soft air-pocket foil on top of the two
4. Put that on the bottom of each drive
5. Put yet some more air-pocket foil on top of each drive, so that it's shielded from the rails of the upper drive 'tunnel'
6. Put both of the drives inside the bay with my front fan blowing at it (as they probably will get hotter than usual).

In the end, the mind-wrecking humming is still there, though very quiet now. Though I could argue it bothers me more now (like the sounds you can barerly hear, yet you can... all the time). I could imagine a loud hummig would be more bearable, though I'm not in the mood to put the comp to pieces again. If I get pissed enough I'll just ramp up all the fans to max. No more humming then 😉

You know, that somewhat reminds me of shimmering. It's something not all folks notice, but those that do and are bothered by it.... boy oh boy. And yes, I do notice it everywhere. Makes me pissed aswell (ATi here I come 😛).

EDIT Checked my temps on the HDDs. HDD0 @ 37C and HDD1 @ 45C. I guess it's acceptable.
 
The whole reason for vibration dampening is to use heavy, dense materials to absorb small vibrations. To quiet your drives, you're going to be looking at mounting them in a 5 1/4 inch enclosure with damping foam on the sides - something like the Nexus Drive-A-Way or the Smartdrive 2002 (both available at endpcnoise.com).
 
50-70$? :shocked: Humming, what humming? 😀 😉 Anyway, I'll mess with the drives a bit this week, no way I'm spending that much for some piece of alloy. Not today however, could throw the whole case through the window out of frustration :shocked:
 
Originally posted by: Howard
The rubber grommets are definitely not as effective as rubber cord suspension. Trust SPCR on this.
Click to expand...
Maybe not, but bad drives are bad drives. Rubber grommets will most likely be just fine on a good drive.
 
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