Where would insulation in the case quiet it down best?

[MadRat]

I've often wondered where people put insulation in their cases to quiet them down. I noticed the front plastic shells on cases leak by far the most noise in my cases. Perhaps some insulation there will help.

Lets hear from the experts here what works best.

 

[Mr.IncrediblyBored]

I dunno where you would put it, but keep in mind insulation could lead to overheating.

 

[Elect]

I have absolutly no idea what you mean with insulation ...
but what i have done to lower the noise is to slow down the fans!

Calculate the Ohm's you need to give it enough resistance .. and then put them into the power circle ..


I'm sorry of my bad technical english (and the rest 🙂) but i hope it's a little bit clear ..

[/edit]
Ow wait, on my OWN overclocking page there is a manual howto get more silent 12V fans,
http://www.heatsink-guide.com/psplug.htm
[/edit]


If you use this manual, please go to the adress under this line (it has also more information about overclocking etc. !

 

[MadRat]

The plastic fronts on most cases seem to be hollow enough where insulation could be added to deaden anterior sound leakage. The steady hum of fans is pretty non-existent on all of my machines when listening from the sides. The metal in the case really deadens the lateral noise. Posterior noise is not much of a problem in my opinion, because the curtain behind my PC deadens that noise.

Has anyone ever used sound insulation to deaden the moise from their case?

 

[Squid]

I don't actually have any sound insulation in my case, but I can say that I am a noise and vibration engineer at a major car company in Australia. I am assuming that your main source of annoyance is the cooling fans inside your PC. Be very careful not to obstruct these, as you don't want your PC to overheat and get damaged.
Sound can be coming out of your case by several different means. One would be through actual leaks, such as the joins between panels. These can be sealed with thick tape, or with sticky sealer (kind of like blu-tack, only black). These should be available at a hardware store.
Another source of sound could be through the actual panels. This could be reduced by glueing sound absorbing material - such as thick felt - to the inside of the case. Again, be very careful not to obstruct any fans.
Please take this information as a guide only - I am used to applying my knowledge to cars, not computers. This may be of no use at all.

 

[MadRat]

Since I don't normally put in the front fans I was thinking of doing Saran Wrap behind the front paneling. However, wouldn't that end up creating a median for sound travel?

What common household materials work good for sound insulation?

 

[glen]

It comes from your PC in 2 ways:

1. Sound is simply rapid changes in air pressure. Basically if the air inside of your case comes in contact with the air in your room, so does the sound.

2. If the outer case is vibrating, that will cause sound.

YOU can't really do anything about #1.

You CAN dampen the case so it does not vibrate at as high a frequency.

You CAN dampen the things which are INSIDE the case so that the sound which escapes, is quieter.

You CAN put stuff on the walls which will absorbe the sound reflecting off them.