sound dampening mats: how to compare ?

[VJ]

Hello,

I'm looking mount sound dampening mats in my PC to silence it somewhat. How should one compare these mats performancewise ?

e.g. which of these should perform better ?

http://www.noiseblocker.de/shop/de_DE/produkt/id_is_70107_and_NB-EvolutionEQ_Platinium_Big_Universal-Silentset.html

http://www.pcsilent.de/en_pdet_pcssk03t.asp

Jörg

[GNEP]

http://www.silentpcreview.com/ ?

[TransformX]

Here's the one I use:

http://www.noisecontrol.de/

[VJ]

Originally posted by GNEP
http://www.silentpcreview.com/ ?

Hmm, there is some information on the specs of mats in this review: thickness and density are important, frequency range absorbed - of course... (shape of the surface seems of less importance)

The noiseblocker specs are:
1: M.A.S.S-2 Schwerschichtfolie ( über 5 Kg/m3 ) zur effektiven Resonanzverringerung ( Körperschall )
2: V2 Thermostabilisatorfolie aus Aluminium, verhindert den Verlustetfaktor der M.A.S.S-2 bei Temperaturen über 20 Grad
3: NB-Spezial Akustikschaumstoff (PUR Ester), dieser dämmt und dämpft wirkungsvoll den Luftschall
4: metallisierte Hochfrequenzblocker aus metallisiertem Microfleece ( blockt die hochen Frequenzen ab und rundet somit die Wirkung der 3 . Schicht ab )
Gesamtstärke : ca. 20mm !
-Das Brandverhalten des Gesamtelementes entspricht DIN 75200.
-Die Material eliminiert den Körperschall bis zu 99% und deckt als Luftschallabsorber das gesamte im PC auftretende Frequenzspektrum im Bereich von 100 - 16000 Hz ab und das bei jeder Gehäusetemperatur.

The other only displays:
Material: PUR-Ester Special foam and bitumen
Weight:
Combi-material 12mm = 4,2kg/m²
Bitumen 2mm =1,75kg/m²


Hmm, this is difficult... 1. is thicker but slighty less dense, 2. seems denser but thinner...


Jörg

[az]

1 is denser I think (over 5kg per... I don't think they mean cubic meter, I think they mean square meter).

AZ

[VJ]

Yes, but the other one states two densities... Does this mean they have two layers (in which case these densities should be added, thus yielding more). They also have parts of the same material (PUR-Ester )

(I'm leaning towards 1., also because the have some fans I'd like to order )


Jörg

[Kurt]

What exactly is making noise that you want to silence?

[az]

No. 1 has FOUR layers (and yes, no. 2 has two layers, but just adding the densities up doesn't do it any justice - it's important that there are different densities in the layers!).

I'd say No. 1 is better, and if you want to get fans from there anyway, then just buy it

AZ

[VJ]

Kurt: Well, just about everything... The noisiest parts are my 10K drives (cannot mount them in such vibration-reduction thingies) and my CPU coolers (SuperMicro supplied Xeon coolers). Then there is the PSU (but I won't be able to do much about that, but this one makes a relatively low pitched solid sound, so it is not that disturbing) and the front intake fans (I suspect it is due to airflow caused by the front grill; but adding quieter fans + speedcontrol could help here)

Az: Ooh, now I get it: the 4 points I quoted are descriptions of the four layers! (my german isn't too good )


Jörg

[X-Caliber]

Hi VJ,

I also wanted to try putting sound dampening mats inside, but I was concerned about the heat buildup. I have three 15k SCSI hard drives - but truthfully, they aren't that loud. I also have two Tualatin CPUs, which are held side by side - so I have to use low-profile coolers, which are loud. I use a PC POWER & COOLING sient power supply (which really is NOT that silent) and all of my intake fans are silencer fans. The Parhelia is loud too!

enough rambling, please let me know how the dampening mats work out for you, maybe I will get some too. My case is a Lian-li PC60, which is just thin aluminum, so hopefully this will make a difference.

[Kurt]

Originally posted by VJ
Kurt: Well, just about everything... The noisiest parts are my 10K drives (cannot mount them in such vibration-reduction thingies) and my CPU coolers (SuperMicro supplied Xeon coolers). Then there is the PSU (but I won't be able to do much about that, but this one makes a relatively low pitched solid sound, so it is not that disturbing) and the front intake fans (I suspect it is due to airflow caused by the front grill; but adding quieter fans + speedcontrol could help here)

Az: Ooh, now I get it: the 4 points I quoted are descriptions of the four layers! (my german isn't too good )


Jörg

What an idea to go with Xeon

This thread goes on about silencing a xeon box. Good hints about CPU coolers.

For the PSU I'd suggest a Zalman 400W (Fortron Source à la Zalman - lots of headroom). Don't go for any of that Antec cr*p. They barely hold their rating. High Power (HPC) is usually even _lower_than their rating -anyway they're not very silent

You should also change the drives for WD 74GB 10K drives, unless you really need the special features that SCSI has over SATA (but I betcha you don't need SCSI).

What case do you have BTW? Any of that SC733 series? If you can mount bigger but slower fans for the intake, you're on the right track too...

[DukeP]

I have the matts from noisecontrol.de installed. They DO add to the heat of the setup - rather much, actually.

Count on having to use additional case fans to counter the lack of heat dispersal through the sides.

This does actually defeat the purpose...

On the + side: Most of the dust inside the cabinet sticks to the "carpetlike" matts - which makes it quite easy to just swing the sides off and vacum them.

~~DukeP~~

[VJ]

Originally posted by X-Caliber
I also wanted to try putting sound dampening mats inside, but I was concerned about the heat buildup.

Yes, that is also one of my worries... (I'm still doubting whether or not to go through with the mats. My case is the Lian Li PC70; I'm beginning to think the supplied case fans (adda) are the loudest components (there currently are 4 80mm fans: 2 intake, 2 out, together with the PCPowerCooling PSU (510XE). Both are things for which sound dampening mats don't help much...

Kurt:
Well, the noise itself doesn't bother me when I'm working, but I would be convenient to have less annoyance when it is running and I'm watching TV (luckily - in this aspect - there is no 'better half' ).

I don't *need* SCSI, but I do need fast harddrives (my first 10K drives is over 4 years old - is now in for warranty repair ). Besides, I don't have serial ATA on my mainboard and have 2 10K SCSI drives running; I don't intend to replace them just to be slightly quieter...

DukeP:
Thanks for the comments on these mats!


Concerning the temperatures: the CPU temperatures are more or less ok (lower 50°C under full load, well over 20°C below their limitations as set by Supermicro), the mainboard temperature could be more of a problem. The mainboard is passively cooled, and under full load I currently am about 10°C below the specified max temperature (by SuperMicro).


Jörg

[Kurt]

You should replace the 80mm fans with more silent ones. I just got some 12V Antec 80mm Casefan Pro. They claim 30dB (average)and 34CFM (max I guess) and 2600rpm (average). They have both molex and 3-pin connectors so I guess they should be OK with Supermicro's recommendations too...

They're readily available here in Belgium (through an official distributor).

I'll let you know if they're horribly loud

[Kurt]

weeellll....they're not _horribly_ loud... just tried some on an Asus A7N8X Deluxe with QFan enabled and they're actually _louder_ than the factory-installed Aopen H600B 80mm fan. So I'll pass...back to factory equipment...