How to quieten case resonance?

mark2410

mark2410

mark2410

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Joined
2 Aug 2004
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hi, my comp case live in my living room and its a normal ATX sized case but it lives on its side rather than vertically. i use it as a media pc / home storage server so its on 24/7. thing is it resonates and its annoying.

there isnt many fans in it, there are several hard drives though. since the case doesnt have proper feet i have it sitting on a bath towel thats been folded into quarters but i ithnk over time its gets too compressed and begins to transmit the acoustic vibrations.

is there something that would be better to put under it or is there something else i should do to quieten things down?
 
The hard drives will likely be the source of a lot of that vibration so decouple them.

Here's my effort.
hddsusp1.jpg


A bit of bungee cord and some optional p-clips has a surprising effect and has recuced the gentle thrumming my case used to make down to levels I can't detect.

More info.
http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18269719

When diagnosing the thrumming in my case I found that when resting my finger on one of the drives I could feel the vibration in time with the resonance.
 
woah thats a bit hard core, impressive.

unfortunatly due the the way the case hold the drives its not an option do decouple them. its what happens when you pick a case because its pretty and fits in with the decor than is actually a good case.

i like the look ot the shoggy stuff but 9x9 cm would be too small im thinking to support the case, is there stuff like it that you can get in bigger sizes?
 
Decoupling the hard drives is a good plan, there's normally some limited opportunity for that in most cases. Perhaps you're unlucky and there's no chance there.

Foam is meant to absorb noise. It probably does to some extent, but it's nothing I've ever been able to notice. Probably not a great use of money.

Increasing the mass of the panels does make a difference. Sticking heavy things to them to increase the mass will lower the resonant frequency - especially effective with the big side panels. I've stuck bitumen roofing tape to mine, but anything dense would work. Gluing steel sheet to the side would be pretty effective too.

Lower frequency vibrations are a lot less irritating. They're probably also quieter - there's only so much energy available to vibrate the panel, and if it weighs more, it can't vibrate as violently.

From an old thread:

10psoxc.jpg
 
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