Is it feasible to make a sound reducing case out of building materials

[Dark Light]

I was wondering if it would be feasible to make a case out of something like Acoustic plasterboard, OSB, MDF or something similar, you can get quite large pieces. I have no experience with working with these materials, so I am not sure if they would be the best. Although if you were able to cut the pieces to the right size, with a clean edge, you should be able to put them together with small brackets. Make it say 1200mm long, 600mm high and 300mm deep.

The second issue would be airflow, you could create a tunnel for the air to flow though and if you had two 140mm fans and two 200mm fans plus the components fans it should in theory work. Here is a diagram.

Is this something feasible or am I just being silly?

 

[smogsy]

you got two choices

straight air flow very unrestrictive with good sound dampening material, low fan speed = quiet
many curved areas for air to escape like above, high turbulent noise more sound dampening required at same speed fan = quiet

just remember
more sound dampening material =- higher temps
more restrictive air flow = quieter but high temperatures

If i was you id look at the silverstone wareproof case there chamber design is pretty much what you designed & its very cool & quiet
https://www.silverstonetek.com/product.php?area=en&pid=525

 

[Donnie Fisher]

As above, but you also need to consider what is making the noise in the first place. Cpu fan ? Gpu fan? Spinning hdd? Case fans? Etc. Each of these can be addressed by different means.

or try and go completely silent with a fan less setup

 

[Mcnumpty2323]

Yeah it's possible
People make desks with their pc in them
Not so sure about the walls/tunnel idea though
Though you could build it
Where those individually slot in and out
And do your own testing by adding/removing them

 

[EsaT]

Anything which isn't good at conducting vibrations/resists them is good material as starting point.
But weight is going to be high already with simpler design.
Also that smooth surface is still good at reflecting airborne sound waves and needs something to decrease sound reflections.
Or you'll need more complex bafle structure forcing sound to bounce around more times, adding lot to size and weight.

Per weight aluminium and bitumen mass damping would be one of the best.
Elastic mass of bitumen simply sucks vibrations out from metal sheet.
It also increases blocking of airborne sound trying to get through panels.
There just aren't nowadays cases good for that treatment.

 

[Mcnumpty2323]

The actual components being used
could have course make a big difference
IE how power hungry and heat producing they are
If they're low power stuff then could be possible to do it lot easier
And the proposed use too
And whether weight is a factor
There's a difference between quiet and silent
Very quiet would be fine for most people
But maybe not if you wanted the pc in with sensitive recording
Equipment for example
Something like MDF you would be worrying about vibration too
Could add a second layer on the surfaces with anything attached
That could vibrate and put green glue,silicon etc between them
To decouple I guess

 

[EsaT]

straight air flow very unrestrictive with good sound dampening materia


If i was you id look at the silverstone wareproof case there chamber design is pretty much what you designed & its very cool & quiet
https://www.silverstonetek.com/product.php?area=en&pid=525

If there are any open holes, you can't muffle airborne noise because it leaks out directly.
Or you need to fill whole case with acoustic material. (and prevent any airflow)
Only way to muffle already created noise is to block that direct path and force sound waves to bounce at least once and loose some intensity in that.
Then acoustic surface materials help.


Also that Silverstone case is bad for making quiet PC:
For start hard HDD mounting makes it loudspeaker the moment you add drive into it.

HEPA filters add such huge amount of impedance that you'll need lots of pressure from fans to move decent amount of air.
That means high RPMs and noise.
Also that front grille doesn't do really anything for direct noise escape path.

And unless you just love baking PSUs from alive having it at top is bad idea with today's heat output of the components.
Because of heavy impedance limiting intake airflow, there just isn't strong case airflow which would push heat out from rear.
That means PSU is forced to suck in lots of heat and with impedance from its own insides needs to ramp up fan speed lot.
And different for the sake of being different fad upside down layout just worsens it, because most of the heat from components rises above it!