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TESTING
The MuteMat Plus was installed in an existing low noise system that happened
to be in the lab. Most of the system components were chosen for
their low noise qualities, and some work had already been done to reduce the
noise further, notably an undervolted CPU fan and a soft-mounted hard drive.
The test represents how we believe MuteMat should most likely to be used: In
a system that cannot be easily improved by swapping out components.
Because the system is already so quiet, reducing the noise any further will
be challenging, and this is how it should be. In a situation like this, the
noise level of the system is near the ambient room noise, and the kind
of noise it makes, not its volume, will probably be the the factor that
determines whether it is noticed. Although SPL measurements were made of the
system both before and after the MuteMat was installed, these are much less
relevant than the subjective noise description that is given along with them.
Thermal testing to determine what, if any, effect MuteMat has on system temperature
was considered and then abandoned. We do not believe that the material itself
has much effect on system temperature beyond a minimal insulating effect. Heat
transfer through the case walls is only significant in a complete fanless setup
with no airflow, and this is not a configuration that we recommend. Differences
in temperature are much more likely to arise because of how it is installed
than any intrinsic properties of the material itself. Minimizing the impact
on system temperature is simple: Don't cover up or impede any intakes or exhausts
for airflow.
Ambient noise at the time of testing was ~18 dBA, and ambient temperature was
24°C.
TEST SYSTEM
The test system before MuteMat was applied.
Please read through the details of the test system below carefully. The system
is not simply a collection of stock parts, and a number of modifications were
made to reduce noise before MuteMat was installed. Acoustically important
details are highlighted.
- Intel P945GTP motherboard
- Intel Pentium D 820 (2 x 2.8 GHz). This is a hot processor, making it a
challenge to cool quietly.
- 2 x 512 MB Corsair XMS2 DDR2 RAM
- Western Digital Raptor WD740GD 74GB, 10,000 RPM hard drive, soft-mounted
in a NoVibes III drive caddy from Noise Magic
- NEC CD-3002A 52x CD-ROM drive
- Antec SLK3000B case, with TAC duct and hard drive cage removed, and
stock TriCool exhaust fan set to "L"
- FSP Zen 300W Power Supply - fanless
- Scythe Ninja CPU heatsink, with 120mm Nexus Real Silent fan, undervolted
to 5V
There are four main sources of noise in this system: Two slow 120mm fans, the hard drive,
and the optical drive. The hard drive in particular is worth taking a closer
look at, as it is not mounted in a conventional way.
The hard drive mounted in a NoVibes III drive caddy.
The NoVibes III decouples the drive from the rest of the case by
suspending it between two elastic loops. It minimizes the HDD
vibration transferred to the case, almost eliminating the low hum associated with hard drive resonance.
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