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INSTALLATION
Installation was simple but tedious. MuteMat was applied to both
side panels, all of the top and bottom of the case, and as much of the front
and rear as could be covered without interfering with the case airflow. Two
holes were made in the sheet for the door panel to keep the
TAC intake and the VGA vent unblocked.
The side panel, with holes cut in Mute Mat for the two vents.
The thickness of the material is obvious here: It's almost the same thickness
as the exhaust fan (~25mm)!
The general procedure was simple: The available space inside the case was measured,
the measurements transferred to a sheet of MuteMat, and the sheet cut
using a sharp utility knife and scissors.
Cutting the material proved to be a little difficult at first. The utility
knife I was using did a good job of cutting through the high density foam on
the back of the material, but it was useless for cutting the (extremely
tough) fabric that lined the other side of the sheet, and it tended to separate
the two layers, bunching the MuteMat layer in clumps along the cut. On the other
hand, scissors did a good job of cutting both the MuteMat and the fabric lining,
but could not cut through the foam.
The layers are prone to separating if the sheet is cut from the wrong
side or the wrong tool is used.
In the end I used both scissors and ultility knife. First I slit open the foam using the utility knife and a straight edge,
and then I extended the cut through the lower layers using scissors. Using this
method, I didn't have to worry about cutting straight with the scissors, since I just had to follow
the knife cut. I also didn't need to worry about getting the scissors stuck,
since once the foam layer was cut, the cut could be widened at will by folding
the sheet along it.
Applying the pieces once they were cut was a little tricky, but mainly because
I didn't bother removing the components from the case. The
best approach was to test position each piece with the backing
still on before I actually applied it. A couple times, this saved me from trying
to force a piece that was too large for the intended space.
The top and the bottom required special attention. For the bottom, I needed
to put a piece under the base of the drive cage, which is riveted to the case
and can't be removed. Fortunately, there was enough clearance to maneuver a
square of the material underneath it without inadvertently touching the adhesive
to the case floor before I was ready to stick it down. The other piece for the
bottom had to be cut in two, as the PCI slots hung over one end while the hard
drive hung over the other, and the piece I was trying to install was too wide
to fit between them.
Fitting the sheet to the top of the case required removing both the power supply
and the optical drive. Fortunately, it was enough just to slip the power supply
away from the back of the case — removing it entirely would have meant
removing both the CPU heatsink and the motherboard!
Tight fit! I had to install the bottom sheet in three pieces: One under
the drive cage, and two under the motherboard.
The front bezel also proved to be a challenge, not because of access problems
but because I needed to decide which holes I could safely block, and which needed
to be left free for airflow. In the end, I just wedged a couple of sheets beneath
the drive covers without removing the backing (against the official fire-safe
advice from MuteMat). This was enough to reduce the rattling of the plastic
covers a bit, although I probably could have achieved the same effect using
tape without blocking so much space inside the bezel.
Deciding which holes were safe to block was a challenge.
Two pieces of MuteMat were wedged in front of the drive bay covers to
reduce rattling, but the front airflow was otherwise untouched.
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