Good job, Jordan. Though I'd love to have seen more of the HTPC-ish stuff that you did, I suppose that's beyond the scope of this site. BTW, if you're considering a new video card for your HDTV, you might also want to consider a capture card. With a simple Digital TV capture card, you can turn your HTPC into a TiVo.

MikeC, were you the one responsible for the noise measurement? Otherwise, I'd have to ask Jordan where he got his measurement equipment from.

BTW, any ideas on the total power draw of the system?

If you have to ask, then you read too fast...

Power draw -- I think it was plugged into the power meter, but we didn't record it. Whatever, it was low -- probably under 130W max in AC.

MikeC's comments and your test results with the foam/HD damping really confirmed a nagging suspition I've had since building my new system.

I opted for a Thermaltake Tsunami Dream (see the case before you judge, it's quite nice) with unusually thin aluminium walls (not so nice, but I don't like the look of current antecs), and a Acoustipack deluxe kit, but subjectively, my HD's sound louder now.

Next 2 projects: damping of HD's (bungee-cord suspension) and of fan in my PSU (modded to nexus 120mm, but it makes MUCH more noise at same rpm as my identical, rubber mounted, case fan), though this might be worsened by restrictions in airflow close to the PSU fan.

This computer is an HTPC as far as it is connected to my television and my home theatre setup. It can play divx movies and play mp3's through my stereo. I've considered the addition of a capture card, but moved away from that idea as I don't really watch a ton of tv anyway and wouldn't care to save the shows. It's a computer built around needs.

Also, after running the computer for a month or so, I find it's not getting used as much as we thought it would, so I probably won't even upgrade the video card. The GeforceMX4000 is fine for the amount it gets used.

I had dabbled in the use of Meedio as an HTPC frontend to control this computer as well, but when it came down to it, it was easier to use the program ACDSee to control all the picture and slideshow viewing and just use Explorer to find the movies I wanted to watch with WMP10.

A well done article, very nice.

Hehe it was odd seeing my name on the home page. Just a shame it wasn't actually me

Just count yourself lucky you share one of the greatest names ever!

Which one? "Michael" Jordan????? (Sorry, I couldn't resist)

By the way, it's a really good article you wrote. Nice work, Cob!

Agreed, this is an excellently written article. In particular,
-- Concise and to the point
-- Appropriate pictures
-- Great selection of links to products and spcr articles and threads. This alone will make this article a very handy reference in the future, since readers won't have to scour the archives for the info themselves.

Great job!

Actually, the name is Jordan Micheal Menu, thankyou very much.

And thanks for all the great comments.

Good article--My next computer will be a HTPC, so the info here will be useful.

I also can comment some on the foam-type issues. Back before I was reading this site, I tried some of that Akasa PaxMate stuff on an aluminum case I had that was running 3 80 mm fans, plus a TT CPU cooler and power supply. (yes, for reference, it did sound like a jet engine, and I thought it was pretty cool for the first 2-3 days.)

The Paxmate actually helped quite a bit on that case--just by dampening all the vibrations off the case from the components (nope, nothing suspended/de-coupled from the case).

I think the foams and such are very dependant on the case and what you've already done to make a quiet case. If you've already got quiet compents and thing decoupled you aren't going to see much difference, unless you really get some good foam and apply it correctly. On the other end, if you've got a system that's a jet engine, any foam is better than nothing--even if it just stops the case vibrations.

MikeC: Seeing as how SPCR reviewed Acoustipack many moons ago, and got a favorable impression of it, did you change your testing methodology when looking at the effectiveness of the Damptek? Or were they equally effective/ineffective? The wording in this article was a little unclear since it didn't compare the two, and made it sound like all dampening agents provide almost zero improvement.