Acoustic Material

Enclosures and acoustic damping to help quiet them.

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Gekkani
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Post by Gekkani » Mon Aug 12, 2002 2:32 pm

Hi all!
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<br>mmmm.... first topic for me <IMG SRC="modules/phpBB_14/images/smiles/icon_razz.gif">
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<br>ok, i have a noise dampening material , its a rubber-cork mix, i think that all people know it.
<br><!-- BBCode Start --><IMG SRC="https://www.chillblast.com/pictures/bigpictures/4.jpg"><!-- BBCode End -->
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<br>I just see another material from Akasa. Thats AKASA PAX MATE
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<br><!-- BBCode Start --><IMG SRC="http://www.overclock.co.uk/CaseAccs_gfx/paxmate.jpg"><!-- BBCode End -->
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<br>The idea is.... Put AKASA over rubbercork material, because i think that Akasa material absorve some frequencies and rubbercork absorve others and its very good to reduce noise vibrations.
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<br>Do u think that it will work? <IMG SRC="modules/phpBB_14/images/smiles/icon_rolleyes.gif">
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<br>bye
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<br> <!-- BBCode Start --><B>Gekkani</B><!-- BBCode End -->
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MikeC
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Post by MikeC » Mon Aug 12, 2002 2:32 pm

The idea of composite materials for sound damping has been around for a while. The question is whether these two materials ARE in fact dissimilar enough to work well together. What is AKASA" I'm guessing something soft, which might be too close to the cork. You're think of this for the wall panels of the case?
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bobkoure
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Post by bobkoure » Mon Aug 12, 2002 2:32 pm

I've lined the inside of my case with a sound absorbing foam (it's acually foam, vinyl, foam, mylar) that does a very good job of quieting things down.
<br>The following appears to be the same stuff, but mine came with a peel-and-stick backing and this requires contact adhesive.
<br><!-- BBCode auto-link start --><a href="http://www.jcwhitney.com/product.jhtml?CATID=139117&BQ=" target="_blank">http://www.jcwhitney.com/product.jhtml? ... 117&BQ=</a><!-- BBCode auto-link end -->
<br>I've used dynamat type materials on computer cases before, but this foam sandwich did a better job of absorbing high pitched noises.
<br>It's not magic. You still need to manage noise inside the case...
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Gxcad
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Post by Gxcad » Mon Aug 12, 2002 2:32 pm

Mike, I recently found out AKASA is the same company that makes the silver mountain heatsinks (the copper heatsinks plated with silver). I suppose they also make damping material.
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<br>-Ken
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<br>P.S. I knew AKASA sounded familiar!
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pak314
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Post by pak314 » Mon Aug 12, 2002 2:32 pm

I bought the produce called "Brown Bread" from <!-- BBCode auto-link start --><a href="http://www.b-quiet.com" target="_blank">www.b-quiet.com</a><!-- BBCode auto-link end --> and just installed it today! While not exactly cheap, it is much cheaper than most other solutions sold on the net as acoustic material. It cost about $50 for 10.5 sf and came in two rolls. It turned out that one roll was more than adequate to cover nearly every large exposed metal surface inside my medium sized pc case.
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<br>The material itself is a sheet of thick aluminum foil with a layer of sticky tar like material. You can easily cut it with an old pair of scissors. Installation is easy but I got some fingerprints of the tar material on the outside of my case which are kind of hard to remove. I may need to find more powerful solvent than alcohol to remove those marks maybe.
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<br>As to the noise reduction quality, it didn't reduce it greatly but seemed to remove some of the annoying qualities of it. Basically, I don't think it will help much with fan air noise but it will reduce the amplification of vibrations into noise in the metal. If I touch the side of the case, I can barely feel it vibrate now. I can't see any significant rise in temperature so far but then again it is unusually cool in our area tonight.
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<br>I also got another "goody" by mail today... a Zalman flower cooler with adjustable temperature control! I haven't installed it yet but hope this will remove the remaining noise. I'll let everyone know how that turns out later.
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<br>BTW, I can believe how much i've spent on fans and stuff already. The original HSF I got was a Coolermaster model with not much thought. But that was a noisy bugger at 6500+ RPM! So after that, I did a little bit research and got an Antec Jetcool HSF. This was a step in the right direction with a 5000 RPM but the mounting hardware is not very secure and causes a low frequency vibration (which is mostly removed by the acoustic material above.) Lets hope the third time is a charm.
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DrVos
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Post by DrVos » Mon Aug 12, 2002 2:32 pm

Gekanni,
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<br>Did you ever buy the paxmate? How well does it work?
<br>I've done some research online and from what I have read Paxmate is largely useless. The real up and comer seems to be magic fleece which is supposed to work really well, but is pretty expensive. Thoughts anyone?
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Gekkani
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Post by Gekkani » Mon Aug 12, 2002 2:32 pm

>>Gekanni,
<br>>>
<br>>>Did you ever buy the paxmate? How well does it work?
<br>>>I've done some research online and from what I have read Paxmate is largely useless. The real up and comer seems to be magic fleece which is supposed to work really well, but is pretty expensive. Thoughts anyone?
<br>
<br>Hey..
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<br>mmm...no.. i dont buy it. I just buy a Server Case and if i want to cover it with akasa i'll need 2 packs... so i think that is very expensive solution.
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<br>I have seen a type of acoustic material that can be useful. I see it in a 'bricolage' shop (leroy-Merlin, Spain) ... It measures 2x1m, very BIG! But it has 2cm of thickness, too big also... anyways I believe that i can cut it into some thin parts. Price: 18 Euros <IMG SRC="modules/phpBB_14/images/smiles/icon_smile.gif">
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<br>With 2x1m of material i can cover the dog house too <IMG SRC="modules/phpBB_14/images/smiles/icon_lol.gif">
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<br>bye
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ChiefWeasel
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Post by ChiefWeasel » Fri Aug 23, 2002 1:44 pm

Ive been thinking about sound deadening/proofing materials for a while now, and i think ive come up with a good cheap solution which should work really well.

Being into car audio too, ive got some sound deadening in my car already. Instead of expensive smelly dynamat i found out on a car audio forum that you can just use roofers sealant tape instead. Its exactly the same stuff, but about a 1/5 the price, and it doesnt smell. For about £5 ($8?) you can get a strip 3m x 25cm, plenty for a computer. This is the base and should sort out any case vibrations present.

Then on top of this goes a layer of carpet underlay. The underlay i have in mind is made of a substance which is somewhere halfway between a foam and rubber, and the surface has lots of bumps over it (best analogy i can think of is like a small mogul field from a ski slope :roll: ) This gives it a higher surface area with which to absorb high frequency air-borne sound.

I think this combo would be good at absorbing vibrations as well as absorbing high freq. noise. Im gonna try it, so ill let you know how i get on. Hopefully the underlay shouldnt cost much, if i cant blag some free as a sample. so should cost about £5~10 for the whole comp. Not bad compared to about £40 for the proper stuff.

Has anyone else tryed using various materials for sound deadening? If so how have you got on?

HighlandeR
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Post by HighlandeR » Mon Aug 26, 2002 1:10 pm

I do think this a good move... BUT I still belive killing the noise is more longterm/effective.

Ie getting a Zalman GPU fanless cooler for the graphics card... and a seagate Barracuda, both are noiseless, u would proberly have to put your ear next to it to hear it even. Same with mobo chipset heatsink, a Zalman heatsink cooler will do the trick.

Then u just gotta sort out the cpu/ps :)

Im a tad cheap and just put a fluffly pillow under my PC, its dropped noise by 10-20%, and something better then nothing:)

ChiefWeasel
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Post by ChiefWeasel » Tue Aug 27, 2002 10:41 am

Well i was lucky and i managed to find a few pieces of underlay we had leftover. Ive put both layers on the sides of my case now, and they are now very heavy! Just got to do the sides and a few other bits i can do.

I agree with you highlander, prevention is much better than cure - but both is even better! Ive tried to prevent as much noise as i can from being created, and curing the rest :)

I am using a Q-Tech 300W PSU and it is easily the loudest thing in my case (not bad for a P4 @ 2.4GHz!). What i have done is move the PSU inside the case, so that the 'noisy' fan exhausts into the case, and i have 2 papsts at the rear of the case. This is a temporary solution until i swap out the PSU fan 4 a papst.

masher
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Post by masher » Fri Aug 30, 2002 8:19 am

My (subjective) experience with PaxMate is that it gives little to no reduction. Its quite good at heat insulation however :D

da98
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Post by da98 » Sat Aug 31, 2002 2:37 pm

I my case i use bitumen that is 4mm thick and foam plastic that is 10mm. With bitumen i take away the vibration in the case and the foam plastic takes away the other sounds. And thay are both adhesive so they are easy to apply.

I have covered nearly every large exposed metal surface inside my big tower. And the cost for that is about $20.

The case becomes pritty heavy after my mod, but I don't move my case that often...

The bitumen and the foam plastic i found in a shop for car spare parts.

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