Hi all

Has anybody tried suspension of a 3,5" (or a 2,5") in a Define R3?

I am considering buying this case, but I dislike the HDD set-up;
1- metal frame forces you to install HDD sideways, which in my opinion seems to disrupt ventilation for intake fans.
2- I have the feeling (from pics) there is little space for suspending a 3,5" within this frame.

I was even considering buying a 2,5" instead and try is lost in such a set-up. Does this make sense?

Any experience from any of you with this case?

thanks in advance and kind rgds
Alejandro

Take a look at the Noisemagic Novibes for 2.5 hard drives. They mount like a 3.5 hard drive while holding a 2.5 hard drive. They have one for 2.5 drives and another for 3.5 drives. Just make sure you get the one for 2.5 drives.

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article39-page1.html

http://www.frozencpu.com/products/7851/ ... ystem.html

See customer comments here:
http://www.frozencpu.com/products/3038/ ... stem_.html

Thanks for your feedback

I will cartainly look at it.
the more I think about it the more I think it makes sense to do this suspension thing.

In my current old system (really old from ~2000 with no silent consideration whatsoever), I can hear more my computer than a Vivaldi concerto, and the speaker of the stereo is at the same distance than the PC !!!

kind rgds
Alejandro

if you string up little shelves in the r3 around the metal bits that would normally hold the drive sleds, you should be able to rest the drives on top of the suspension material; though i dont think you'll be able to have the space to stretch any material over the top of the drive. as long as you're careful moving the case around you will be fine, i dont see drives falling up becoming an issue.

We recently built a system using a white R3... I don't think there would be a great deal of space to suspend 3.5" drives - a quick photo for you:



Not super roomy by any means. I don't have a 2.5" on hand to stick in there and show you, unfortunately...

If it's just one or two drives, you can suspend it vertically (on it's side).

It's not the best looking configuration, but I've used it to great effect in an Antec 300.

I'd urge to buy Nexus Prominent 9 instead, only 5.25 slots. Lacks dustfilters but that can be fixed by homemade solutions.

Dear Jim

Excellent picture. Indeed you are right, not much space left.

What is your experience on frontal stock fan efficiency to fresh the graphic card?
would it make sense on a sistem with just one HDD to place another fan at the bottom to direct fresh air to GPU (a HD 6850)?

kind rgds
ALejandro

Also an interesting one.
I like a lot the freedom to change at will the whole drive bays.
on the other side, I dont like that much its looks, on that the R3 really trumps.


Rgds
Alejandro

I'm afraid I'm not much help when it comes to graphics cards - the only systems we've put together in the Fractal Design cases have been servers with onboard/integrated graphics so at best I'd be guessing... give us a few weeks and we'll try to convince someone who wants a gaming computer that they want a Fractal Design case, too, and I'll be able to be more helpful then

First thing I'd try, though, would be to put the hard drive in the lower section and put the stock fan there so that the air blows over the HDD and onto the graphics card... if there's only one HDD I would guess that it wouldn't heat up the air flowing to the graphics card so much that it would be a problem and if you can get away without adding in an extra fan, all the better.

I would like to see this as well, could you please link some pictures to the Antec 300?
I have two 7200RPM drives in my R2, and they're the noisiest components I have. I want to suspend them.
I think one can be suspended in a spare 5.25' bay, but I'll need to soft-mount the other one.

What about just putting the HDD on a thick layer of soft foam? I think there may be space between the PSU and the hard drive cage.

^^^
viewtopic.php?t=57740

Thanks! You Aussies are alright.

Dear all,

I thank you for your answers and comments.

I finally decided to buy myself one 2.5" and place it in suspension.
it will most likely be a 500Gb WD scorpio black 7200, as a compromise between fastness and quietness, and its availability in my provider shop

kind rgds
Alejandro

You should double check this with the link from here....
viewtopic.php?p=541234#p541234

But I think it is the 320G that has the single platter and the 500G where it changes to a double platter.

Hello Ces,

Thanks for the tip. I did not know this thing about the plates, nor about density (or about many other things, but SPCR and you all are helping with that ).

I found out this scorpio black has two plates, but also it has some good reviews (http://www.storagereview.com/western_di ... wd5000bekt)

I will check with my provider which other 2.5" he has which may be comparable and only 1 plate.
On the other side, is it much difference between 1 and 2 plates on a good HDD?

thanks again, and kind rgds
Alejandro

3,5" drive suspension is a bit tight, but perfectly doable. I'll snap some pics later for you. I've only done it to one of my two drives, but I'll probably do the other one as well some day. I just bought some elastic band-stuff for like 3 bucks.

We're definitely looking forward for that.

Please do post pics! I tried some suspension when the cases first arrived but couldn't come up with a way of arranging the elastic that made a significant difference to vibrations... when having the drives horizontal, anyway, vertical wasn't hard but doesn't help when you need to make use of all of the HDD bays

Here are the pics: http://min.us/mvb6xLO

Sorry for the bad quality, but my PC is up against a wall, so there's almost no space and light. Hopefully you can see the concept anyway. The drive doesn't touch the sides and the (vibration) noise is gone.

Looks good enough. Which model is it, HD103UJ perhaps?

Haha yeah, it is.

Awesome to see http://min.us in action! John here , cofounder and saw this post from Google If u have any suggestions/ques be sure to contact us~

John out#

i knew it'd work. though this isnt quite what i described... if you look at the second picture, and how the edge of the rounded hole seems to be cutting into the cord; i was suggesting to string the suspension through that hole.

awesome work regardless.

Cool, I love min.us! Great work John.



Yeah, I see what you mean. To be honest I can't really remember why I didn't use those big holes instead. But you should easily be able to do that you wish.

I just suspended my Barracuda with 2 loops of 4mm diameter multi-stranded elastic.
Do you think it's good enough?

The HDD is around 640g.

Keep in mind the case has mounting for a side and bottom fan as well, both of which will feed air to the graphic's card better than a front fan trying to push air through the HDD cage. A couple NB PL-1s or Scythe Kama Flow 2s, using Nexus silicon fan mounts for the side intake fan and/or 3M dual lock (like velcro but better) on the bottom intake fan. Two slow, quiet fans moving roughly 30-35 cfm straight to the VGA cooler's intake(s).