hum in Antec P180 mini

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xen
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hum in Antec P180 mini

Post by xen » Thu Dec 01, 2016 5:23 pm

I have a P180 mini and the harddisks give a hum when the case is closed, I am pretty sure of it. The only other thing could be the front fan but it only runs at perhaps 800 rpm and I don't think it would produce such a low sound.

Since the harddisks are basically already suspended in those rubber grommets (soft lightish transparentish silicone) what else could I possibly do? They are 2.5" disks mounted in "twin mount" from Scythe. The twin mounts... the harddisks gave annoying clicks (head resets?) when I would mount 2 of them together in a "twin mount" which was basically the whole point of the whole twin mount idea.

So I had to separate the harddisks and after that they stopped producing the clicks.

There are just two disks in the enclosure both 'suspended' in their own twin mount inside those rubber grommets.

They are hanging vertically.

Image

They are in the upper chamber. The case used to have a longer graphics card making it impossible to use the lower chamber, as I just put a fan in front of that. I prefer to have them horizontal so I might move the fan up even though that does not make much sense. Whether that is going to change anything; rather unlikely. The only other thing I could possibly do is seek some real kind of suspension.

Do you think I should?

Arbutus
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Re: hum in Antec P180 mini

Post by Arbutus » Thu Dec 01, 2016 9:17 pm

Technically I'm not answering your question, but instead I will give some general advice. It could be:

- a disk drive - diagnose this by temporarily removing a power connection

- a fan - fans having to work harder when you close off the big easy air by closing the case - diagnose this by temporarily removing a power connection

- the side panel - my Antec p180 has multi layer construction and yours might have a "vibration spot" in the assembly - press firmly on the panel at various points to see if there is a change in the hum

- the case - when the case is closed it becomes a resonant chamber - press firmly on the case at various points to see if there is a change in the hum

xen
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Location: NH, Netherlands

Re: hum in Antec P180 mini

Post by xen » Fri Dec 02, 2016 3:00 am

Hi, thank you. I think it is even wonderful that someone alludes to knowing that they are not directly answering the question :p.

These days too many people even lack such awareness.

And then what often happens is that you have to fight them to no end to get the answer to the question you've asked...

Yes I've turned off all the fans -- simply by stopping them.

I have two computers in my home right now. The other one I turned off to see what the difference would be. The other one has a 7200 rpm notebook drive that would create a huge hum (high pitched too) until I just found the nearest (old, jikes) piece of elastic cord -- from some A4 binder lol) -- and created a bed out of that and as long as it doesn't touch anything hard the hum is now gone.

From that case.

Yesterday I was looking at ordering some elastic cord and some cable fasteners (like these ones:

Image).

Maybe I'm not answering your question either :p.

I never noticed the hum before because the case was always open. I have not yet done anything "pressure point" wise but I don't think it will make a difference, every case I have basically does that thing that it only starts to resonate when closed.

I know I probably want to reduce the speed of one of the fans but it is already at ... well I have it stopped. But it is at something like 800. The GPU fan spins at some 860 and even though it makes a bit of a rattling sound that's not something you can hear outside of the case.

No it is the low vibration sound -- the bass -- that carries far.

And it is definitely the result of the hard drives and the chambre, I think.

It is something I can feel in my belly and that's why I don't like it.

The only fan that remains -- apart from the GPU -- at this point is the big Antec fan (200mm). The trouble with that one is that it takes a lot of juice to get going (start voltage) but not so much to keep going. Regardless it is not "heavy" enough to produce such a low hum that I can feel.

I just changed one of the grommets as it was sitting on the wrong side (thin side up) in the top part of the cambre (hard drive cage) and the sound is a little bit better now.

Seeing the holes in the chambre (cage) it is fairly easy to suspend 2 or even 3 drives in there (vertically).

Horizontally probably max 2 or 3 but this would mean a lot of crossing wire (cord).

In the lower chambre, typically you'll only be able to suspend one. Or two in a twin mount, but I think the disks were getting electromagnetic interference, apart from vibration.

quest_for_silence
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Re: hum in Antec P180 mini

Post by quest_for_silence » Fri Dec 02, 2016 4:10 am

xen wrote:I never noticed the hum before because the case was always open.
...
And it is definitely the result of the hard drives and the chambre, I think.

It is something I can feel in my belly and that's why I don't like it.

Just out of curiosity, what about putting that disk onto a little bath sponge/kitchen sponge, right on the bottom (mid) panel? Does the hum go away?

xen
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Re: hum in Antec P180 mini

Post by xen » Fri Dec 02, 2016 4:44 am

There are two disks (raid 0) so I'd have to stack them but it's a bit hard to take the disks out at present.

Currently trying to stress test my system for something else :p.

I can keep the disks inside the "little cage" (twin mount) and put that on a sponge. Or some foam.

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