hey guys
http://www.frostytech.com/articleview.cfm?articleID=1588
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835118215

how well would that work, if i used the mounts on the bottom of the apparatus, to remove vibrations? i see the 4 rubber encased screws that the hdd + cooler would stand on can remove some vibrations for sure, but would it completely silence my hdds?

if thats the case would i even have to buy this somewhat costly accessory? when all i really will gain from it is the rubber stands? are those purchasable somewhere else? to screw into hdds at the bottom? come to think of it, do hdds normally have 4 screw hole mounting points on the bottom of their frame?

anyway


i wanna get my drives outta the hdd cage simply cuz its metal screws slid into plastic rails mounted on a metal cage. so its noisy. i AM very wary about actually removing the cage for fear of losing a lot of the case stability (tho i guess the side panels when on, provide some of the stability too).

dont really think i have 5.25 bay space to mount up top. i would jsut sit 2 drives side by side going from front to back in the zalman cooler. IF it will remove all the vibrations and noise.

The rubber standoffs are quite hard, and don't do much for vibrations when mounted underneath- they work best on the side of the cooler, as they bend a lot easier than they compress. The Zalman is more about cooling than silencing, and it does a reasonable job with very little airflow. Most people here believe that the soft silicone grommets that Antec include with their cases is the way to go to reduce vibrations- these work a lot better than the Zalman standoffs, but do nothing for the cooling (in fact, I think I remember seeing someone mention that by decoupling the HDD from the case, the temps actually rose, because the case was acting as a heatsink).

By the by, I'm not sure how $20 is "somewhat costly" for someone with a watercooled machine, but never mind...
As I said, the main benefit of the Zalman is the cooling (and to a lesser extent, the cool-factor ). That review is out of date, there is now a newer version available, with more pipes, and a chrome finish for the pipes as well. I have two of these in my machine, and I combined them with the soft-grommets from the Nexus mounting kit to get the best of both worlds. Incidentally, this kit comes with fan-mounts for closed-chassis fans as well, i.e. no more dremel'ing your nexus fans!

And yes, HDDs usually have four mounting points on the PCB-side- this is the base, but it cools better with the PCB facing up for some reason.

Hope this helps.

thanks for the info bob!

right i wasnt so much interested in the cooling of the zalman but its ability to be mounted on its standoffs, so i could mount my hdds in the lower compartment.

im wondering if anyone has figured out a way to modify the lili drive cages to make the mounts less hard / even deceoupled.

and yea my system is a long process evolution, what i meant is for what should be a smaller fix, a tail end of modifications, my final step, spending $20 each on the coolers + shipping would be another $50 out my budget thats well, not budgeted for in monthly life. you know what im sayin? just trying to minimize the dent on my highly segmented budget. much easier to buy 2 $10 silencers for example.

ok i was told that it is possible to suspend drives within the lian li hdd cages. maximum pc apparently removed the screws, and i will also remove the plastic rails, then suspended the rubberrbands with pencils on either side to hold them and put the drives in.

any thoughts as to what easily available elastic item i should use? like elastic waistbands? a specific kind of rubberband? thanks!