Low frequency resonance/ thrumming sound

Enclosures and acoustic damping to help quiet them.

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CoolColJ
Posts: 344
Joined: Thu Jul 10, 2003 11:58 pm
Location: Australia

Low frequency resonance/ thrumming sound

Post by CoolColJ » Wed Jun 27, 2012 4:53 am

The low frequency thrumming in my FT02 case is killing me!!
I've turned off the fans or run them at very low speeds, and the throbbing sound continues.

I guess it's from the HDs I presume?
I have two drives right now, a 1Tb Samsung and that 3TB Seagate that was reviewed here

How do I go about eliminating this within the limitations of the Ft02 case, the HD racks are not quite like the usual?
I do have two 5.25 inch drive bays spare though

flemeister
Posts: 346
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Re: Low frequency resonance/ thrumming sound

Post by flemeister » Wed Jun 27, 2012 5:46 am

And the elephant in the room is...!

Elastic suspension in the 5.25" bays. :wink:

CoolColJ
Posts: 344
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Location: Australia

Re: Low frequency resonance/ thrumming sound

Post by CoolColJ » Wed Jun 27, 2012 5:54 am

What and where can I get some elastic for such a purpose?

I have some bungy cord, but they are pretty thick

I thought about getting that Nexus suspension mount

Image

flemeister
Posts: 346
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Location: Australia

Re: Low frequency resonance/ thrumming sound

Post by flemeister » Wed Jun 27, 2012 6:10 am

Elastic multi-stranded sewing cord, should look similar to the stuff here.

I got my mine from Spotlight, you'll need a minimum of 2 metres (1 metre per 3.5" hard drive per 5.25" bay).

2mm diameter works great.

Use thumbscrews on the hard drives themselves so that you can wrap the cord around the thumbscrews. This will prevent the cord from ever slipping off.

CoolColJ
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Location: Australia

Re: Low frequency resonance/ thrumming sound

Post by CoolColJ » Wed Jun 27, 2012 6:42 am

Since the FT02 has vertical airflow, I might try removing that bottom drive cage and suspending the drives sideways vertically

Just guessing though :)

CoolColJ
Posts: 344
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Location: Australia

Re: Low frequency resonance/ thrumming sound

Post by CoolColJ » Wed Jun 27, 2012 6:45 am

actually since when all the drive slots are out, it's an empty box anyway - save the 5.25inch bay for my SSD

http://img821.imageshack.us/img821/3060/img2590sm.jpg


and it looks like you can loop the cords through the top to hang the drives sideways vertically
Image

flemeister
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Re: Low frequency resonance/ thrumming sound

Post by flemeister » Wed Jun 27, 2012 7:14 am

Nice, either location would work great. :)

CoolColJ
Posts: 344
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Location: Australia

Re: Low frequency resonance/ thrumming sound

Post by CoolColJ » Thu Jun 28, 2012 3:48 am

Woohoo it worked!

I had some pics of how I did it, but accidently deleted them :( Will try and get some new ones done soon

I basically used wider and flat style elastic of about 12-13 inches in length, and lopped it from the upper holes to the lower ones and did a standard double cross knot - not too tight, as I can undo it if needed. Holds very well anyway.
Had to temporarily remove the case fan directly under the HD cage to allow access to be able to do this.

One loop, and the HD through it, and it holds pretty tight and solid, not chance of it flopping around - I guess due to the greater surface area of the wider elastic :)
It even holds SSD nciely with and extra twist before putting it in.

That bottom rack on the FT02, done my way can hold 4 disks like this, but they will be very close, but the FT02 does have good airflow there. Big fan right under the disks and they are aligned vertically. I didn't put my SSD into the bands though, I just plugged it bare into the single bracket the FT02 has there as standard. It's kinda flimsy like this, but it's fine if your PC never moves....

Massive difference and reduction in noise just a slight woosh of air with the open case, right next to me 8)
Once I close it back up it should be pretty quiet
It seems the Samsung 103SJ 1TB HD is largely responsible for the drone, as it vibrates like nothing when you touch it! The 3TB Seagate is quite a bit better here.


BTW I bought one of those Noctua case fans today and even in the low noise mode, it's way louder than the claimed 10db...... the hum/whine was enough for me to turn it right off!
And it won't start in the the Ultra Low noise mode...... :?
So I won't even bother having a top fan running from now on, doesn't help all that much especially when you consider my Noctua NH-D14 has 2 fans already on it, directly under that fan opening.
Every fan I've had there from Slipstreams to Noctuas at 5-6v is noisey!! Might be the the fact they are facing upwards instead of sideways etc

kuzzia
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Re: Low frequency resonance/ thrumming sound

Post by kuzzia » Thu Jun 28, 2012 4:21 am

CoolColJ wrote: Every fan I've had there from Slipstreams to Noctuas at 5-6v is noisey!! Might be the the fact they are facing upwards instead of sideways etc
I know that the SlipStreams that they can be very quiet. Perhaps you just chose a high rpm fan that would not run quietly at 5-6 V. I've had the same experience with the 1200 rpm (120 mm fan). Though it was quiet, I could still hear it during the late night. My top fan 800 rpm (120 mm) SlipStream however, is dead quiet at 5 V.

CoolColJ
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Re: Low frequency resonance/ thrumming sound

Post by CoolColJ » Fri Jun 29, 2012 2:00 am

kuzzia wrote:
CoolColJ wrote: Every fan I've had there from Slipstreams to Noctuas at 5-6v is noisey!! Might be the the fact they are facing upwards instead of sideways etc
I know that the SlipStreams that they can be very quiet. Perhaps you just chose a high rpm fan that would not run quietly at 5-6 V. I've had the same experience with the 1200 rpm (120 mm fan). Though it was quiet, I could still hear it during the late night. My top fan 800 rpm (120 mm) SlipStream however, is dead quiet at 5 V.
No I definitely have one of the low speed ones. it's quite audible when it's sitting ontop the of case.
More to do with the ticking and motor noise. The Noctua I bought was terrible in this regard!

Anyway I managed to recover the deleted photos off the memory card using the free version of Recuva :lol:
Handy program...

What I used - cut to 12-13 inches
CCJ_FT02_Drive_Suspension_61.jpg
Rigged up - bottom fan removed to allow easy access
CCJ_FT02_Drive_Suspension_62.jpg
Standard shoe lace style double knot, but the second one is quite loose, so I can undo it if needed -had to stretch it out a bit before tying it up
CCJ_FT02_Drive_Suspension_64.jpg
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CoolColJ
Posts: 344
Joined: Thu Jul 10, 2003 11:58 pm
Location: Australia

Re: Low frequency resonance/ thrumming sound

Post by CoolColJ » Fri Jun 29, 2012 2:05 am

The finished result - one twist before inserting a drive or 2 twists for SSD - quite secure due to the greater width of these bands, won't flop or move around.
Easier to install and mount the HD vs the factory solution as well 8)
CCJ_FT02_Drive_Suspension_63.jpg
But in the end I just plugged the SSD directly into the bracket of the first slot of the drive cage in the Silverstone FT-02 - cartridge style :lol:
CCJ_FT02_Drive_Suspension_65.jpg
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CoolColJ
Posts: 344
Joined: Thu Jul 10, 2003 11:58 pm
Location: Australia

Re: Low frequency resonance/ thrumming sound

Post by CoolColJ » Sat Jun 30, 2012 10:37 pm

kuzzia wrote:
CoolColJ wrote: Every fan I've had there from Slipstreams to Noctuas at 5-6v is noisey!! Might be the the fact they are facing upwards instead of sideways etc
I know that the SlipStreams that they can be very quiet. Perhaps you just chose a high rpm fan that would not run quietly at 5-6 V. I've had the same experience with the 1200 rpm (120 mm fan). Though it was quiet, I could still hear it during the late night. My top fan 800 rpm (120 mm) SlipStream however, is dead quiet at 5 V.
I take back what I said, it seems the fan controller was causing all the whining and electronic noise?
Because it is much quieter now I plugged all the CPU and system fans that directly into the motherboard and it to control the fans based on tempertaure!

So stay away from the NZXT touch screen fan controller - always hated it - now is one more reason :twisted:

At 15 degree Celsius - all fans are running around 580-680 rpm at idle. Even under full load the fans barely ramp up, with the CPU temps at 64+
Pretty quiet, will see how it sounds later tonight when it's still....

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