Antec Solo additional dampening

Towermax · Post by **Towermax** » Sat Oct 21, 2006 11:09 am

Just finished moving my system to an Antec Solo--big improvement in noise and cooling!

Drives are suspended, Nexus case fans, Zalman 7000CNPS-AlCu on CPU, Zalman VF900 on video card, and Zalman heatsink on NF4 southbridge. Only remaining noisy component is the PSU--an Antec Truepower II 430.

I had some Noisebuster flat foam left over from a previous build--one piece that would fit a side panel and a couple of smaller pieces that would work on the bottom or top of the case.

Would it be worthwhile to install this foam, and, if so, what would be the best locations?

Thanks

RAFH · Post by **RAFH** » Sat Oct 21, 2006 12:14 pm

I have the SOLO also.

Hard to say about adding foam. My big question would be where? Not so much where should you put it but where could you put it. I don't know what you have in your system but with my 4 HDDs and 2 ODDs and SLI on the Asus M2N32SLI and a Zalman 9500 on the CPU, there's precious little space left over. Most, if not all, of what's available would be on the sound absorbent coatings on the left side panel. Not sure if the foam would replace or add to the effect of that.

But hey, you have the stuff sitting around, why not give it a try. I'd just plunk it wherever there's a place for it. Take careful sound and temp readings before and then the same after. Adding the foam will decrease the available air channels whuch may lead to whistling or make the fans work harder to pull/push the air through less area with more resistance. Might end up trading the one noise for another.

Towermax · Post by **Towermax** » Sat Oct 21, 2006 12:44 pm

RAFH wrote:I have the SOLO also.

. . . there's precious little space left over. Most, if not all, of what's available would be on the sound absorbent coatings on the left side panel. Not sure if the foam would replace or add to the effect of that.

Yes, that's the question--where would the foam do the most good? I don't expect it to accomplish much--that's clear from reading SPCR. But I've got it, so why not use it?

I think the material on the Solo side panel is more for mass than for asorption, so the foam ought to work OK in conjunction with it. I suspect the best location would be on the left side panel, although I remember reading somewhere that the motherboard tray is the first thing to dampen.

nici · Post by **nici** » Sat Oct 21, 2006 12:54 pm

The stock damping fot he Solo is there just because its cheaper and more practical than making the panels out of very thick metal. It reduces vibration, if you have any to start with. It doesn not absorb sound, and probably doesnt work as a barrier either.

Puttin ghte foam on the side panels and the front would probably work the best.

Shadowknight · Post by **Shadowknight** » Sat Oct 21, 2006 2:15 pm

This side panels of the Solo help with vibration, but not from cavity resonance (i.e. noise echoing around in the case). Go for it.

nutball · Post by **nutball** » Sat Oct 21, 2006 10:10 pm

I put Acoustimat on the two side panels of my P150 (basically the same case). It helped with the Dull Thud test, dunno if it made a real difference -- the mat was just sat around doing nothing, so nothing lost

RAFH · Post by **RAFH** » Sun Oct 22, 2006 4:22 pm

Yeah, I'd agree, blanket both the side panels. I think the right side might do more than one would expect. The left side I think there's probably enough room above the expansion cards, might even be enough clearance at the drive cages too. In the front, I just don't know where you would put it. Of course there's the top and bottom panels where there's lots of open space to cover.