Sheet-type thermal-conductive gel, Opinions...

[Woodykak]

I’d like to get the groups opinion on sheet-type thermal-conductive gel. I found this product by AGel. This is a Japanese product and they do not have any resellers in the US. Doing some reading I see that others have found similar products by 3M and that Scythe is using this gel in its drive enclosures. I haven’t seen any homebrew systems using this stuff though, and I’d like to build an enclosure to see how well it can work. I’m convinced that the thermal conductive properties will be adequate. The acoustical properties are my real concern.

My questions:
1. Any opinions about the acoustic properties of such a material? The material has a fairly soft silicone gel type feel (about as soft as a breast implant)

2. Does anybody know of a reasonably price product such as this in the US? (Japanese product is $40 per 1mm X 400mm X 400mm sheet, with a 5 sheet minimum, plus shipping).

[snutten]

Could you please supply us with a link to the vendor?

[Woodykak]

Manu. Link:
(http://www.geltec.co.jp/english/)

Product Link:
(http://www.geltec.co.jp/english/product/pro_09.htm)
Looks like the COH-4000 is the right stuff.

[alfred]

Woodytak, I don't think the gel sheets have any significant acoutiscal absorption effect in the Scythe enclosure; these sheets are very thin and I'd say their only purpose is to transmit heat from metal to metal avoiding direct contact. The Scythe enclosure uses reasonably deep, dark grey foam to reduce hdd's noise.

[Woodykak]

Aflred. Good point. However, I'm thinking of a couple of other uses. Could I use this material to line the sides (contact areas) to my 3.5" hard disk cage, in order to decouple it, while still transferring heat to the cage. Also, could I line a heavy aluminum box with it, and rely on the aluminum to absorb the sound?

[alfred]

Sure, these ideas would be interesting to try. However I wouldn't use aluminium, even in huge quantities, in a quiet setup; steel rules. By the way, I'm currently assembling a new rig inside a Chieftec BA-02B-B-SL steel tower case that weighs in at 18 kg without PSU (yes we can buy it without this crappy Chieftec PSU), and all I can say is that it puts any of my other cases to deep shame considering vibrations attenuation and noise dampening. And I still haven't put any dampening material on the inside faces of the panels... I paid EUR 87.62 plus shipping for this high-grade, no-nonsense tower case; still can't believe it.

Ever tried the Scythe Quiet enclosure ? I'm using several ones and I'm not so sure anything can be significantly bettered without increasing dimensions to something really mad; I simply decouple the enclosure from the tower case with low-cost, deep foam, and place it in the lower back case area, alongside unused PCI slots. A very light air flow over the enclosure is enough to keep temps safe.