Nexus Disktwin install options

Audiophiliac · Post by **Audiophiliac** » Tue Nov 25, 2008 3:29 pm

I just received my Disktwins. I have had the drives in the cage for some troubleshooting and testing. Now that everything is in order, I need to soft mount them again. I previously had them sitting on some foam channels I made and secured with some aluminum tape. That worked well, but wasn't very serviceable.

I got the Disktwins hoping that they would help cool the drives in any mounting configuration I decided on. I think I will try simply mounting them in the 5.25" bays. I have the Silverstone TJ-04 case.

The 5.25" bays are screwless. I dont know if this will make a difference or not with the vibration. My other option is to suspend the drives in their original location. This will obviously be better for both vibration control and cooling since they will be right behind the intake fan which is a Nexus 120 at 12v. I also will hook up some fanmates I have laying around and play with fan speeds. I left the intake and exhaust at 12v because the northbridge runs a bit hot normally and the RAM gets toasty as well...this extra airflow helped considerably.

I guess I am asking if anyone has used the Disktwin in their intended setup mounted in the 5.25" bays and how it performed noise and temp-wise. Since this is the easiest and cheapest way, I will try it first. I can always suspend them later.

I also got some of the new Nexus rubber feet for the case. The front intake of this case is pretty small. Looking at the posted picture, the only place for fresh air intake is below the front bezel. There is an included port panel that goes there normally. I removed it to get more air in. Its completely open about 3/4" from the fan location to the bottom of the bezel. I got the feet mostly to raise the case up off the floor of the cabinet to get more air in. They seem like fairly hard rubber so I dont know if they will help reduce vibration or not. But it cant hurt. Plus I have always liked other Nexus products and someone needs to support the companies that are trying to make products to cater to us quiet PC enthusiasts right?

Audiophiliac · Post by **Audiophiliac** » Tue Nov 25, 2008 3:40 pm

Here are some pics of the case and the previous setup. I have since replaced the Phantom 350 (died) with a Nexus 350 (fan died), and now HX520. I have a WD GP 1TB coming tomorrow. System drive is a Seagate 120. I would like to replace it sometime in the future with a 2.5" something or other.

jamesbundy · Post by **jamesbundy** » Tue Nov 25, 2008 7:45 pm

In my experience, the Disktwin does lower hard drive temps by a few degrees. It does not, however, completely eliminate the transmission of drive vibrations to the case.

I removed the rubber mounting blocks from the Disktwin and suspended the hard drive with just the heatsinks on.

picture 1
picture 2
picture 3

+
no vibrations transmitted to case

-
not exactly easy to service
tight fit, so it's a bit of a pain to get the whole thing installed

mkk · Post by **mkk** » Wed Nov 26, 2008 4:51 am

I have six Samsungs with DiskTwins in my Stacker 810 and it works well even if suspension naturally beats them on vibration dampening. The aluminum side panels of the Stacker cases are very prone to vibrate so they need some padding like for instance a thin layer of plastic floor mat for deadening. A fairly simple modification that I'd apply to any bare metal side panel.

Soft feet is a good idea. For one case I found some rubber feet at a general hardware store that could be screwed to the bottom of the case. Floor protecting furniture pads/glides makes the case much easier to drag around on a floor after it has gotten its rubber/silicone feet. Though for my Stacker with dampened sides its hard mounted wheels haven't been a problem.

Audiophiliac · Post by **Audiophiliac** » Fri Nov 28, 2008 10:34 pm

I ended up mounting the 2 drives on foam on the bottom of the case. Its jerry rigged in there now, and could be prettier, but it works and it is MUCH more quiet than they were in the cage! And temps are idling around 30C. I am going to play with fan speeds over the next days and weeks but it is silent from where I sit.

Also, no issues installing, formatting, and copying 430GB of files to the WD GP 1TB drive.