HAF 932 noise

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rampantandroid

[H]ard|Gawd
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Jun 14, 2006
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Anyone finding the HD noise in this case to be unbareable? I'm finding that with my two 150 GB Raptors the case just amplifies their noise....it's the only issue I have with this case, but it's made me friggen HATE this case to the point of wanting my Antec 900 back.

Has anyone installed sound dampening foam in this case - would this help any?

Thanks!
 
rampantandroid said:
foam in this case - would this help any?
Click to expand...
Foam doesn't help against much anything unless you stuff whole case full of it.

Against vibration induced noise primary way is mechanical decoupling of vibrating part from other parts.
Try touching HDD cage. (use butterfly read of HDDScan for getting seek activity)
If it vibrates heavily (both idle and seek) then those plastic trays don't work for insulating vibration but instead probably vibrate also themselves and conduct undampened vibration to HDD cage acting as loudpeaker.
Mass damping can lower vibrations but that place is such that you can't add really anything there without blocking HDD cooling totally and if mounting doesn't do its part in insulating vibration then amount of needed additional mass is very high.
So only effective way would be getting rid of those plastic trays and doing elastic suspension mounting for HDDs.

Magpie nest design of case further worsens the problem by leaking slightest noise directly out. Antec 900 isn't any better in it and has fully hard metal to metal mounting guaranteeing vibration and seek noises.
 
My HAF was very very quiet with the stock fans in it.

How do you have your drives mounted? Are you using the shitty 2 clip plastic deal they have?
 
E.T said:
Foam doesn't help against much anything unless you stuff whole case full of it.

Against vibration induced noise primary way is mechanical decoupling of vibrating part from other parts.
Try touching HDD cage. (use butterfly read of HDDScan for getting seek activity)
If it vibrates heavily (both idle and seek) then those plastic trays don't work for insulating vibration but instead probably vibrate also themselves and conduct undampened vibration to HDD cage acting as loudpeaker.
Mass damping can lower vibrations but that place is such that you can't add really anything there without blocking HDD cooling totally and if mounting doesn't do its part in insulating vibration then amount of needed additional mass is very high.
So only effective way would be getting rid of those plastic trays and doing elastic suspension mounting for HDDs.

Magpie nest design of case further worsens the problem by leaking slightest noise directly out. Antec 900 isn't any better in it and has fully hard metal to metal mounting guaranteeing vibration and seek noises.
Click to expand...

The whole thing vibrates...but my Antec 900 was not as bad; the noise isn't as bad if I remove the door from my case; which is why I considered grabbing some of that foam, and putting it on the doors.

MightyDiomed said:
My HAF was very very quiet with the stock fans in it.

How do you have your drives mounted? Are you using the shitty 2 clip plastic deal they have?
Click to expand...

I'm using the plastic brackets - I have to. They have pins, and a rubber grommet meant to absorb vibration.

If only SSDs were cheaper...
 
mine has that huge black case over it. i think this raptor i have now more quiet than my old 74g raptor.
 
shagvirus said:
mine has that huge black case over it. i think this raptor i have now more quiet than my old 74g raptor.
Click to expand...

Yeah....I'm on the older larger 150 GB raptors - not the velociraptors which have a smaller 2.5" drive with a heatsink attached...the velociraptors are known to be much quieter. I'm tempted to buy a single VC and sell my 2 150 GB raptors (and finally be rid of RAID...)
 
rampantandroid said:
The whole thing vibrates...but my Antec 900 was not as bad; the noise isn't as bad if I remove the door from my case
Click to expand...
Acrylic window in 900's side panel is actually more rigid than thin metal sheets so that could explain the difference. Or different amount of loose in side panel's attachment.

But with that kind of case you simply can't mass dampen every panel or end results would look even worse than case already is.
Suspension mounting would stop vibrations:
http://www.silentpcreview.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=19147
http://www.silentpcreview.com/article8-page2.html
http://www.silentpcreview.com/article109-page1.html
I think there might be just enough space for something like that second mounting.
 
E.T said:
Acrylic window in 900's side panel is actually more rigid than thin metal sheets so that could explain the difference. Or different amount of loose in side panel's attachment.

But with that kind of case you simply can't mass dampen every panel or end results would look even worse than case already is.
Suspension mounting would stop vibrations:
http://www.silentpcreview.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=19147
http://www.silentpcreview.com/article8-page2.html
http://www.silentpcreview.com/article109-page1.html
I think there might be just enough space for something like that second mounting.
Click to expand...

Good links, the second one does look possible; I'll have to consider it - but I may just elect to go with a single Velociraptor once Win7 RC comes out (when I reinstall Win7) or when Win7 is released - I've been using RAID since 2001, and I'm sick of it...and the VC 300 GB model seems to offer decent perf without needing RAID while reducing noise a bit.

Thing about suspension is I can't move my case very easily...but with a Ultra 120, it isn't like I can move it anyway :p

Thanks for the links..if I do this, I'll post pictures.
 
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