Needing some help to quiet down a Cooler Master ATCS 840

nilson · Post by **nilson** » Mon Sep 06, 2010 7:57 am

Hello fellow silencing addicts

I got lucky today and found a Cooler Master ATCS 840 for a mere 650 SEK, which is around 64 euros. Since I had eyed the bugger previously and happened to be in the market for a case to replace my beat up P180B I figured what the hell and went for it.

In terms of the massive fans I am not dissapointed, they are OK but not stunning in terms of silence. At the moment my asus EAH 4830 is the main noise producer in the system and they manage to stay under it's level at least.

The problem though stems from the hard drive mounts. The seeks of my samsung F1 1tb are pretty much killing me, and the resonance and vibration from the hard mounted fans is beginning to irritate me to.

So I wonder if any of you fine masters of quiet computing have handled this case before and if you have any recommendations on how to reduce the hard drive seeks and whether or not it is possble to soft mount the massive 23 cm fans.

Any suggestions would be much appreciated

lodestar · Post by **lodestar** » Mon Sep 06, 2010 9:07 am

A solution to the hard drive seeks issue that I have tried and works is to use the SilverStone SST-CFP53B http://www.silverstonetek.com/products/ ... B&area=usa. The rubber grommets are extremely soft and flexible.

Soft mounting the fans. A possible answer is to use AcoustiFan Anti-vibration Soft Silicone Fan Gaskets. The 120mm size could be cut into four pieces and used for the corners. These gaskets are very soft, and around 2.5mm thick. They come with oversize fan screws which have a 2.5mm thick washer. The key is to tighten the screws until they just compress the washer and gasket, and not to over-tighten them. http://www.acoustiproducts.com/en/fan_gaskets.asp. Despite what the web page shows, the last ones I bought were entirely in black.

nilson · Post by **nilson** » Mon Sep 06, 2010 9:51 am

@lodestar

Thx for the input buddy

The only problem i see with the hard drive cage is that the way it is mounted in the optical slots area is that there would be a lack of airflow over them. Considering how often my hdd's die on me I'm pretty skeptical whether it is a solution for a pc that is on for around 18-20 hrs per day, sometimes even over night. It looks quite interesting though, the grommets look like they could absord a lot of vibrations. I wonder if it could be squeezed into where the hard drives are located right now, but i doubt that anything belonging in the 5inch bay area would fit there. Probably not

I think the accousti silicone padding could work though. The fans are not standard 90% angled around the screws though so I would probably have to mutilate them further but it could work.

Thx again

fumino · Post by **fumino** » Mon Sep 06, 2010 12:36 pm

hmmm. nothing seems quieter than suspension for hard drives. i wouldnt be too worried about the heat in that case, those fans should be able to move the hot air out of there with relative ease.

for the vga, i think most people like the arctic cooling accelero series... the twin turbo looks good :3

with big panels like those, some dampening would probably be nice...if that foam strikes you as pricey, try looking for peel&stick laminate floor tiles; they should add some weight to those panels on the cheap.

nilson · Post by **nilson** » Mon Sep 06, 2010 2:07 pm

@fumino yeah there is a lot of air moving through this thing, but because of its absurd size i feel that much of the air is just sucked past the main components out the top. Gotta think about some way to duct this mofo ;D

I got an accelero v2 heading here by mail, its first revision served well on my 1900xt for a few years so I think it should be able to handle the 4830 quite well.

With the foam the question always remains what is the good stuff. I know accoustipack is supposed to be good, but there is a lot of crap out there that does next to nothing for 20 euros. Knowing what is good and what not in the silencing department is sadly very unreliable information on the net, unless its from spcr...and they have only tested accoustipack IIRC.

Its so damn annoying that everytime you try to find a modified version of this case online you run into bloody watercooling mods...sigh xD Not a case for the silence lover ^^

edit: Are there any good threads on the suspension matter here? There are so damn many its hard to know which method/materials are the best

bozar · Post by **bozar** » Fri Sep 10, 2010 3:52 am

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