CM 690 II - really bad hdd vibration noise

[JmanGTA]

Has anyone figured out how to modify the hdd "skids" like in the 690 II? They have rubber mounts but they really aren't big enough to dampen properly.

I have 6 hdd's in mine and the vibration is mind-numbing, with a cyclical low frequency "warble". Suspension would work but then it couldn't hold 6 drives.

Any ideas?

[fumino]

i dont really see why you couldnt suspend six drives down there... though not having the case i dont know how much space there would actually be on either side of the drive if they arent in their caddys. do you think we could get a measurement? from the looks of it, p-clips and stretch magic would seem like a good fit.

in the mean time i might try kinda lining the edges of the caddys with foam... or something spongy.

[JmanGTA]

This is my actual case. The space between drives is actually much less when filled with drives. The pic from overclockers.com only looks spacious because there are no drives



It's a fantastic case except for the rather ho-hum vibration isolation design of the skids. It doesn't really work and any mods will probably negate the nicety of their tool-less design.

[fumino]

wow that is tight looking.

i might try suspension still though. string whatever chord just through the large kinda rectangular holes on the hdd cage. then instead of twisting the chord around the drive like most people can, i think you could use pclips screwed into the bottom of the drive to secure it to the chord...

it definitely wouldnt be as convenient as the toolless trays, but if you dont move your case around you could probably get by just by resting the drives on the chord.

[JmanGTA]

It's too bad that the skids aren't better. I read several reviews before buying and they all just parroted the schpiele about hdd isolation grommets. The airflow and space for cpu and gpu are excellent. I had all the same parts in an antec p150 and my gpu temps were 15c higher even with 2 120mm fans at the front. Ironically the hdds were quieter in the p150 even with 3 below and 3 just stacked above sitting on each other.

[JmanGTA]

I attempted a fix by removing the grommets from each tray and putting narrow strips of closed cell foam on the cross struts of each hdd tray. So basically each hdd sits on an 1/4" of foam but only in narrow strips to allow for air flow.

The problem is that even the 1/4" increases the thickness to the point where there is almost not air space between each drive. Temps for the 6 hdd's ranged from 28-35 before but rose to 30-37C and one drive is 42C.

This almost eliminated the low throbbing, pulsating noise that drives you crazy. It went from being a 10 in irritation to about a 3.

The loss of airflow makes it a poor solution. Right now it's winter but I see temps rising a lot as A/C weather comes in.

The grommets are really a stupid design. Even with them the hdd's still touch the sides of the trays and the bottom struts so there is no isolation. The tray composition is stiff plastic, again this does nothing to isolate or absorb vibration.

I'll have to buy more stretchy rope and try this again.

[JmanGTA]

The real culprit was the older WD Caviar 750gb drives. The new Greens and even the WD black don't cause the cyclical vibration.

So I moved the pair of those and stacked them in the empty drive bay spaces on some foam bars with a 120mm fan.

[jebus_beler]

As someone running a 6 HD system you might be the wrong person to ask this too but how noisy is the case now that you've resolved the annoying vibration noise. I'm thinking of running this case with one WD black or blue drive and want to built a quiet (not necessarily absolutely silent) system. Is the hard drive noise audible and annoying through the open mesh in front? What about other component sounds?

[johnniecache7]

As someone running a 6 HD system you might be the wrong person to ask this too but how noisy is the case now that you've resolved the annoying vibration noise. I'm thinking of running this case with one WD black or blue drive and want to built a quiet (not necessarily absolutely silent) system. Is the hard drive noise audible and annoying through the open mesh in front? What about other component sounds?

Rather then deal with the viberation issues of the CM 690 II your better off getting the Factual Design R3 for few dollars more the 690 isn't designed for slience it's more of gamers type case.

[ffha]

your better off getting the Factual Design R3.

You're kidding me, right?
Do you even have a R3?

I do, and the HDD decoupling is horrible.
The HDD cages aren't flexible either, so I had to suspend my hard drive in the optical drive bay.

The R3 needs as much adjustment as any other case to become truly SCPR-compatible.