How important is a case for silencing?

fanerman91 · Post by **fanerman91** » Mon Jul 19, 2004 12:42 am

I'm asking because I have an old generic steel case I'm using and I'm wondering if it's harder to make my caes (as opposed to a better one) silent.

I always had the idea that components were more important. I'm not sure what would really vibrate. I plan on having some sort of hard drive suspension and all my fans (except the CPU HSF) have some sort of vibration reducing material.

How else does a case affect sound?

Splinter · Post by **Splinter** » Mon Jul 19, 2004 12:46 am

A case will muffle any sounds generated inside the case.

A thin aluminum case will do this poorly, it will just re-transmit the vibrations it absorbs.

A wooden case, or a case lined with a sound dampening material will do this well.

An easy way to tell how well your case does this is to take the side off.

Is it considerably louder than with it on or not?

the_smell · Post by **the_smell** » Mon Jul 19, 2004 2:26 am

Airflow will also be an issue. I guess it does depend on what components you are using in the old case. If your using a cpu, vga card etc from the time the case was built it may give good enough airflow. But if you're going to stick a high end P4 in it you might have a job trying to cool it quietly. Of course this is all speculation and you could get really good airflow from it and even have room for a 120mm exhast, in which case please ignore me!