Sonata rubber grommets...useful?

RaptorZX3 · Post by **RaptorZX3** » Fri Feb 17, 2006 1:59 am

i just thought about this, as i posted in another thread in this forum.

initially, the rubber grommets didn't helped at all for my hard disk vibration problem...

i removed the grommets from the Sonata hard disk rails...so here are my questions

do you think it would help to use the rubber grommets from the Antec Sonata (1 or 2) rubber grommets from the hard disk rails, screw them on the hard disk and using small threads/ropes to suspend the whole thing in the case?

OR

using clothing elastics to absorb vibrations, but i still hear a little vibration, so would it help screwing those rubber grommets on the sides of the hard disk and/or under the hard disk to absorb more vibrations?

i know there are 6 screws points on the sides of the hard disk, and 4 screws points under it (total of 10 rubber grommets could be used), so it might be useful for absorbing vibrations AND using small threads for suspension...if it DO absorb vibrations better with the grommets installed

Trunks · Post by **Trunks** » Sat Mar 04, 2006 2:14 am

Hi, I am new to this forum also.

Once your Harddrive is suspended I don’t think the grommet is going to help you at all.

I don’t think hanging the tray is going to help you. If anything you are giving the hard drive something to resonate with. A large heat sink firmly attached to the top of your drive may increase the mass significantly to make the vibration noise different.

m0002a · Post by **m0002a** » Sat Mar 04, 2006 3:49 am

Here is one way to silence a hard drive in a Sonata:
http://forums.silentpcreview.com/viewtopic.php?t=10450

gud4u · Post by **gud4u** » Sat Mar 04, 2006 11:50 am

The sonata drive cage is similar to mine (I-Star Nitro AX).

The width of the drive cage is too narrow for effective elastic cord suspension.

The drive cage is not removable.

Consider:
- Removing two drive trays.
- Use foam to support drive.
- Rotate drive 90 degrees (width dimension vertical).
- Use foam snubbers above drive to keep the drive in place.

My drive is suspended this way, and vibration is gone.

Hope this helps!

RaptorZX3 · Post by **RaptorZX3** » Sat Mar 04, 2006 12:19 pm

what i'm doing right now is clothing elastics (from a sewing shop) suspension, it do kills most of the vibrations. I placed the drive in the lowest place of the drive cage, and i added 2 bath sponges under it, letting a half-centimeter between the two, in case the drive fall, it'll fall on the sponges just under it.

geekbanter · Post by **geekbanter** » Sat Mar 04, 2006 12:36 pm

gud4u wrote:The sonata drive cage is similar to mine (I-Star Nitro AX).

The width of the drive cage is too narrow for effective elastic cord suspension.

The drive cage is wide enough for suspension, so long as you use elastic band. Click my sig, I have a drive suspended using elastic band in the sonata. On my page I might complain about drive noise, but I later found my issue was with a cable resonating on the side of the case. Otherwaise the suspension works quite well

In fact, also take a look at this thread.

RaptorZX3 · Post by **RaptorZX3** » Sat Mar 04, 2006 12:56 pm

geekbanter wrote:The drive cage is wide enough for suspension, so long as you use elastic band. Click my sig, I have a drive suspended using elastic band in the sonata. On my page I might complain about drive noise, but I later found my issue was with a cable resonating on the side of the case. Otherwaise the suspension works quite well

another thing i've done is putting a some-kind-of-sheet of foam between the piece of metal that support the ACAG and the "lock" at the bottom for that piece on the case, dunno if it help, but i'll leave that small sheet of foam there.

geez....can you tell me why Antec didn't improved their Sonata case more than this?

gud4u · Post by **gud4u** » Sat Mar 04, 2006 5:41 pm

geekbanter:

I apologize - I was going by case photos, since I don't have a Sonata.

In my drive cage, suspending the drive by elastic cord resulted in the drive barely clearing cage sides. I would have to foam-snub the drive anyway.

No slight intended toward either yourself or your case!

geekbanter · Post by **geekbanter** » Sat Mar 04, 2006 5:57 pm

gud4u wrote:geekbanter:

I apologize - I was going by case photos, since I don't have a Sonata.

In my drive cage, suspending the drive by elastic cord resulted in the drive barely clearing cage sides. I would have to foam-snub the drive anyway.

No slight intended toward either yourself or your case!

lol don't worry about it

I simply added emphasis to the "is" so that RaptorZX3 wouldn't dismiss elastic suspension immediately.

Sorry I don't have better pictures of the suspension in action

RaptorZX3 wrote: another thing i've done is putting a some-kind-of-sheet of foam between the piece of metal that support the ACAG and the "lock" at the bottom for that piece on the case, dunno if it help, but i'll leave that small sheet of foam there.

geez....can you tell me why Antec didn't improved their Sonata case more than this?

Actually most of us with Sonata II cases just leave out the ACAG and tape off the ACAG intake, since it actually hurts cooling and airflow in most situations.

Also, I have no idea how else to use the rubber gromments. I've tried using them for decoupling fans, but they were too hard to be effective.

RaptorZX3 · Post by **RaptorZX3** » Sat Mar 04, 2006 8:03 pm

geekbanter wrote:Actually most of us with Sonata II cases just leave out the ACAG and tape off the ACAG intake, since it actually hurts cooling and airflow in most situations.

are you sure?

the fans i have are:

-dual-fans for the power-supply (Antec SmartPower 2.0 450W)
-120mm read fan (stock Antec fan included with the case)
-92mm CPU fan (ThermalTake CL-P0200)

i really think the CPU temp rarely go over 60 degrees (Celcius) even with the ACAG.

geekbanter · Post by **geekbanter** » Sun Mar 05, 2006 1:48 pm

RaptorZX3 wrote: are you sure?

the fans i have are:

-dual-fans for the power-supply (Antec SmartPower 2.0 450W)
-120mm read fan (stock Antec fan included with the case)
-92mm CPU fan (ThermalTake CL-P0200)

i really think the CPU temp rarely go over 60 degrees (Celcius) even with the ACAG.

The best way to see if the duct is effective is to experiment and see which method is actually better. Get yourself speedfan, everest home edition, Prime95 (run torture test->max heat), and rthdribl.

1st Test - Leave duct in
1.) have computer idle for an hour, use speedfan or everest to find the temps of your components. Record all temps you can: Case, CPU, HD, VGA....
2.) Run Prime 95 torture test (max heat) for 1/2 and hour, record temps again
3.) run rthdribl for 10 minutes, record temps again.

2nd Test - Take out the duct
Re-run the previous tests and record all your temps.
Post your results here and compare them.

I don't know which will actually be better in your case (no pun intened), but the CPU temps seem a bit high to me. I don't know what CPU you have, but your active cooling should outpreform my passive Ninja, my CPU temps have never been over 53C.

RaptorZX3 · Post by **RaptorZX3** » Sun Mar 05, 2006 5:17 pm

my CPU is an AMD Athlon 64 3700+

on idle it's generally between 43-45 degrees (Celcius), and when i play a 3D game (like Unreal Tournament 2004 or others...) it goes to around 55 degrees or 57 degrees i think. The temp was higher when i had the stock AMD heat-sink and fan though, it was going up to 60-61 degrees and the damn annoying noise the stock fan was doing! (at 100% speed)

maybe the temp is a bit high because the wires inside are not very well organized

but still, i think this processor's critical temp is 65 degrees of 70 degrees.

geekbanter · Post by **geekbanter** » Mon Mar 06, 2006 1:00 am

I dunno, you temps seem a bit too high for me, I would expect that from an FX or X2 processor, but I would expect your idle to be upper 30s and max at 50-55C. Have you tried undervolting, even just lowering the voltage by -.1 volts can mean 2-5C difference.

Threads here, here, and here show others with 3700+'s and their recorded temps.

Still, try experimenting with/without the duct and route your cables. Show your machine you love it!

RaptorZX3 · Post by **RaptorZX3** » Mon Mar 06, 2006 8:47 am

geekbanter wrote:Show your machine you love it!

sure, when i "play" with the insides, it "doesn't seem to be happy", even when i move it beside the desk, it seem like something in the computer doesn't like to be moved...

...i just wish i could put that computer in another room (like my bedroom) so i won't really hear the noise it's making while i'm in the other room (computer room), but sadly i can't do this because there's no hole in the wall for the wires...plus there are furniture everywhere (big tall shelves on the wall where i could(?) make the hole for the wires, but my mother won't allow to make a hole anyway...).

i have a lot of regrets of not taking that Sapphire Radeon card with a big heat-sink on it instead of that MSI Radeon with fan + heat-sink...