Does dampening material really help?

Asulc · Post by **Asulc** » Sun Dec 02, 2007 11:58 am

I am going to be buying an Antec p182, and want the computer to have the best balance between low temps and being extremely quiet. Would dampening material help at all, or is the case still really quiet without it. I am going to be using a PCPC 750 quad silencer (not a really quiet one, but I need the power). The case fans will be replaced with Scythe s-flex 1200rpm fans.

Any help at all on making this case extremely quiet is greatly appriciated.

mentawl · Post by **mentawl** » Sun Dec 02, 2007 12:07 pm

Chances are, if you're putting enough powerful components inside to *require* a 750w powersupply, you're gonna need every little bit of help you can get to make it quieter - I don't think a machine that draws anywhere near 750w of power will ever be silent, heh. What exactly are you planning on putting in this PC?

adam_mccullough · Post by **adam_mccullough** » Sun Dec 02, 2007 12:23 pm

Asulc wrote:but I need the power

Unlikely. A dual socket, 8 core rig with a top-end SLI setup and a bunch of 15k drives might just about tax a power supply rated for a peak of 825W, but I'd guess if you have a search around the articles and forums here and various linked articles elsewhere you'll likely find you can go with a more reasonable PSU. Of course I may well be wrong, in which case I'd love to see your component list!

Don't underestimate the importance of this factor, though: it'll be next to impossible to make a relatively silent machine if the power supply isn't quiet. There's not a lot you can do for them. I've used both types of dampening material (you don't mention which you mean, so I'm guessing you're referring to both acoustic lining for the case and rubberised gasket-type material for mounting the psu/other components) and neither have had any impact on PSU noise for me. Acoustipack did help with cavity resonance and quieting the little noise of an already-quiet hard drive and case fans though.

Asulc · Post by **Asulc** » Sun Dec 02, 2007 12:30 pm

I may be wrong then about needing the psu.

Parts list
Antec p182 modded
-has handles
-4 scythe s-flex 1200 rpm fans
-modded for wiring
PC Power & Cooling 750 quad sli black psu
Asus p5n32-e sli
Intel e6600
-Zalman 9500
4x1 gig G.Skill 800mhz ram
-heatsinks painted black
MSI 8800 gts 640mb
-Zalman zf1000 led
Western Digital 320gig hd
Samsung 22 inch widescreen

Asulc · Post by **Asulc** » Sun Dec 02, 2007 12:32 pm

jhhoffma · Post by **jhhoffma** » Sun Dec 02, 2007 1:10 pm

Damping material definitely helps, but it doesn't work miracles. You need to start with choosing quiet components. Then isolating the devices that generate vibrations is key. You can dampen a case all you want but if the HDD or optical drives are buzzing away, there's going to be a lot of racket.

Once you have the component dampened, you may still notice some vibrations from the fans or other components making their way to the case. Applying dampening material (usually dense materials), or mass-loading, is one way of reducing noise. The increased mass of the panels will absorb some of the vibrational energy (usually turning into a little heat along the way) and also reduce the resonance frequency of the panel having the subjective effect of making it quieter. You can also top the dampening material with a denser open-cell foam (like egg-crate foam or upholstery foam) for some reduction in high-frequency noises.

adam_mccullough · Post by **adam_mccullough** » Sun Dec 02, 2007 1:15 pm

Here's a link to an account where a guy measures the draw from his 8800GTS SLI system with an FX-60.

8800GTS SLI Power-Mate figures

Even heavily overclocked, his rig drew a peak of 433W at the wall. Assuming his PSU was very efficient (80%), that equates to 346W drawn from the PSU. Since you can expect your E6600 to draw about 1/2 what an FX-60 does at stock, or about 2/3 overclocked, your draw will probably be a bit lower than this even if you decide to slap another 8800GTS in later on.

If I was building your rig, I'd probably go for a Seasonic. I've got an S12-430 (way overspec for me, but it's still quiet and it was half price at the time!) and I like it, although it's not quite silent (I can hear it up to maybe 5m in a quiet room at night, but not at all during the day).

Strictly speaking, you probably only need a good ~300W PSU to power your components, or maybe 350-400 if you want room for upgrades. However, lower models don't always have PCIE connectors, and I think modular cables are worth getting, especially if you want the inside of your box to look nice (which I guess since you plan on painting your RAM heatspreaders (?! - is this a good idea? Instinct tells me no, but I'm not sure...)). I think you have to go for one of the higher models (~500W?) for modular cabling, but Seasonic make good, quiet PSUs for lots of other big brands and I'm sure there will be ones that fit the bill.

Of course, this is just my opinion - I suggest you read the PSU reviews here and make up your own mind, all the information you'll need is on this site and in the forums (mainly in the PSU, CPU and Graphics bits, probably...)

Good luck!

PS. If that Samsung 22-inch screen's anything like the 226BW, you're in for a treat!

autoboy · Post by **autoboy** » Sun Dec 02, 2007 1:25 pm

Hehe, I love threads like this. Man, we just saved you $150 with one component. 750W! Computers are not microwaves! They don't use that much power. Pick yourself up a good 450W power supply from our recommend list and you will never feel power starved again even if you ran SLI which is dumb anyways.

A few more things too. Don't paint your heatsinks. Paint is an insulator and your cooling efficiency will drop like a rock.

Ram does not need heatsinks. Especially ram on video cards because you can't overvolt video card ram with is the primary reason people thought they needed to cool their ram.

Asulc · Post by **Asulc** » Sun Dec 02, 2007 1:30 pm

I gave the list to my mom for ideas for christmas. The psu was on sale for $170 at the time. I thought it was a really good price for the performance, so I went for it.

Asulc · Post by **Asulc** » Sun Dec 02, 2007 1:34 pm

autoboy wrote:Hehe, I love threads like this. Man, we just saved you $150 with one component. 750W! Computers are not microwaves! They don't use that much power. Pick yourself up a good 450W power supply from our recommend list and you will never feel power starved again even if you ran SLI which is dumb anyways.

I plan on getting a 9800 when they come out. What would I need for a psu to make sure that I can use a 9800?

seraphyn · Post by **seraphyn** » Sun Dec 02, 2007 1:36 pm

As for dampening material from my perspective/experience. It doesn't really decrease the dBA, at least not noticably. However what it did do was change the tone of the sound somewhat, which was totally worth it for me.

Never used commercial products for it though, don't know how they fare in noise reduction.

adam_mccullough · Post by **adam_mccullough** » Sun Dec 02, 2007 8:09 pm

Asulc wrote:I plan on getting a 9800 when they come out. What would I need for a psu to make sure that I can use a 9800?

Well, to be honest there doesn't appear to be an answer to that at the moment since the specs aren't out. I didn't even know there was one on the horizon until just now.

Rumour has it that the power consumption will be "lower than a 8800GTX" which would put it at a max of about 30W higher than your 8800GTS. But that's got to be taken as a total guess at this point.

I think, all things considered, if I were you I'd be looking at the likes of a Corsair VX450 or a HX520, depending on just how much headroom you want. I'd guess that the 520 will probably run any system a sane person would want to build during the remaining lifetime of the ATX power "standards". By that I mean anything with a hope in hell of being reasonably quiet, anyway.

Lensman · Post by **Lensman** » Sun Dec 02, 2007 10:51 pm

I can see you're inclined to being conservative about your power supply, so I'll chime in and suggest a Corsair HX620W or the Corsair TX750W. I have the HX620 and it's a nice quiet proven Seasonic built unit. The TX750W is made by Channel Well but is much quieter than the PCPC Silencer 750 Quad even though the PCPC is made by Seasonic. The PCPC has an 80mm fan while the Corsair TX750W has a massive 140mm fan!

The Corsairs also have the benefit of being cheaper at Newegg.

Go over to the power supply forum for an in-depth discussion of these power supplies.

Asulc · Post by **Asulc** » Mon Dec 03, 2007 5:43 pm

Thank you all for the help. If I don't get the pcpc psu, then I will probably get the corsair 750watt. I want to make sure that I can have an oced quad, sli, etc (ready for the future).

CountChoculaBot · Post by **CountChoculaBot** » Mon Dec 03, 2007 6:04 pm

The Corsair TX750w is a LOT more prepared for the future than the PCPC 750, because it has a whopping four 6+2pin PCI-E connectors, whereas I'm pretty sure the silencer only has regular 6 pin PCI-E connectors.

adam_mccullough · Post by **adam_mccullough** » Mon Dec 03, 2007 7:45 pm

When you've built your machine, be sure to get a power meter and let us know what the actual draw is!

sheninat0r · Post by **sheninat0r** » Tue Dec 04, 2007 3:58 pm

The Silencer 750 has 2 x 6pin and 2 x 6+2pin PCI-e connectors - they revised its design and made the fiery red CF edition to celebrate it, but now all 3 colors of PSU come with the 6+2pin connectors.

pd230soi · Post by **pd230soi** » Wed Dec 05, 2007 12:08 am

Hi,

You may already have modified your list, but.... I have the Zal 9500 and am unhappy about it. Loud as sin. Consider the Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme or something that you can manage the Fan choice yourself.

Have fun!

Post by **CA_Steve** » Wed Dec 05, 2007 5:54 am

Your system (using the 8800GTS) will draw ~250W or less while gaming - assuming you buy an 80+ efficiency power supply.

aef110 · Post by **aef110** » Wed Dec 05, 2007 6:13 am

Asulc wrote:THIS IS A MAYBE
5.1 Speakers $160-180 (rebate)

With surround speakers, this doesn't exactly "sound" like a silent system...

Khrono Devil · Post by **Khrono Devil** » Thu Dec 06, 2007 2:20 am

CountChoculaBot wrote:The Corsair TX750w is a LOT more prepared for the future than the PCPC 750, because it has a whopping four 6+2pin PCI-E connectors, whereas I'm pretty sure the silencer only has regular 6 pin PCI-E connectors.

I sure as hell hope that we never have to use a single 8 pin again let alone dual 8 pins, with PCI-E 2.0 allowing up to 150w thru the bus and a single 6 pin supplying 75w that is already topping out at 225w. Dual 8 pins + PCI-E 2.0 that is 450w to a single card ... you gotta be freaking insane the Corsair TX750 couldn't handle outputing all that power in a dual card setup let alone have enough juice left over to power the rest of the system. Future proof my arse.

The Silencer is quieter than the Corsairs at Higher load, alot of people assume that larger fan = better / quieter cooling, while a 120-140mm is very good in the ~500w the 80mm fans have room for larger components and heatsinks that can deal with the heat more effectively and efficiently.

my PC (in sig below) draws 540w from the wall @ full load, I used to own a Corsair 620HX which got to loud for me during heavy gaming sessions the Silencer is far quieter at load.

Does dampening material really help?

Does dampening material really help?

Re: Does dampening material really help?

Think about changing HSF