noise from optical drives

catfish · Post by **catfish** » Sun Feb 28, 2010 12:30 pm

I've read a lot of topics and reviews this weekend, but most of of the time, things go about damping the cpu-, gpu- or case-fans or harddisk.

when planning on using a computer as a htpc, i find it also important that the optical drive is quiet (dvd and bd)

Is a door in such a scenario important? For example, is a P183 a better choice than a P150/Solo for this purpose? Or is the door-effect negligible?

Btw, in many reviews i saw that the P150 uses 1 mm steel, according the case comparison on the Antec website, the Solo uses 0,8 mm steel. Is this a typo or is the current Solo less than the P150?

Post by **Ralf Hutter** » Tue Mar 02, 2010 10:16 am

A door can certainly help, but the right software can really help.

catfish · Post by **catfish** » Tue Mar 02, 2010 11:23 am

I know that limiting the rpm does wonders, but some dvd's aren't completely symmetric (?) and make noise
is a door effective in reducing that?

jhhoffma · Post by **jhhoffma** » Thu Mar 04, 2010 10:03 am

What's most effective is isolating the junction between the optical drive shell and the drive cage. I've used small pieces of foam and/or headliner fabric (foam/felt sandwich) in between the two parts to create a sound gasket. It helps to reduce the transmission of vibrations from the source (optical drive) and the magnifier (the case).

The method depends on whether or not you are using rails, but I've used it on both and it works well.