3700BQE observations

[Lee Cresswell]

First of all thanks to everyone here at SPCR for all the great advice and tips which I made lots of use of in my latest project. I’ve been trying to make my PC quieter for a long time, but had finally given up on my old modified generic case, it was always going to struggle with a single 80mm front and rear and NO hard drive cooling. Then found this site, if I’d known earlier I could have saved a lot of fruitless dead ends!.

Anyway based on what I read here I bought a 3700 BQE, fitted it with a Panaflo 92mmL1A on the front and installed my Asus A7V333 with Atholon XP 2600+ and Thermalright AX-7 with undervolted evercool fan, a Maxtor Dmax +8 40GB, Samsung SP 120GB, and a Radeon 9700VIVO fitted with a Zalman HP80C. Also fitted Zalman 6 fan controller. First impressions were that it was noisy and ran hot! Oh well!

Being a bit more specific most of the noise was case resonance from the hard drives, although the power supply was also a bit noisy. So the next step was to order some Sorbothane from McMasters (thanks for that tip Ralf, pity shiping to the UK was so expensive) and mod my fortran FSP350 PSU to hook the fan up to the Zalnam controller.

The Sorbothane was fitted according to Ralfs tips (I least I thought it was!) and helped a lot with the resonanace but to my surprise didn’t completely cure it. However After lots of head scratching I noticed that I had installed the strips hard into the sides of the drive trays. I figured that the lateral drive vibration could be transferring through the surface of the sorbothane as there was only a gap of a few mm either side of the drives. So tried repositioning the sorbothane strips so they were a few mm away from the sides of the drive tray and remounted the drives. Success, no more drive resonance. Wondered if anybody else had come across this?

As for the temperatures, I had noticed in my old case that when I blocked all the pci openings at the back that temps shot up, so I uncovered them again. When I installed the HP80C on the graphics card I noticed that Zalman suggested opining up the PCI cover above the graphics cards so took that one out as well. That gave me a few problems with hot air from the exhaust being pulled back into the case, which was cured with a foam baffle on the back of the case between the exhaust and the opening. The BQE also seems to respond well to opening up one of the PCI covers (the one below the graphics card), this dropped MB temp from about 35 to 30 and the processor from 55 idle 60 load to 49 idle 53 load! There doesn’t seem to be any problem with re-circulation of hot air from the exhaust, but I may at some time experiment with further openings and with rear baffles both external and internal. The hard drive temps seem fine with the Panflo 92mm running at 5v typically about 30C occasionally up to mid 30’s under heavy load.

By the way connecting the Fortron PSU fan to the Zalman controller gave a good reduction in noise but still a bit of resonance from it which actually goes away if you increase the fan speed slightly! Have just tried swapping to an Evercool aluminium bodied 120mm (branded Titan). This is better again, runs at about 930-950rpm with the controller at minimum and can be turned up if required (just about acceptable noise up to 1400rpm). Still a bit of turbulence noise though (I guess the fan is to close to the PSU components) and it was a bit if a pig making sure the aluminium frame doesn’t short out anything in the PSU (its all a bit close!). Have no problems with the Antec 120mm case fan at present, it dosen’t seem to noisy even at 12v, but may try it at 8-9v sometime and se how much it effects cooling.

All in all pretty happy so far and I guess theres a few more mods to be done.

[Ralf Hutter]

So tried repositioning the sorbothane strips so they were a few mm away from the sides of the drive tray and remounted the drives. Success, no more drive resonance. Wondered if anybody else had come across this?

Yes, I did. I mounted the Sorbothane strips so they weren't touching the sides of the drive sled at all. In my prior attemps of dampening the vibrations with foam I noticed that wedging foam between the sides of the drive and the walls of the drive sled made the resonance worse, if anything. So when I installed the Sorbothane I deliberately kept it from touching the sides of the sled.

You can see the slight gap that I left between the Sorbothane and the wall of the sled in the left side of this pic:

[Lee Cresswell]

Yes I can see it quite clearly in the photo now. It makes sense with your remarks about weding the drive in with foam. Glad it wasn't just me.

[slimeballzz]

So tried repositioning the sorbothane strips so they were a few mm away from the sides of the drive tray and remounted the drives. Success, no more drive resonance. Wondered if anybody else had come across this?

Yes, I did. I mounted the Sorbothane strips so they weren't touching the sides of the drive sled at all. In my prior attemps of dampening the vibrations with foam I noticed that wedging foam between the sides of the drive and the walls of the drive sled made the resonance worse, if anything. So when I installed the Sorbothane I deliberately kept it from touching the sides of the sled.

You can see the slight gap that I left between the Sorbothane and the wall of the sled in the left side of this pic:

What is the thickness of sorbothane you used to put it in between the drive and cage? I'm looking to buy some of this sorbothane stuff and also could be getting the 3700BQE so I was wondering exactly how thick of the sorbothane strip I should get to fit two pieces of it between the drive and yet fit the drive cage.

[Lee Cresswell]

The sorbothane is available from www.mcmaster.com and is a 4x4 sheet 0.5 in thick the part number is 8514K55 and cost $7.32 (+postage...lots of postage to the UK! ) cut it into 0.5 inch strips and sit the drive on top. There's lots of details posted by Ralf on this site, sorry dont know how to paste a link, but do a search on sorbothane and you should fined lots of info.

[Ralf Hutter]

So tried repositioning the sorbothane strips so they were a few mm away from the sides of the drive tray and remounted the drives. Success, no more drive resonance. Wondered if anybody else had come across this?

Yes, I did. I mounted the Sorbothane strips so they weren't touching the sides of the drive sled at all. In my prior attemps of dampening the vibrations with foam I noticed that wedging foam between the sides of the drive and the walls of the drive sled made the resonance worse, if anything. So when I installed the Sorbothane I deliberately kept it from touching the sides of the sled.

You can see the slight gap that I left between the Sorbothane and the wall of the sled in the left side of this pic:

What is the thickness of sorbothane you used to put it in between the drive and cage? I'm looking to buy some of this sorbothane stuff and also could be getting the 3700BQE so I was wondering exactly how thick of the sorbothane strip I should get to fit two pieces of it between the drive and yet fit the drive cage.

Well, I can't really think of anything to add, Lee Cresswell already nailed it.

My search for a good HDD dampening method for the 3700BQE drive cage is documented here, and there's some additional pictures of my mounting method further on in that same thread.

[slimeballzz]

Yes, I did. I mounted the Sorbothane strips so they weren't touching the sides of the drive sled at all. In my prior attemps of dampening the vibrations with foam I noticed that wedging foam between the sides of the drive and the walls of the drive sled made the resonance worse, if anything. So when I installed the Sorbothane I deliberately kept it from touching the sides of the sled.

You can see the slight gap that I left between the Sorbothane and the wall of the sled in the left side of this pic:

What is the thickness of sorbothane you used to put it in between the drive and cage? I'm looking to buy some of this sorbothane stuff and also could be getting the 3700BQE so I was wondering exactly how thick of the sorbothane strip I should get to fit two pieces of it between the drive and yet fit the drive cage.

Well, I can't really think of anything to add, Lee Cresswell already nailed it.

My search for a good HDD dampening method for the 3700BQE drive cage is documented here, and there's some additional pictures of my mounting method further on in that same thread.

Thanks Ralf.

Well I have been looking for the SLK3700AMB in the metallic gray color but I never found one and was wondering if you have any idea where I can get the exact same case you have? Ever consider selling your case Ralf?

[Shadowknight]

Er, the 3700AMB IS gray... with a slight tinge of Bronze. I think the picture is a little too bright to accurately reflect the color of the case.

The case really does look gray unless you are paying VERY close attention.

[Ralf Hutter]

Well I have been looking for the SLK3700AMB in the metallic gray color but I never found one and was wondering if you have any idea where I can get the exact same case you have? Ever consider selling your case Ralf?

I've seen dozens of 3700AMBs and they're all the exact same shade of medium gray metallic. My color vision is perfect too, I recently had it checked.

I could sell you my case but you'd be getting the same color case as you would if you bought a brand-new one. Where do you live?

[slimeballzz]

Er, the 3700AMB IS gray... with a slight tinge of Bronze. I think the picture is a little too bright to accurately reflect the color of the case.

The case really does look gray unless you are paying VERY close attention.

So are you saying the 3700AMB I find at regular computer stores such as say Newegg the exact same color as the one on the review here at silentpcreivews?

[slimeballzz]

Well I have been looking for the SLK3700AMB in the metallic gray color but I never found one and was wondering if you have any idea where I can get the exact same case you have? Ever consider selling your case Ralf?

I've seen dozens of 3700AMBs and they're all the exact same shade of medium gray metallic. My color vision is perfect too, I recently had it checked.

I could sell you my case but you'd be getting the same color case as you would if you bought a brand-new one. Where do you live?

Really? Well I'm not too sure anymore. If I should either get the SLK3700AMB or SLK3700BQE. I already have the cash sitting on my desk but I can't really decide which one I'd be better off with.

If you put the same hard drive into a SLK3700AMB and a SLK3700BQE(with the sorbathane mod) which one would be quieter?

[Shadowknight]

So are you saying the 3700AMB I find at regular computer stores such as say Newegg the exact same color as the one on the review here at silentpcreivews?

Yeah. Usually when a company sends something out for review, it's from the final, finished revision of said product. The color is EXACTLY the same.

Also, my guess is that the BQE would be quieter for h/d noise with the sorbathane mod.

Another option is this: What I did with my AMB is pull out the hard drive cage, put my h/d in an enclosure, put some foam down where the cage normally sits, then put the enclosure on the foam. I used some of that stretch elastic with hooks on the end that you can get in hardware stores, and streteched it over the enclosure and under the hard drive cage mount. That way, my drive remains decoupled, and I don't have to worry about it falling out of position when moving the case.

[slimeballzz]

So are you saying the 3700AMB I find at regular computer stores such as say Newegg the exact same color as the one on the review here at silentpcreivews?

Yeah. Usually when a company sends something out for review, it's from the final, finished revision of said product. The color is EXACTLY the same.

Also, my guess is that the BQE would be quieter for h/d noise with the sorbathane mod.

Another option is this: What I did with my AMB is pull out the hard drive cage, put my h/d in an enclosure, put some foam down where the cage normally sits, then put the enclosure on the foam. I used some of that stretch elastic with hooks on the end that you can get in hardware stores, and streteched it over the enclosure and under the hard drive cage mount. That way, my drive remains decoupled, and I don't have to worry about it falling out of position when moving the case.

Alright thanks.

If I did use the sorbathane mod that would mean that the hard drive wouldn't be held by anything right?

What enclosure do you have to keep your hard drive in? That's a good idea but I have two Hitachi 7K250 80GB hard drives on the way so I don't think I can do what you did.

For a two hard drive setup would you recommend me to go with the 3700AMB or 3700BQE?

[Shadowknight]

If I did use the sorbathane mod that would mean that the hard drive wouldn't be held by anything right?

What enclosure do you have to keep your hard drive in? That's a good idea but I have two Hitachi 7K250 80GB hard drives on the way so I don't think I can do what you did.

For a two hard drive setup would you recommend me to go with the 3700AMB or 3700BQE?

I THINK Ralph said somewhere else that the stickiness of the sorbathane will kind of hold the drive in place, but it still might be a better idea to remove the drives if your going to be moving the case somewhere.

I use the Smart Drive 2002 enclosure, it's expensive, but the only other choice I'm aware of (Silent Drive) is well known to fry drives that is spec'ed to handle. Also, with decoupling on foam, I wanted a way to help keep the drive temperature down.

As to the BQE vs. AMB difference.... Ralph recommends the AMB if you're willing to mod the fan grills. This is really just because the airflow cooling for the hard drives isn't as good as the AMB. It's not really bad, just not as good as the AMB.

The BQE, with a little sorbathane, fan swap, and PSU swap, is much better for quieting out of the box. The grills have pretty good airflow as well, and the black color looks a lot slicker too. I would recommend the AMB if you're REALLY hardcore about having the best airflow over your drives, and if you only have one hard drive, and are willing to do the enclosure on foam thing I did.

If you really wanted to use the AMB using 2 enclosures (total of around $130!), you could stack them on top of each other, and place a spacer of some sort between them. There's a recent thread in the gallery section where somebody ripped out the cage from a Sonata, and put 2 Smart Drives on the bottom of the case (on top of each other). Without the cage mount of the AMB, he couldn't secure them though.

[aphonos]

he couldn't secure them though.

Sorry to quibble, but he didn't secure them. I'm sure some sort of rigging could be implemented with a bit of creative thinking.

Here's that Sonata, btw..quiet is in the details

[Ralf Hutter]

he couldn't secure them though.

Sorry to quibble, but he didn't secure them. I'm sure some sort of rigging could be implemented with a bit of creative thinking.

Hell, I'll jump in here and quibble a bit too: I didn't have to secure the drive, it's secure enough.

The Sorbothane is quite sticky and kind of squishy so the drive sort of nestles down a bit into the Sorbothane where it is held fairly well. The IDE cable and power cable will keep the drive from going anywhere in the event that a 800lb Orangutan barges into my house and starts tossing my systems around. It's not like the drive is sitting on top of a bunch of ball-bearings just waiting to slide off into oblivion.

What do you guys do with your systems that you'd worry about something like this? Mine just sits there perfectly motionless 99% of the time while I use it. If I am going to work on it, I open the door and wedge a piece of foam between the top of the drive and the cage and then the drive will go nowhere, even if the Orangutan handles the case.

[Shadowknight]

When I was referring to securing the hard drive when moving the case, I meant MOVING the case.... Moving to a different Apt., going to a LAN party, etc. Sticky or not, I would be iffy on moving a case where the h/d is just held in place by sorbathane.

[Ralf Hutter]

When I was referring to securing the hard drive when moving the case, I meant MOVING the case.... Moving to a different Apt., going to a LAN party, etc. Sticky or not, I would be iffy on moving a case where the h/d is just held in place by sorbathane.

1) Wedge a piece of foam on top of it. It won't go anywhere.

2) Absolute, disasterous, worst-case scenario, the IDE and power cable keep it from going anywhere other than flopping around a bit.

At least with this type of mounting system you can keep the drive from moving around whilst moving the case. If the drive is suspension mounted you can't keep it from moving around a bit.

[slimeballzz]

If I did use the sorbathane mod that would mean that the hard drive wouldn't be held by anything right?

What enclosure do you have to keep your hard drive in? That's a good idea but I have two Hitachi 7K250 80GB hard drives on the way so I don't think I can do what you did.

For a two hard drive setup would you recommend me to go with the 3700AMB or 3700BQE?

I THINK Ralph said somewhere else that the stickiness of the sorbathane will kind of hold the drive in place, but it still might be a better idea to remove the drives if your going to be moving the case somewhere.

I use the Smart Drive 2002 enclosure, it's expensive, but the only other choice I'm aware of (Silent Drive) is well known to fry drives that is spec'ed to handle. Also, with decoupling on foam, I wanted a way to help keep the drive temperature down.

As to the BQE vs. AMB difference.... Ralph recommends the AMB if you're willing to mod the fan grills. This is really just because the airflow cooling for the hard drives isn't as good as the AMB. It's not really bad, just not as good as the AMB.

The BQE, with a little sorbathane, fan swap, and PSU swap, is much better for quieting out of the box. The grills have pretty good airflow as well, and the black color looks a lot slicker too. I would recommend the AMB if you're REALLY hardcore about having the best airflow over your drives, and if you only have one hard drive, and are willing to do the enclosure on foam thing I did.

If you really wanted to use the AMB using 2 enclosures (total of around $130!), you could stack them on top of each other, and place a spacer of some sort between them. There's a recent thread in the gallery section where somebody ripped out the cage from a Sonata, and put 2 Smart Drives on the bottom of the case (on top of each other). Without the cage mount of the AMB, he couldn't secure them though.

Yeah I eventually read that the Sorbathane can be really "sticky" and hold down the drive fine. As for moving it I just want to be able to bring it in and out of my room to my living room.

Wow you invested some $$$ for your hard drives . Are the Smart Drive Enclosures really well worth it? I mean I have always wanted an enclosure like that but do they really work that well to justify the cost? I mean the drives I'm getting have FDB I believe or as so what is says on Hitachi's website so they should be already generally quiet. Would the Smart Drive Enclosure really make a big difference?

Yeah I'm not wanting to mod the fan grills and decided to go with the 3700BQE and have already placed out an order for the Sorbathane at mcmaster.com.

Yeah I saw the mod too and all I can say is WOW. Haha I thought about the Sonata but having those holes there I just didn't like on the side panel.

[Shadowknight]

I spent around $65 for my enclosure. I REALLY don't like noise. Right now, the loudest component in my system is the 400w SS, and I plan on getting an Antec Phantom if it gets a good review.

I really feel that the Samsung is quiet enough already, so the enclosure cuts out a little more of the high frequency noise, which you have to get your ear within 6 inches of the drive to hear anyway. So, I can't tell you how effective it is as the drive I have is already very quiet. However, I can tell you this in regards to seeks: Unless the computer is doing a lot of seeking (such as when I let the computer go too long without defraggin)... I almost never hear seek noise anymore, even then, it's so muffled I have to strain to hear it.

I got the SD 2002 becuase when I put the drive on foam in my old InWin case (in a 5 1/4 bay), the temps were hitting around 50. Temps are lower when placed in a similar arangement in the AMB, but I went ahead and got the SD, as it provides passive cooling, and it allowed me to put it in front of the primary airflow vent, giving it access to the coolest air in the system.

Ralph: I believe that your method is probably pretty secure. I just prefer my method, partly because it enables me to use the enclosure, and keep it safely in position in front of the airflow.

[slimeballzz]

I spent around $65 for my enclosure. I REALLY don't like noise. Right now, the loudest component in my system is the 400w SS, and I plan on getting an Antec Phantom if it gets a good review.

I really feel that the Samsung is quiet enough already, so the enclosure cuts out a little more of the high frequency noise, which you have to get your ear within 6 inches of the drive to hear anyway. So, I can't tell you how effective it is as the drive I have is already very quiet. However, I can tell you this in regards to seeks: Unless the computer is doing a lot of seeking (such as when I let the computer go too long without defraggin)... I almost never hear seek noise anymore, even then, it's so muffled I have to strain to hear it.

I got the SD 2002 becuase when I put the drive on foam in my old InWin case (in a 5 1/4 bay), the temps were hitting around 50. Temps are lower when placed in a similar arangement in the AMB, but I went ahead and got the SD, as it provides passive cooling, and it allowed me to put it in front of the primary airflow vent, giving it access to the coolest air in the system.

Ralph: I believe that your method is probably pretty secure. I just prefer my method, partly because it enables me to use the enclosure, and keep it safely in position in front of the airflow.

Oh I see. Antec Phantom? Yeah that looks awesome although it will cost. I think I'd wait for it to come out see how it does and maybe wait for a 400+W version of it.

Oh so this was originally for your old InWin case. Are you more in the silence field or performance? Or both?

[Shadowknight]

Oh I see. Antec Phantom? Yeah that looks awesome although it will cost. I think I'd wait for it to come out see how it does and maybe wait for a 400+W version of it.

I mentioned this in the PSU section, but Antec is planning a 420w, 500w, and 700w versions. Anything higher than the 350w model will have a fan for emergency usage in case temps go too high. I'll probably get the 420w version. While fanless is preferred, I think having a fan inside the PSU makes sense in case the PSU produces too much heat for the case fan to handle

Oh so this was originally for your old InWin case. Are you more in the silence field or performance? Or both?

I don't quite understand your question... In my old InWin case, I put the hd (no enclosure) on foam in a 5 1/4 bay. Got knocked around everytime I turned the case over to work on it Got hot too. Hence, my desire to keep it cooler with the Smart Drive and better airflow positioning, as well as strapping it into position so it doesn't get knocked around.

The CPU, RAM, and M/B in my sig. are gifts from my brother. I was getting headaches (literally) from the hard drives he had given me, the PSU, CPU fan, etc, so I've been making it a quiet system. You can have both a high performance AND quiet system without resulting to watercooling. (Which, given a couple of horror stories I've heard, I have little motivation to try.)

[slimeballzz]

Oh I see. Antec Phantom? Yeah that looks awesome although it will cost. I think I'd wait for it to come out see how it does and maybe wait for a 400+W version of it.

I mentioned this in the PSU section, but Antec is planning a 420w, 500w, and 700w versions. Anything higher than the 350w model will have a fan for emergency usage in case temps go too high. I'll probably get the 420w version. While fanless is preferred, I think having a fan inside the PSU makes sense in case the PSU produces too much heat for the case fan to handle

Oh so this was originally for your old InWin case. Are you more in the silence field or performance? Or both?

I don't quite understand your question... In my old InWin case, I put the hd (no enclosure) on foam in a 5 1/4 bay. Got knocked around everytime I turned the case over to work on it Got hot too. Hence, my desire to keep it cooler with the Smart Drive and better airflow positioning, as well as strapping it into position so it doesn't get knocked around.

The CPU, RAM, and M/B in my sig. are gifts from my brother. I was getting headaches (literally) from the hard drives he had given me, the PSU, CPU fan, etc, so I've been making it a quiet system. You can have both a high performance AND quiet system without resulting to watercooling. (Which, given a couple of horror stories I've heard, I have little motivation to try.)

I mentioned this in the PSU section, but Antec is planning a 420w, 500w, and 700w versions. Anything higher than the 350w model will have a fan for emergency usage in case temps go too high. I'll probably get the 420w version. While fanless is preferred, I think having a fan inside the PSU makes sense in case the PSU produces too much heat for the case fan to handle

Yeah I think I'd like a 420w or 500w. But that of course depends on how well they do when they do make it out on to the market.

I don't quite understand your question... In my old InWin case, I put the hd (no enclosure) on foam in a 5 1/4 bay. Got knocked around everytime I turned the case over to work on it Got hot too. Hence, my desire to keep it cooler with the Smart Drive and better airflow positioning, as well as strapping it into position so it doesn't get knocked around.

The CPU, RAM, and M/B in my sig. are gifts from my brother. I was getting headaches (literally) from the hard drives he had given me, the PSU, CPU fan, etc, so I've been making it a quiet system. You can have both a high performance AND quiet system without resulting to watercooling. (Which, given a couple of horror stories I've heard, I have little motivation to try.)

Sorry forget about that question.

So is your system overclocked? Wow your brother sure is nice! Anyways I have a polarflo watercooling set and will giving it a try. Less fans = less noise! Though I think the pump that I have (Swiftech MCP600) does emit a bit of noise. I'm just waiting to get the case and waiting for my P4P800 as it has been RMA'ed.

[Shadowknight]

Nah, I'm not an overclocker. I've bought the silencing equipment, and paid $330 for the video card.

Before you use the watercooling, make sure the tube connection are tight before you install it. I've heard of at least on person who fried some equipment, because the tubing was sealed correctly at the factory.

[edz]

The sorbothane is available from www.mcmaster.com and is a 4x4 sheet 0.5 in thick the part number is 8514K55 and cost $7.32 (+postage...lots of postage to the UK! ) cut it into 0.5 inch strips and sit the drive on top. There's lots of details posted by Ralf on this site, sorry dont know how to paste a link, but do a search on sorbothane and you should fined lots of info.

Can you remember how much the postage to UK was?

Thanks.

[slimeballzz]

The sorbothane is available from www.mcmaster.com and is a 4x4 sheet 0.5 in thick the part number is 8514K55 and cost $7.32 (+postage...lots of postage to the UK! ) cut it into 0.5 inch strips and sit the drive on top. There's lots of details posted by Ralf on this site, sorry dont know how to paste a link, but do a search on sorbothane and you should fined lots of info.

Can you remember how much the postage to UK was?

Thanks.

You can give them an email and tell them what you wanted and ask them how much on postage. That's what I did.

[Lee Cresswell]

Can you remember how much the postage to UK was?

Thanks.

If I remember rightly the postage was about $15 On the plus side it did arrive within two days which is quicker than some UK internet order places can manage. I'll double check the amounts when I get back home.

[Mankey]

Could anyone perhaps hook me up with a mc master carr part number for the sorbathane used here?

[Ralf Hutter]

Could anyone perhaps hook me up with a mc master carr part number for the sorbathane used here?

Go to http://www.mcmaster.com/ and type in "3299" (w/o the quotes). This will take you to the Sorbothane sheet page. The stuff you're looking for is at the top of the page.

I bought several different thicknesses of 4' x 4" sheets when I first got it for mounting my HDD and ended up using the 1/2" thick stuff. Since then, others have claimed they've had great luck with sheets as thin as 1/8" thick.

[hydroxyhydride]

Sorbothane has been somewhat overhyped IMO. I bought some for my BQE but I haven't noticed that much of a difference yet in terms of seek noise and case vibration. I've noticed that in a large block, it isn't very soft at all (ie it needs to be in thin strips to be "squishy"). Perhaps I need to pick up some Verax/Directron sticks for my Evercool fans and lower the voltage some more but here is why I think the sorbothane is far from the ultimate solution:

My quick and dirty extreme vibration test:

-Place sorbothane on Desk/wood panel/case panel/etc.
-Place cell phone on top of sorbothane
-activate vibrate mode on phone
-touch desk for vibrations and compare to desk w/o sorbothane

While sorbothane may help particular resonance issues, it does not significantly reduce vibrations transferred to a surface. I suppose my expectations were a little too high.

Product purchased: 8794K111 1/2 inch 40 durometer sheet from McMaster-Carr