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Freezebyte
2[H]4U
- Joined
- Sep 21, 2008
- Messages
- 2,403
Me, like many of you, are continually fighting the constant battle between power, speed, cooling and noise for our gaming PC machines. It's a battle to get the balance to meet every individuals needs of noise, cooling and performance. Some damn all the noise and run deltas fans, screaming *literally* to keep super nova heated CPU's and GPU's cool While others will take the zen guru route and build machines you can't even tell are on they are so quiet. And many others take the in between route.
One of the biggest contributors to this noise, has been and will continue to do so in the near future is the infamous magnetic spinning hard drives. Yep, these drives have certainly come along way from the day of screeching ball bearings and gawd awful seeking crunching noises from actuator heads. However, the fact remains that these things spin at 5,400 to 10,000 RPM with read/write heads moving back and forth hundreds of times a second and thus, like any moving mechanical object, its gonna create noise and vibration. Noise which can be greatly reduced or amplified depending upon how the HDD is fitted and mounted into a computer case. Aluminum has been known to be very good at turning HDD vibrations into an amplified crunching and grinding noise due to the reverberation of the lighter metal. Steels cases fair better in this area, but even still, the computer case itself can be turned into a amplifier if the HDD"s themselves are simply bolted into place.
Well, needless to say, even with my Antec mini P 180 and the rubber grommets that are designed to help minimize the vibration transfer from the HDD to the case itself, it still royally sucked. I could literally feel my head pounding everytime that HDD of my started to crunch away at data and the case amplified it terribly. I could literally feel the HDD vibration into the desk and onto my keyboard as my HDD trashes away using Vista. I had to think "Seriously, this is lame" Finally to the point where I finally lost it and decided to do something about this once and for all.
I have known about the "suspension" method of hanging your HDD"s from bungie or elastic cords which has been proven to be the best way to reduce HDD noise and vibration. I attempted to do this years ago in a Antec Sonata case with poor results, mostly due to my lack of proper measurements and patience. Silence PC Review has had great information on their website about successfully modding cases with suspension systems to help all but eliminate HDD vibration and noise transfer into the case. There is alot of good information and I suggest reading through their articles and forums.
http://www.silentpcreview.com/article8-page2.html
Armed with knowledge, a severe desire to shut my HDD the hell up and better patience this time around, I set out to modify "Black Ice" based upon the mini P180 case to suspend my HDDs. Here's how it went down:
I got some light bungie cord material at a local fabric store. You can use a variety of different cords, lengths, thicknesses and materials, but cloth has been found to be the best. You can use round or flat. All I could find was flat so I went with that. I wanted the elastic band to be be just the right amount of tight and looseness. Too thick of a band and the HDD won't suspend very well, too thin of a band and the HDD's weight may stretch out the fabric t0o much, reducing vibration reduction. The key: Find a balance
Now was the tricky and time consuming part, measuring out exactly where I wanted to drill holes for the bands to go through. Like they say, measure three times, cut/drill once. My computer needs only justify having one HDD, but you can modify this method to fit easily 2 or even 3 HDD's in this manner depending on your case and HDD usage.
With everything measured out as accurate as possible *for me* I went ahead and proceeded to drill small guide holes in the HDD cage first. This makes it alot easier to guide the larger bit and prevent slipping while drilling with them
With the guide holes completed, I then switched a nice, new 7/32'' drill bit to enlarge the holes for the bands. Drilling is SOOOO much easier and faster when you have fresh, sharp drill bits *Hint, hint*
With the larger holes now neatly drilled, I rinsed off the HDD cage to remove metal filings and prepped for installing the elastic bands. To help clean and cover up the bare metal and scratches from drilling, I used a black permanent marker
With two equal lengths of cord, 3 feet in this case, I proceeded to route the bands through the cage
With the bands level and just barely taunt, were ready for the next tricky step, securing them
This step took a bit of trial and error. Again, depending on the the type of elastic band your using, you want the bands to be taught enough to hold up the HDD in place but not be so stretched out that it can't absorb the HDD's vibration. It will also depend on the size and weight of your HDD's. I kept my bungie cords at just slightly pulled with plenty of flex room. You may need to test by putting in your HDD and see how well it suspends. The end result will be something like this
Again the next step took trial and error to get the tightness of the bands just right. After that is done, I inserted the HDD while crossing the bands in an X shape. This helps secure the HDD in place while pulling the bands taunt enough to hold the HDD and still allow it to "bounce" in place. This is what we want. Its the ability for the cord to absorb the vibration caused by the HDD and prevent it from being transferred to the computer case.
Looks good don't it! Just wait until you HEAR it, or lack thereof. Now we install the drive back into the case and make sure its balanced as possible and not resting on any metal, we want it completely suspended in the air by the bands.
And wallah, were done! I'm very pleased with the end result. Thanks to the P180's black painted interior and black elastic bands, it looks very "stock" and professionally done.
But the real beauty is the DRAMATIC decrease in HDD related noise and vibration this mod made possible. I couldn't believe the difference when I first powered up the PC that the HDD"s was now hardly audible at all, except for some very light "clicks" and "grrrs". A humongous improvement over the loud "Crunching" and "Growling" I was used to before with the HDD attached directly to the case. Talk about sweet music to the ears! I also partially blame this crappy Seagate model HDD for being so noisy. I plan on replacing it with nice WD Black Caviar in the near future. I wish I coulda recorded a before and after noise comparison but take it from me, you WILL notice a dramatic difference in your computers noise levels doing this mod to your Antec Performance cases, and indeed any other case you may own!
Again, this procedure can easily be adjusted and tweaked to meet your specific needs, case layout and HDD usage. Be sure to check out SPCR's forum posting on many other peoples successfully implementation of HDD suspension in their various cases
http://www.silentpcreview.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=19147
Some day in the near future however, the world of SSD's will completely take over the need to have these noisy and obsolete pieces of computer equipjment. SSD's improvement over read and right speeds, reliability, heat reduction and most of all, NO NOISE or VIBRATION will be a God send to PC users everywhere. It will become a thing of the past to deal with the noisy, hi tech, fast spinning record players we know as magnetic data storage.
Until that day, may this mod help you silence your drives, regain your sanity and game/surf/work/play on your computer in quieter peace!
One of the biggest contributors to this noise, has been and will continue to do so in the near future is the infamous magnetic spinning hard drives. Yep, these drives have certainly come along way from the day of screeching ball bearings and gawd awful seeking crunching noises from actuator heads. However, the fact remains that these things spin at 5,400 to 10,000 RPM with read/write heads moving back and forth hundreds of times a second and thus, like any moving mechanical object, its gonna create noise and vibration. Noise which can be greatly reduced or amplified depending upon how the HDD is fitted and mounted into a computer case. Aluminum has been known to be very good at turning HDD vibrations into an amplified crunching and grinding noise due to the reverberation of the lighter metal. Steels cases fair better in this area, but even still, the computer case itself can be turned into a amplifier if the HDD"s themselves are simply bolted into place.
Well, needless to say, even with my Antec mini P 180 and the rubber grommets that are designed to help minimize the vibration transfer from the HDD to the case itself, it still royally sucked. I could literally feel my head pounding everytime that HDD of my started to crunch away at data and the case amplified it terribly. I could literally feel the HDD vibration into the desk and onto my keyboard as my HDD trashes away using Vista. I had to think "Seriously, this is lame" Finally to the point where I finally lost it and decided to do something about this once and for all.
I have known about the "suspension" method of hanging your HDD"s from bungie or elastic cords which has been proven to be the best way to reduce HDD noise and vibration. I attempted to do this years ago in a Antec Sonata case with poor results, mostly due to my lack of proper measurements and patience. Silence PC Review has had great information on their website about successfully modding cases with suspension systems to help all but eliminate HDD vibration and noise transfer into the case. There is alot of good information and I suggest reading through their articles and forums.
http://www.silentpcreview.com/article8-page2.html
Armed with knowledge, a severe desire to shut my HDD the hell up and better patience this time around, I set out to modify "Black Ice" based upon the mini P180 case to suspend my HDDs. Here's how it went down:
I got some light bungie cord material at a local fabric store. You can use a variety of different cords, lengths, thicknesses and materials, but cloth has been found to be the best. You can use round or flat. All I could find was flat so I went with that. I wanted the elastic band to be be just the right amount of tight and looseness. Too thick of a band and the HDD won't suspend very well, too thin of a band and the HDD's weight may stretch out the fabric t0o much, reducing vibration reduction. The key: Find a balance
Now was the tricky and time consuming part, measuring out exactly where I wanted to drill holes for the bands to go through. Like they say, measure three times, cut/drill once. My computer needs only justify having one HDD, but you can modify this method to fit easily 2 or even 3 HDD's in this manner depending on your case and HDD usage.
With everything measured out as accurate as possible *for me* I went ahead and proceeded to drill small guide holes in the HDD cage first. This makes it alot easier to guide the larger bit and prevent slipping while drilling with them
With the guide holes completed, I then switched a nice, new 7/32'' drill bit to enlarge the holes for the bands. Drilling is SOOOO much easier and faster when you have fresh, sharp drill bits *Hint, hint*
With the larger holes now neatly drilled, I rinsed off the HDD cage to remove metal filings and prepped for installing the elastic bands. To help clean and cover up the bare metal and scratches from drilling, I used a black permanent marker
With two equal lengths of cord, 3 feet in this case, I proceeded to route the bands through the cage
With the bands level and just barely taunt, were ready for the next tricky step, securing them
This step took a bit of trial and error. Again, depending on the the type of elastic band your using, you want the bands to be taught enough to hold up the HDD in place but not be so stretched out that it can't absorb the HDD's vibration. It will also depend on the size and weight of your HDD's. I kept my bungie cords at just slightly pulled with plenty of flex room. You may need to test by putting in your HDD and see how well it suspends. The end result will be something like this
Again the next step took trial and error to get the tightness of the bands just right. After that is done, I inserted the HDD while crossing the bands in an X shape. This helps secure the HDD in place while pulling the bands taunt enough to hold the HDD and still allow it to "bounce" in place. This is what we want. Its the ability for the cord to absorb the vibration caused by the HDD and prevent it from being transferred to the computer case.
Looks good don't it! Just wait until you HEAR it, or lack thereof. Now we install the drive back into the case and make sure its balanced as possible and not resting on any metal, we want it completely suspended in the air by the bands.
And wallah, were done! I'm very pleased with the end result. Thanks to the P180's black painted interior and black elastic bands, it looks very "stock" and professionally done.
But the real beauty is the DRAMATIC decrease in HDD related noise and vibration this mod made possible. I couldn't believe the difference when I first powered up the PC that the HDD"s was now hardly audible at all, except for some very light "clicks" and "grrrs". A humongous improvement over the loud "Crunching" and "Growling" I was used to before with the HDD attached directly to the case. Talk about sweet music to the ears! I also partially blame this crappy Seagate model HDD for being so noisy. I plan on replacing it with nice WD Black Caviar in the near future. I wish I coulda recorded a before and after noise comparison but take it from me, you WILL notice a dramatic difference in your computers noise levels doing this mod to your Antec Performance cases, and indeed any other case you may own!
Again, this procedure can easily be adjusted and tweaked to meet your specific needs, case layout and HDD usage. Be sure to check out SPCR's forum posting on many other peoples successfully implementation of HDD suspension in their various cases
http://www.silentpcreview.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=19147
Some day in the near future however, the world of SSD's will completely take over the need to have these noisy and obsolete pieces of computer equipjment. SSD's improvement over read and right speeds, reliability, heat reduction and most of all, NO NOISE or VIBRATION will be a God send to PC users everywhere. It will become a thing of the past to deal with the noisy, hi tech, fast spinning record players we know as magnetic data storage.
Until that day, may this mod help you silence your drives, regain your sanity and game/surf/work/play on your computer in quieter peace!
