That sound absorbing padding stuff...

Does it make your case hotter because heat cannot be transfered "through" the case?

Is the amount of heat transfered "through" the case so small it is not a factor anyway? Even with an aluminium case compared to whatever a normal case is made of (steel?).

Is the padding stuff really worth it as noise can still escape through the vents where the fans are anyway?

Will a side window in the case allow more noise to escape compared to a normal case side panel?

I think that is all the questions I have been pondering today lol

i have wondered the same thing myself. I have talked to guys who used it and said it did lower the sound while raising their temps 2-3C. However, i think they applied it to both sides of the case and didn't have a window.

Check out this site there is a really god review of a couple sound mats..www.silentpcreview.com. They have alot of good articles on making a pc quiet.

Yeah it will raise your temps a little, but not too much. It's like putting a blanket around your computer. As long as you have decent air flow I think you would be alright. A buddy of mine used carpet padding to line his case, and it helped to dampen his tornado a little, but you could still definatly hear it. It mostly took the annoying high pitched tone away.

I'm interested in doing this. The aeroflow is much louder than I had expected and I can afford a few degrees if it brings some quiet with it.

Hmmm I am not sure about the window though, will it be a waste of time padding the rest of the case if the window will let noise leak out...

I'm not too sure about the window either. I'm guessing that sound would probably come out of the window. But you could always try it and let us know what happens.. If you are just trying to quiet a couple fans I would just buy a fan controller and turn them down when the cooling, and noise, isn't as neccessary, like when you are sleeping or something.

7h3r4py said:

Does it make your case hotter because heat cannot be transfered "through" the case?

Is the amount of heat transfered "through" the case so small it is not a factor anyway? Even with an aluminium case compared to whatever a normal case is made of (steel?).

Is the padding stuff really worth it as noise can still escape through the vents where the fans are anyway?

Will a side window in the case allow more noise to escape compared to a normal case side panel?

I think that is all the questions I have been pondering today lol

Click to expand...

Hey there... welp. Really depending on your existing airflow, padding can have a small impact on temperatures or a really big impact. Make sure you have a good steady airflow, otherwise heat will clog a bit.

The two machines I've padded didn't get much in terms of silence. Although padded right down to the last square inch, I found that most noise actually came from the grilles in front of my fans, and thus I could pad all I wanted without achieving anything.

Cheers, Flix

Basically it won't get that much more silent, but it'll take away the high frequencies which will give you a, much less annnoying, humming sound..

As for case temps, it doesn't neccesarily make them go up if you have decent airflow..

If it worth it, well it's up to you I guess.. how much money you are willing to spend for something that will only make a little bit more quiet. The price/performance ratio is perhaps not that good, but it helps a little bit, and in my opinion it's worth it then because this is a relatively cheap mod.

throw a cheap blanket over the pc and cut holes where the fans are and see what happens? i mean if it works you could just work with a "stripped case" or checkard, w/.e print you use in the blanket

Re: padding/matting

I've heard of people making muffler ducts over their fan grills to make a nearly silent computer.

No it dosen't hurt cooling. None's ever proved case materials effect temp.

THEY NEVER WILL

The simple fact is that air is in and out of the case far too quickly to ever be around the sides long enoguh to get cooled in the first place. Let's take a best case <pun intended> scenario and say it dose.

Yep, that's 1 to the Nth degree of the atoms cooled inside the case yea!

**********

Sound padding is a freaking joke. I have some and it is pathetic. The only thing it can do is cut vibrations if you mount something poorly.

To this is say DUH remount it snugly so it dosen't vibrate.

*rant off*

Not to be mean at all to anyone, but this stuff sucks, is a ripoff and get's my blood boiling.

Actually Toysrme if you are talking about Pax.mate then yes there is no difference in what it does for a computer. There are however much better sound padding that work wonders. These kits run anywhere from 50-100.00 but for someone into making a slient computer it as worth it as us a modder buying a new Dremel. The good kits go as far as to give thick extra padding to put in CD-ROM bays so no sound escapes out of there. For the sides of the case there are multiple pieces that one has to layer on to get the full effect. If you check that site in my first post in this thread you will see there is a full community of people, just as we are overclockers, they are a silent PC community. It goes as far as having online PC stores that only sell quiet components just as we buy from o/c mod stores.

Also if you have a window in your case it makes the sound proofing pretty much obsolete unless you cover it to but why have a window for that.

Just because you may have been suckered into buying pax/mate just as I was , don't count out silent PC's. I have taken both o/c ideas and silent PC ideas and put them into my computers and it does make all the difference, even if as little as vibrations coming from a water pump, fan, or hard drive. Just my .02c.

i've thought about doing this, but every time i do i just crank up the 680's and all unwanted sound is lost

Toysrme had some good points, but I'll rephrase slightly. The major effect involved in heat transfer is air flow, not heat conduction through the case. The conduction is a secondary or tertiary effect, so hampering it will not have a major impact on cooling, provided you have sufficient case airflow.

As for vibrations, depending upon the case, you can get case vibrations even for a good mounting, particularly for those thinner steel cases that are out there. Mounting something on the inside of the case to simply dampen those vibrations would probably be worth the while. And even if some sound escapes through your vents, etc., absorbing some of that sound energy inside the case before it escapes would still probably have some impact on the noise levels.

Good luck! -- Paul

/me removes sound padding from his list of things to buy

Thanks for the comments people

Would a Welcome mat have the same results as the pax.mate stuff?
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