Muffling sound -- with cork?

[dxiw]

My pc (im building) has 4-80 mm sunon case fans plus swiftech mcx462 plus active ram cooling so its kinda loud and anoying. So ive been looking for a way to muffle the sound. As a last resort i consulted my mom (an architect) and she told me that sheets of cork insulate or muffle sound very well and dont get hot.. so im thinking about buying some sheets and putting them on the walls of my case. has anyone ever heard anything about cork for sound muffling or used it before?

PS for those of you dying to know....you can buy this stuff at home depot, etc...

 

[Joker76]

I would think the cork would act as an insulator for the case, and keep heat in. I know it's porous, but I still think it will put a damper on the cooling situation.

 

[stool]

There are any number of things you can use. Acoustic ceiling tile, Dynamat(if you have loads of cash), acoustic foam, styrofoam, etc. Cork, I believe, is more known as an insulator, but I imagine it would work. Just make sure your case has good ventilation.

 

[dxiw]

how much do you think case temp will go up i can always slap in another fan my case is like 25-26 degress so maybe 27-28?

 

[Oni]

w/ good ventalation, your case temp won't go up at all.

You'll wanna use something denser than cork, however.

 

[Strangelove]

Hmm anybody ever used thick rubber pads?? just a though

 

[Veland]

NoiseControl sell dampingmats made of cork. I'm using this in my case with good results. As i mounted this material before I assembled the system, I don't have before and after temps and noise. But I get good temps and relatively low noise. But most importantly, it's quite heavy, so it absorbs vibrations. I think cork works fine, do try it!

Here's a pic I've "borrowed" from the NoiseControl web site..

 

[Fink]

Dynamat works good, but it is a bit on the expensive side. One alternative to noise control is neoprene - aka wetsuit material. It is pretty cheap and when used with acoustic tiles or noise control foam really works well for keeping noise down.

I backed some acoustic material that I got from a guitar shop with neoprene and saw a noticeable improvement. Dynamat is also a good backing material but it is expensive. Acoustic ceiling tiles with neoprene or dynamat is also a good noise damper.

In most cases, the more insulation that was installed, the closer to ambient temp the case became. This was probably due to the insulation filling in dead-zones air wise and a reduction in overall inside case volume. Stuff in a ton of insulation - you should be OK as long as there is good case airflow.

 

[eli]

You can get 4 1'x1' squares of cork board really cheap at Wal-Mart, that's where I went for my goods. Wal-Mart has TONS of good crap to mod your computer.

 

[Dagon]

Good suggestions!

Remember though...

the biggest improvement in noise would be from changing your fan supplied voltage...many times it doesn't change OC'ability.

 

[Crash893]

every time is see any sort of fan dampning material its a foam

and its kinda 3d

i think you would do alright with egg creat packing foam its cheap and you can get it anit static ( pink i think) pretty cheaply

 

[stool]

You can find a couple of pretty good soung deadeners at B-Quiet . The original stuff works very similar to Dynamat, but a lot cheaper. 1 18' roll has done 2+ boxes so far, with a lot more left over.

 

[VotTak]

I read about successfull stories with Dynamat.
Also I truly believe that cork will work just fine.
But before I'd just try to decrease voltage on fan.