Comment On Silent But Deadly

Fungible:

Perfect idea. Use insulation to overcome your noise problems while completely ignoring the other properties that insulation has...namely preventing heat loss/gain.

Ooohhh, NOW I get the article. Thanks!

Looks fine to me. Stick a hose pipe in through the CD drive slot to deal with the heat, all sorted.

Mmmmm...asbestos. Just what Doc Watson ordered...

Looks cosy, as snug as a bug in a rug. A dead bug tho.

diaphanein:

Mmmmm...asbestos. Just what Doc Watson ordered...

It's fiberglass insulation.

In most cases, I've found noisy PCs can be helped a lot by either sitting them on a cushion, or putting something very heavy on top.
I guess overheating PCs could be helped by dangling them outside a window by the cables.

The horror... the horror...

D2oris:

Fungible:

Perfect idea. Use insulation to overcome your noise problems while completely ignoring the other properties that insulation has...namely preventing heat loss/gain.

Ooohhh, NOW I get the article. Thanks!

I don't, I think it needs explaining again, slower...

I can just make out the word "Root" on the top insulation - root access, here I come.

It could have been worse. They could have used expanding foam insulation.

Share Silent But Deadly:

I don't know if my coworkers would appreciate that.

Putting foam insulation in a computer to kill noise isn't a WTF. It's been done before, and I've seen quiet PC tutorials that recommend it; heck my old Apple Network Server has it built into the case. The WTF here is that this moron overdid it, and applied the insulation without any thought as to heat dissipation.

Ace:

It could have been worse. They could have used expanding foam insulation.

*shudder*

Fungible:

Perfect idea. Use insulation to overcome your noise problems while completely ignoring the other properties that insulation has...namely preventing heat loss/gain.

Insulation as such is not the problem. Blocking the air flow is. See the black ribbed insulation mat on the opened side panel on the floor? That probably came with the pre-built system. I have one just like that and causes no problem since there is a constant flow of air through the case: cold air goes in at the front, hot air goes out through the power unit's cooler fan.

The problem in this case is that the idiot customer's "improved" insulation is obstructing that air flow and even completely blocking it from reaching the CPU.

Ace:

It could have been worse. They could have used expanding foam insulation.

Or they could have gone and unplugged all those noisy fans. That's a fun one to track down if the power supply is dead so you can't just turn it on...

Ace:

It could have been worse. They could have used expanding foam insulation.

expanding foam did the trick for me and it worked fine.

Well I didn't really get to road test much it as the house burned down that afternoon when I was at work. The fireman said some sort of electrical problem in the office caused the computer to catch fire. Hhmmmm...

First one to actually make me say "What The Fuck" out loud.

My first impression was "Damn, what a mouse population!" Well, maybe that was because I cleaned out my workshop this weekend and evicted the mouse population....

Still seems a bit WTF-ey to me, I'd just use quieter parts and vibration dampeners :/

Fungible:

Perfect idea. Use insulation to overcome your noise problems while completely ignoring the other properties that insulation has...namely preventing heat loss/gain.

They use a side effect of this insulation (dampens noise) to overcome a side effect of the CPU and fans (creating noise) and neglect the first effect of each...


Wow.. Just, wow.

I understand the parts that were cut out to size and arranged - misguided of course but, yeah, I can see the intent. What exactly is going on at the bottom of the case - is that a ball of insulation? "Hmm...still not quiet enough...this wad of fiberglass will do the job. Perfect!"

DoctorFriday:

I understand the parts that were cut out to size and arranged - misguided of course but, yeah, I can see the intent. What exactly is going on at the bottom of the case - is that a ball of insulation? "Hmm...still not quiet enough...this wad of fiberglass will do the job. Perfect!"

Over fed rabbit.

Grovesy:

D2oris:

Fungible:

Perfect idea. Use insulation to overcome your noise problems while completely ignoring the other properties that insulation has...namely preventing heat loss/gain.

Ooohhh, NOW I get the article. Thanks!

I don't, I think it needs explaining again, slower...

Heat??? But there's no heat, it's a computer, not a owen!! Oh sh.. I still don't get it... Wait, maybe now I underst.... </grin>

nckomodo:

Still seems a bit WTF-ey to me, I'd just use quieter parts and vibration dampeners :/

Dampeners? Great idea! Since the insulation completely blocks air flow, cooling can instead be achieved with sprinklers!

Ace:

It could have been worse. They could have used expanding foam insulation.

Bah, liquid Mercury. Just fill the whole box up with it. makes it quiet *and* cools the processor without any fans.

Er, yeah, there is just a tiny little problem with the electric current.. but I'm working on that :-)

Alan:

Looks cosy, as snug as a bug in a rug. A dead bug tho.

"Feature"

that insulation is hardly environmentally friendly.... he should have use spray foam on the whole box - it's env friendly, and better than fiberglass ;)

I'm sure most of you have seen this already. For the benefit of the few who haven't: The Mineral Oil Cooled PC.

Oh, and Alex: Please change the href on the "[expand full text]" link to point to the full article. Javascript aside, the point of an href is to be a useful reference :)

Da' Man:

Ace:

It could have been worse. They could have used expanding foam insulation.

Bah, liquid Mercury. Just fill the whole box up with it. makes it quiet *and* cools the processor without any fans.

Er, yeah, there is just a tiny little problem with the electric current.. but I'm working on that :-)

Pleaze, send to me 5 l. for my notebook! It's urg.... sh.... too late... ;-)

Andy Goth:

nckomodo:

Still seems a bit WTF-ey to me, I'd just use quieter parts and vibration dampeners :/

Dampeners? Great idea! Since the insulation completely blocks air flow, cooling can instead be achieved with sprinklers!

Dictionary.com:

damp·en
/ˈdæmpən/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[dam-puhn] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation
–verb (used with object)
1. to make damp; moisten: to dampen a sponge.
2. to dull or deaden; depress: to dampen one's spirits.
3. damp (def. 10).
–verb (used without object)
4. to become damp.
[Origin: 1620–30; damp + -en1]

—Related forms
damp·en·er, noun

Presumably nckomodo is using form #2.

Andy Goth:

nckomodo:

Still seems a bit WTF-ey to me, I'd just use quieter parts and vibration dampeners :/

Dampeners? Great idea! Since the insulation completely blocks air flow, cooling can instead be achieved with sprinklers!

As long as the computer is hot enough to evaporate the water drops before it makes contact with the components and shorts out.

I've worked on servers that had huge chunks of foam inside which were not only soundproofing, but which also channeled air over the CPUs to the fans. That's the way to do it.

bnt:

I've worked on servers that had huge chunks of foam inside which were not only soundproofing, but which also channeled air over the CPUs to the fans. That's the way to do it.

Money for nothing and chicks for free.

Dear God of all bits, save us all. I do not remember that I ever saw anything like this...

bnt:

I've worked on servers that had huge chunks of foam inside which were not only soundproofing, but which also channeled air over the CPUs to the fans. That's the way to do it.

Quite a few of the BTX Dells in my office have a sheet of foam inside them. Not for air control, nor for noise reasons. They work pretty much as filters and keep the internals of the machines quite a bit cleaner.

Say is this the same guy that Married his Sister in KY??

I can almost see where he's headed, but he was totally stupid about how he did it. Looking at the removed panel on the ground (wooden table?), you can see the "top" of the "can" he made around the CPU. Now, it might actually be open-cell foam, which is what you'd want to use to reduce noise, but it looks to be 3/4" or so and it completely surrounds the CPU. I've got a great idea: Lets find the hottest component, leave it's underpowered fan on it and encase it in insulation. Insulation makes things cool, right?

What a waste of time and foam. He'd have a much quieter computer if he would have spent $20 on an aftermarket heatsink for the CPU and actually bought a real PSU instead of that crackerjack-prize crap he's got in there now.

Its not just silent, its also safe from mice sneaking into it and eating cables

I would recommend against listening to Great White MP3's on that rig.

Tom_fan_63:

Heat??? But there's no heat, it's a computer, not a owen!!

"Who's that?"

"This is my cousin Owen."

"You don't have a cousin!"

"You lied to me!" <hits in head with frying pan>

pitchingchris:

Andy Goth:

cooling can instead be achieved with sprinklers!

As long as the computer is hot enough to evaporate the water drops before it makes contact with the components and shorts out.

Let me get this straight. A water sprinkler cooling system only works so long as all the surfaces remain hot enough to boil water. In other words, it only works so long as it doesn't work, and the moment it starts to work is the moment it stops working.

Okay, I have a different idea. How about immersing the computer in a paradox inversion field? Wait, that's actually just the same idea restated. OR IS IT?

This is what cabinets are for. I've got 4 boxes in a nice insulated little cabinet, and they're silent as can be, thanks to the fact that the exhaust fan intake/output is in the basement. Free heat to the basement in the winter as well.

I'm surprised this joker didn't short anything out with his insulation; fiberglass isn't a conductor, but reused insulation could have anything in it.

You're all wrong; the problem is quite clearly that he's got a Pentium processor. Everyone knows they run hot! Just swap it for a nice, cool running Athlon and this rig will be right as rain!

You could always fix this overheating issue by pouring cold water over the mainboard and processor...
I hear liquid cooling is pretty effective.

Man 987876980:

In most cases, I've found noisy PCs can be helped a lot by either sitting them on a cushion, or putting something very heavy on top.
I guess overheating PCs could be helped by dangling them outside a window by the cables.

When a child has an extreme fever, you deal with it by dunking the child in cold water to reduce his temperature.

Perhaps they could use a large version of one of those things that rocks back and forth (to tap a key) to dunk the pc into a liquid bath.

Problem solved!

I would guess that this person has a lot of expensive, broken toys.

Matt.C:

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I don't know if my coworkers would appreciate that.

Yes, but if they don't know where it came from, good times...

Captcha: I'd buy that for a dolor...