STFU, PC!
One of the ultimate goals of a Home Theater PC enthusiast is to achieve a completely silent appliance. There are several ways to achieve this by using low-power motherboards, solid-state drives, and cards that only require passive cooling. Although the components you choose in your system plays a significant part of its silence, the next level of noise reduction is reached when you apply sound dampening material inside your computer.
It makes logical sense, as car enthusiasts have been doing this for years to decrease vibration and road noise for mobile audio systems. You would think that any old foam will do, but if you take a look around you'll see that acoustic material has some serious science behind it. Different materials target different frequencies, and a PC's moving parts generate much higher pitches than a car.
The AcoustiPack Extra foam blocks
A lot of testing and research has been done by many companies to come up with acoustic material to silence your PC or home theater rig. One of the high-end materials comes from Acousti Products, who asked us to test their AcoustiPack Ultimate material, along with their AcoustiPack Extra foam. If you really want to read all of the technical stuff, you can check that out on the last page of this review.
AcoustiPack Ultimate material
AcoustiPack ULTIMATE sets a new standard for PC soundproofing material kits, where the maximum noise reduction is required in a limited space. This multi-layer materials kit includes 3 sheets; two 2-layer (4mm thick) and one sheet of our latest generation 3-layer materials, providing superb levels of noise reduction despite the thickness being only 7mm. This soundproofing kit is designed to reduce the noise emanating from noisy PCs with case sizes ranging from standard ATX up to larger E-ATX and pedestal server cases used by gamers, power-users and small business usersThe new AcoustiPack™ EXTRA Foam Blocks pack contains 3 acoustic foam blocks. These can be used inside any vacant drive bays to help increase the absorption of unwanted sound energy. Once installed, the foam blocks also help to reduce the internal air volume inside your PC or server case, which in turn may improve airflow velocity and the cooling performance.
The blocks are made from profession-grade dense acoustic foam, which is certified to UL94-HF1 fire rating. The foam is especially effective at absorbing sound at higher-frequency, such as HDD whine, or high-pitch noise from motherboard components. The foam is black, and flexible enough to squeeze into empty 5¼ inch or 3½ inch drive bays to pressure-fit.
Next we take a look at what makes this stuff so special... Continued on next page...
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