Noise Reduction Foam

The Noise reduction foam comes cut perfectly to shape, with instructions showing which piece goes where. Some of the pieces just slide and tuck into place, and others have glue on the back. These stick down very hard, with no room for manoeuvring once it touches the metal. The good news is that they pull off again fairly easily if you get it wrong. Pulling a piece off immediately after fitting it left behind no residue at all. After leaving them on for a few weeks, they still pulled off easily enough, but this time left glue behind on the metal. I was surprised to find that I could fit all of the foam without taking the motherboard out of the case, which meant it only took around 15 minutes to fit.

There are 3 kinds of noise reduction material included in the kit. The first is a heavy rubber matting, which covers the sidepanel behind the motherboard. The second is the sponge like material that fills the larger spaces, such as the unused CDROM bays, and even the space inside the front panel. The last kind is a combination of the two, a rubber matting with various thicknesses of sponge on top. These stick down to the sides, top, bottom, front, and back of the case.

This comprehensive set of sound deadening certainly does a good job, cutting down on a lot of the more annoying frequencies of noise, reducing a normal system with a stock Intel P4 heatsink, and a hard drive that has seen better days, to a low muffled grumble. Used with a system that is already very quiet, this case is the final touch, reducing noise to the point of being on the edge of hearing, and you can only hear it if you are listening for it.

There are two obvious potential dangers to filling a computer case with foam. Fire and Static Electricity. So of course, I had to put this foam to the test. I took a spare chunk of foam, and rubbed it in my hair for a few minutes. It failed to pick up the scraps of tissue paper I placed on my desk, so hopefully it also failed to pick up any significant static charge. After disconnecting the smoke alarm, I tested its flammability. The foam melts in a flame, with a bit of smoke, and a horrible smell, but it does not catch alight. I think I can conclude that this stuff is safe to line a case with, as long as you do not restrict case ventilation any more than your computer can cope with.

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