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Melamine Ceiling Tiles and the Quiet PC

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the stretching-the-dollar dept.

Delta Screemer writes "What good are ceiling tiles when it comes to making a computer quieter? Well, Max Page of FrostyTech has found a use for 'Melamine Foam Sound Absorbing Ceiling Tiles' as a cheap way of lowering the noise a computer produces. By lining the insides of a computer with these $3 24"x24" industrial office panels he was able to quiet a computer by several dBA. That may not sound like much (pun intended), but when you compare the price of these melamine foam panel to products like Dynamat the price difference is substantial."

4 of 269 comments (clear)

  1. Larger, slower fans by metatruk · · Score: 5, Informative

    Use larger, slower fans when possible. They move the same amount of air as smaller, faster fans, but without the noise.

  2. What are you smoking? by chriso11 · · Score: 4, Informative

    Standardized /. response:

    Your post was found to:
    ___ Support Microsoft in some form
    ___ Bash OS applications
    ___ Support the activites of MPAA/RIAA
    ___ Show lack of technical knowledge
    _X_ Post without RTFA
    ___ Accept SPAM as a valid marketing technique
    ___ Incorrect Anime/ST/Star Wars/Other Sci Fi reference

    Comments:
    The author actually DID evaluate the affect of temperature. A 2degree rise in temperature for a 75% reduction in noise is pretty good. Unless you can do better for cheaper...

    --
    No, I don't trust in god. He'll have to pay up front, like everybody else.
  3. Re:Safety question? by kirkjobsluder · · Score: 4, Informative

    Actually, one of the Melamine collectors handbooks, (believe it or not, there are people who run around trying to collect complete sets of brightly colored plastic dinnerware from the 50s) claims that the makers of Melmac had the Dod use Melamine dinnerwar. in above-ground nuclear weapons tests. Evidently the DoD was interested in the survivability of everyday materials and the producers of Melmac got free advertising on how indestrcuctable their product was.

  4. Re:And the really good part is.... by Laur · · Score: 5, Informative
    Unless the heat producing parts of your computer are in direct contact with the metal, there's no difference, because the air acts as a nice insulator.

    False. While you are correct that air has a low thermal conductivity, if you have a signifigant air gap (say >.5") you will get convection. This is what the fans are doing, providing forced convection inside the case, transfering heat from the hot componets to the sides of the computer as well as expelling the hot air. Air is only a good insulator if you can keep it from circulating. Incidentely, this is why foams are good insulators, they are mostly little pockets of air which can't circulate. This is why if you are using foam to insulate something you do NOT want to compress it.

    --
    When you lose something irreplaceable, you don't mourn for the thing you lost, you mourn for yourself. - Harpo Marx