Accoustic insulation for rack?

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Benoire

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#172010 8-May-2015 10:30

Morning all,

This might not be an IT Pro question really, but as the rack will contain my Dell R410 I figured this would be close enough.

I'm racking up my home lab in to a new rack that is quite basic and lacks any form of noise insulation. While my R410's fans are generally not that loud, I'd like to ensure that they remain unnoticeable outside of the room they're in, in the house. I'd like to line the inside of the rack with some form of acoustic barrier but I don't know where to start looking! I'd prefer thinner materials if possible, to reduce bulk inside but any directions are appreciated.

Cheers,

Chris

Niel

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#1300872 8-May-2015 17:00

Acoustic absorption tiles used in studios and on permanent installation stages (e.g. modern churches), the cheapest are available on TradeMe.

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Benoire

2798 posts

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#1300878 8-May-2015 17:09

Ah its been moved!

thanks, I completely did not think about trademe, considering I spend a lot of time looking at IT stuff I am honestly surprised!

Got any experience of mats or other soundproof types?

Niel

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#1301047 9-May-2015 07:35

We've improved a stage with heavy curtains, but just because it looks better than tiles. Anything you put up will help, the key is thickness and rough surface. For cheap start-up studios they use egg cartons. We've also improve an auditorium by removing gib, filling the cavity with insulation, and covering it with peg board (to allow the sound in). Huge improvement in reflected sound. But for a small job like a server rack or one wall of a room, I'd go with the stuff that is made for the job.

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Fred99

13684 posts

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#1301243 9-May-2015 18:27

For a thinner material, look for sound insulation sheet used for marine use (shielding noise from engine rooms etc).
Lead sheet used to be used, but these days a soft polymer compounded with a high relative density material like Barium Sulphate. Forman Insulation or a marine chandlery may be a starting point.

richms

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#1301257 9-May-2015 19:15

Ive stuck car door stuff inside a case before to deal with fan noice that was really loud. Tamed it down a bit but as there are still holes in the case for air, it only dealt with what was travelling thru the side.

I searched for dynamat but what I got was just some other varient of the stuff.

Richard rich.ms

Niel

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#1301300 9-May-2015 21:49

The stuff used for cars is normally sound deadening, for stopping vibrations rather than absorbing sound. But the stuff attached to the underside of bonnets (well, it is on proper cars like Volvo...) absorbs noise and is thin. It is just that typically the used stuff you find is usually dirty.

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gzt

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#1302342 11-May-2015 22:26

Google "sound foam" for additional products

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Benoire

2798 posts

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#1302344 11-May-2015 22:30

Thanks everyone. I had been looking at the heat shields which also seem to deal with excess noise from the engine bay, and there are some reasonably priced stuff out there.

Chris

BTR

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#1302818 12-May-2015 14:37

Dynamat is what car builders use to soundproof the floor, doors and firewall. Pretty sure you can buy it from most parts stores.

mcraenz

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#1303178 12-May-2015 22:27

What spec is the server and what is it for? For a home lab, I.e running lots of VMs for learning I'd recommend PCs. Servers are noisy, hot, power hungry and normally the kinds of servers you can get your hands on cheaply are old and much less powerful than a modern desktop.

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Benoire

2798 posts

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#1303179 12-May-2015 22:30

Its a Dell R410, so LGA 1366. With the PERC 6/I removed, its not too bad and where it will be placed it will be fine... I just want that extra protection in case the fans do decide for what ever reason to spin up to 15,000 rpm! Idles at 77w with VSphere running with 20GB Ram and 5 VMs going. I have to say that the Dells are pretty damn good and they get actually usable when you shift from clovertown/harpertown generation to the first of the nahelems.

mcraenz

1140 posts

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#1303183 12-May-2015 22:52

Nice, yeah 77w is pretty good for a server of that spec. All you need now is a couple more. My lab consists of 3 Asus mobos with i7s, 16gb, psu, broadcom quad nic. hp 24port 1Gbps switch. All sitting on a table, no cases. Totally barebones. At idle all up about 160 watts. 512GB samsung 850pro SSD presented via iscsi MPIO. Running hyper V 2012 R2 at the moment. 15+VMs and counting and the SSD doesn't even blink.

Checkout Triboard. Very dense heavy stuff especially at 30mm. Will block a lot of sound, and will make your rack bomb proof!

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