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Best viewed with IE 4.0 or later, 1024 X 768.
Introduction Hello again folks, I'm back today with a new product from Frozencpu.com called the "Magic Fleece". It's a custom-fit sound dampening kit from a german company called "Noise Control" for the very popular chieftec/antec/chenming style mid-range server cases (Chenming 601, Antec SX1000, 1030, 1080, etc). You know the kind....with the door on the front. Heck, there's even a sound dampening piece for the backside of the front drive door. But, is it all that magical? Let's find out... The Kit
The Noise Control Magic Fleece Kit came packaged very nicely with each pre-cut piece perfectly placed in a giant zip-lock bag. Upon initial inspection, it looked like there was a hundred pieces in there. Turns out that each piece of the Magic Fleece is actually two pieces attached to each other. What I mean by that is it's two-ply ( Yes. like toilet paper ...hehe ). Each piece was two 1/4" pieces "stuck" to each other making the total thickness of each piece a full 1/2".
Once you slide the kit outta the bag, you'll find the two page introduction and instruction set along with a FREE STICKER! w00t! :o) Ok, so it's just a free sticker, but a nice one, and not quite as blurry in real life ;O) I took a quick look thru the kit to ensure I had all the pieces the diagram said I should have, and I did. However, I found one piece that looked to have two magnetic strips on the back of it. I was like "WTF?$@!#" My first thought was " I hope it's not near the hard drives or anything!" and after matching it's location with the diagram......guess where it was to be.....stuck the chassis , RIGHT UNDER THE HARD DRIVES!#%@# So after I came to, I found it really was true. This piece was meant to "cling" to the very front bottom of the inside of the case, directly under the hard drive assembly. Again, being the kinda case this kit is designed for, that's directly below not one, but TWO removable hard drive cages!! Magnets + Hard Drives = !%#@$#@$ Needless to say, from that point on, I considered I'd have an "extra piece" more than I needed :o) Installation You need only lay your eyes on the pictorial instruction diagram to realize this kit was very well thought out and couldn't possibly make it any easier to install it unless it did it all by itself...heh. The pictures on the paper will show you where each piece goes using a numbered reference position and all you gotta do is find the piece with the correct number on it, peel off the adhesive paper and install. It's just that easy! However, as with all "custom" or "pre-modded" things.....you'll pay dearly for it! It's up to you to decide the value.
I started with an empty Antec 1080AMG chassis. Installing the pieces took literally just a few minutes. It honestly could NOT get any easier. There were custom fit pieces for just about every nook and cranny of this chassis. As you can see above, even the 5.25" and 3.5" drive covers had there own little custom fit pieces, so if you're not using them for a drive, you can use them to help block internal sounds of the system. Moving on......
There's really nothing more to say so far....it's very straight-forward to this point. However......
This little setup here is very interesting. You're looking at the chassis lying on its side and looking at the frontal section. See the bottom piece? That's the magnetic piece that's suppose to be there in this kit. Now, I already modded the typcial lower ( 2nd) hdd cage outta this chassis ( as I always do with these cases to make more interior space) but you can see that the magnetic piece would be directly under the 2nd hdd cage! It just don't seem right to me to put anything even remotely magnetic even close to the hdd's....heh. Not to mention, that the "included" lower cooling fan in this style case is right where you see that magnetic piece above. But that's ok, that's the only "odd" piece in this entire kit. The other smaller piece I have sitting in the fan bracket above is custom fit to fit at the inner edge of the hdd cage itself to help block the hdd noise from exiting the case. There's a small problem with that though. The lower hdd cage comes with a fan bracket in there so you wouldn't be able to use it typically, or you'd be blocking the fan. The upper hdd cage typically houses the floppy and other 3.5" drives. So, most of you will probably use neither of these two pieces also. That wouldn't be much of a big deal except on key thing: The majority of the noise exiting this style case is FROM the hdd cage area since it's right there in the front and only behind a vented area which allows pretty much ALL the noise to exit. So, it's good that they include such pieces, but most of you won't or can't use them....and that's too bad. Hard drive noise ( and front intake fan noise ) is just a "given" evil with these cases. There's really nothing a sound dampening kit can do for it. However, with that said, IF you watercool and do not use the intake fans on the front you can most certainly use the included hdd cage pieces to defintely dampen the sound. This kit would almost be a "must have" for the watercoolers out there.
Here, maybe you can tell just how thick the 1/2" is while installed in the case. It's actually "just right". You might notice that my case interior doesn't quite look normal. Well, I'd tell you why, but I'd have to kill you :o) Conclusion Well, after days and days of testing and listening, I've got a few conclusions for this product. First off, it's MUCH better suited for a system WITHOUT front intake fans. I still have the same trademark intake fan noise from the front of my Antec 1080AMG. I can also clearly hear my dual maxtor 40gb 7200 rpm hard drives spinning away just behind the vented front bezel. However, as I've said earlier, if you happen to be watercooling your system and you do NOT have the front intake fans right behind the bezel, this system "should" significantly reduce the noise coming from the front of it. This kit did make my system "feel" more solid when I "kicked it's tires" so to speak. You know, when you tap your hand on the top or side you get that "ting". As in a typical system you might get a hollow or clangy sound by tapping the shell of your case. That's usually from the panels rattling, or hitting the chassis.Not with this installed as it basically bonds the thick sheets of fleece to its exterior panels. It also is just the right thickness so that you need to squeeze ever so gently to fully close the side panels. That's a great thing because , like I just said, it gives it a very solid feel. You now have padding between some of the metal-to-metal contacts. However, I can't recommend you spend $49.99 to make it not clang when you kick it....heh. Pros
Cons
I'd like to thank Frozencpu.com for allowing me to check out this new Noise Control "Magic Fleece" kit. It'll give everyone a little something, but watercoolers using the antec/chenming/chieftec servers should give this a real serious look. If you can just block off the frontal noise, and actually use that magnetic fleece piece, you'll really reduce the radiated noise. if you'd like to pick up some "Magic Fleece" for your system, head on over to Frozencpu.com.
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