More and more hardware that crosses my desk these days has to do with keeping noise to a minimum.  Championing this cause, QuietPC has managed to source yet another gadget from abroad that aims to reduce the sonic signature of your box to something less than the Cosmic Background Radiation:  The Silentmaxx HD-Silencer. Although most mainstream hard drives emit low levels of noise in comparison to cooling fans and power supplies, there are some high-end 10,000 RPM drives that are real howlers.  If you have a drive that is keeping you awake at night, the Silentmaxx HD-Silencer may just be the ticket.  Let's take a look at what the package provides.

Overview

    The Silentmaxx HD-Silencer is a hard drive enclosure that aims to reduce the noise output of a standard hard drive (IDE or SATA).  It accomplishes this task by completely enclosing the hard drive in a finned extruded aluminum housing that is designed to fit into a standard 5 1/4" drive bay.  The aluminum housing is designed to dissipate heat through direct contact with the hard drive body (with the aid of thermal fabric, more on this later).  The package consists of the housing, various aluminum components to box the drive in place, foam pads to keep the hard drive in direct contact with the housing, and self-stick thermal foil to increase the contact area of the hard drive-to-enclosure surfaces.  Rubber isolation mounts aim to reduce vibration, and a ground strap is included to make sure stray electrons don't become a problem.

Specifications

   As you can see from the back of the box, Silentmaxx (a German company) lists the pertinent specifications of the kit.  The packaging is top-notch with foam compartments to separate out all the various parts and pieces.  One glaring omission from the package I received is the complete lack of installation instructions.  I don't know if this was a function of quality control, or if this is the norm.  A reasonably competent person can probably figure out the construction (I did), but this shouldn't be left totally to chance.  If you happen to purchase this unit, you can always come back here for the rundown on the installation (I'm here for you guys).

   Next, it was time to put the end panels on the enclosure.  The end panel that butts up against the end of the drive where the connections are gets its own strip of foil tape.  This strip will aid in heat transfer at the end of the drive.  The other end of the drive gets a thick foam strip to put pressure against the drive and force it into tight contact with the thermal tape on the connection end.  The end panels are secured with two beveled machine screws on the blank end, and thumbscrews on the connection end. The top of the drive (the side with all the electronics) is protected by a foam pad that also serves to apply pressure to the drive to ensure good contact on the heat-transfer side of the drive.  A flat aluminum plate secures the top of the drive.

   The completed drive resembles nothing more than a black box with the drive connections poking out one end.  Before putting the unit into the case, I took the time to attach the rubber isolation mounts to the side of the enclosure.  These mounts are about a half inch thick and fairly rigid, so they should do a good job of reducing vibration transferred to the case.  They simply screw in finger tight and will be further tightened when the unit is secured in the case.

   To finalize the installation, I placed the HD-Silencer into a free 5 1/4" drive bay in my Antec Super Lanboy case (a case not known for its acoustical properties, by the way) to test the fit.  It fit fine, with just enough interference to ensure no warping was going to take place when I tightened it down.  Four screws (provided) secured it into the bay, with one of the screws trapping the included grounding strap.  I could have hidden the grounding strap away on the far side of the case, but then it would have been difficult to take a picture of it.

Conclusion:

   When the case was completed, I noticed that the hard drive noise was all but absent.  I checked the drive temperature with a software utility, and all was within specifications, even after a round of hard drive benchmarking.  Reality check time:  Unless your hard drive is the loudest component in the case, you are unlikely to notice a qualitative reduction in overall sound level.  Only after you have eliminated all other noisy items one by one are you likely to arrive at the hard drive as the major sound source.  Having said that, there are solutions for eliminating noisy power supplies, fans and other noise sources in your case. If you have already gone to the trouble of eliminating these sources of noise, the Silentmaxx HD-Silencer will certainly do its job of reducing the hard drive noise to an absolute minimum. 

   Most mainstream hard drives are pretty quiet these days, with the exception of the 10,000 RPM drives out there.  I do remember when the hard drive was one of the loudest components (anyone who ever had a Quantum Bigfoot can attest to that).  Regardless, the only possible downside to the HD-Silencer is that you will need to relocate your hard drive out of the smaller 3 1/2" bay that it is probably in right now to use the HD-Silencer.  Some cable re-routing will be in order, and if you have multiple drives (read: RAID), packaging these extra drives in individual enclosures can quickly eat up space in even the tallest towers. One caveat to the installation is that in order to use this on cases which require custom rails in the drive bays, some modding may be necessary.

   Bottom line is that the Silentmaxx HD-Silencer does its job well, and will serve to complete a well thought-out silent PC project. Thanks again to QuietPC USA for providing the Silentmaxx HD-Silencer for review.