Sound Proof Your Hard Drive

3RSystem L-1100 T.REX With HDD Spring Suspension

The first product we selected for this article isn’t specifically a sound proofing product, but rather a computer case that was designed with a focus on hard drive noise reduction, as well as general noise reduction. The L-1100 T.REX by the Korean company 3RSystem is an ATX mid-tower with dimensions of 420 x 200 x 450 mm (height, width, depth).

From the outside, the black case, with its glossy front, looks like any other mid-tower chassis, but it is a bit different inside. The front has four 5.25” drive bays, power, and reset switches, in addition to four USB 2.0 ports, one eSATA connector, and one audio jack. Inside the case, you will find an additional 3.5” bay and a drive cage for three 3.5” drives, which are mechanically decoupled from the cage.

Sound-Proof Interior

3RSystem equipped all large surfaces inside the T.REX case with sound deadening materials, which helps facilitate a general reduction of system noise. The sound proofing includes the top, bottom, front, and rear panels. The photo to the right illustrates the individual sound proofing elements, which 3RSystem sent over separately for the sake of showing them off—all parts were factory mounted in the case of our review sample. Both side panels can be removed for installing components or maintenance, and the only remaining openings are within the I/O shield at the rear, the rear 120 mm fan, the front 120 mm fan and the power supply bay.

The sound deadening material effectively dampens the system's acoustics overall, as CPU and graphics cooling noise is much reduced. However, we wanted to know about this case’s ability to reduce hard drive noise, so let’s look at that now.

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