Written By:
Date Posted: January 14, 2002

We want more power, and we want it now. We want faster CPU's, faster GPU's, more Frames per second, and more harddrives running at faster RPM's and higher transfer rates. We want CDRW's that can burn CD's in less than 3 minutes. We want TV and video on our PC, DVD and all the sounds and picture quality that goes with it. We want larger and more powerful PSU's to drive all of this. And of course bigger Fans and Heatsinks to cool it all it down. All of this comes with a price, and I don't just mean money. All these things in our quest for the ultimate PC can be damn noisy, especially all those case fans and powerful HSF combos were are all using. So what to do about it? What can we do to shut up these beasts we have created? There's watercooling, but although it is dropping in price, it's still quite expensive and I can think of a few people who have watched in dismay as there GeForce 2 Ultra sits gleefully playing in its own waterfall. You could try Dynamat, a car audio sound absorbent material. Again, it's expensive and adds the weight equivalent of lead lining to your PC, just for those hernias on the way to your local LAN! Luckily, Akasa has come up with a solution, the Akasa Pax Mate Acoustic Absorbent Mat kit (trying saying that after a few glasses! *hic*).

As I sit here writing this review, all I can hear is my music from Winamp, and a high pitched constant drone from the Delta 7000rpm fan on my sk6 Heatsink. Later on I'll probably be online creeping round a Threewave Capture the flag map with my clan mates, trying desperately to hear my enemy's footsteps and guess where they are BEFORE I'm set upon by the entire enemy team. Or maybe I'll be just getting berated by the wife for not hearing one of the kids crying even though they are just in the next room. Either way, I had to do something about the noise of my machine. So when the nice chaps at asked me if I would like to review this sound proofing kit, I jumped at the chance! Thanks guys!

I eagerly unwrapped the parcel when it came and was confronted with this bright yellow box, which weighed next to nothing. Infact it felt like the box was empty (what they sent me here? Fresh air?). I opened the box and was greeted with a nicely packed foam parcel emblazoned with the Akasa name and web address in silver on black foam padding with a sticky back. So first thoughts? Er &&&& is this really going to work, and after my constant battle with heat, was this padding going to increase it again once more? Lets find out shall we?

Contents

2x Side panels for a midi tower setup
2x Top and bottom panels for a tower setup

I tested this on my trusty old PIII800 system to which I added the Delta fan, as the kit was too small for my Juno Towered 1.4 Athlon.

As you can see from the photos, the kit comes with a sticky back, so all you have to do is peel off the backing and apply. I also had to cut mine down to size and shape on the side panels and top panel, as the side panels were to large for my tower by a few inches all round, and the 5 ¼ inch drive bays are attached to the top of my tower. There's more than enough to fit comfortably in a Lian Li sized case here.

What I did was to cut it to the correct size for the side panels, and the top panel I cut slits in to it to slide the panel into place in between and either side of the drive bays cage. It took me all of 10 minutes to get the kit installed, and I found no problems at all that a bit of forward thinking and some common sense couldn't deal with. So the moment of truth...

Next >>