I have recently purchased a server-grade computer, which works great, however, it is now audible even through a closed door.
It is in a separate room, so I am thinking what are the best ways of sound-proofing it.
Does covering the walls with a sound-absorbing foam make sense?
My plan is to cover the area around the server, potentially also adding another partition of the sound-proof foam around the machine to further dampen the noise.
Any recommendations? The room is approx 2m by 1m, so quite a small one.
EDIT1&2:
Further advice suggests that a sound-dampening box around the server may be a good solution – what would be a good material to use? The noise producing machine is Dell 2950 (see link for example of the sound)
EDIT3:
I've taken a sample of the noise using my phone see image: noise spectrum. From what I can see, after the fans initially spin up, they settle down at just below 1kHz. Then, at the bottom is most likely the PSU fan, which spins normally at 4kRPM, half speed of the main fans. Hard to read the scale but I guess the main band is just over 0.1kHz. Although the colour may indicate similar pressure, the PSU fans are much less audible.
Best Answer
Easier than sound-proofing a room would be to build a sound-proof box for the server using the triangular foam. Since it's a rack-mount server, just building some ducts for the front and the back and lining the ducts with the triangular foam you linked to above may be enough.
An even better alternative might be to replace the system fans with low noise counterparts.