SilverStone PSU Muffler

[Rob Williams]

Computer power supply keeping your computer from receiving the quiet status that you want? SilverStone has recently released a PSU Muffler to help out with this, so let's see how well it performs.

Feel free to discuss the review here!

 

[Jakal]

It looks like a good product but like you said, those who deal with the noise from other fans probably wouldn't notice a difference. It's good to see a company looking at other ways of quieting the systems though. For people with almost full water cooling and 2 quiet 80mm or 120mm fans that may be something they'd be interested in to keep overall noise down.

 

[madstork91]

Seeing an ad at the bottom of the review for quiet PCs was rather amusing to me.

 

[Word.]

a Muffler for a psu...... Sounds like there getting more like cars eh.
Id use one tho if i had a nice psu.

 

[Greg King]

You dont have to have a nice PSU to use this, only a loud one. I have a somewhat quiet power supply so this is pointless for me. Expecially when the case fans are louder than my PSU could ever be. Like you said Jakal, this would be a nice addition to a water cooled rig, assuming they have the extra 4-5 inches behind their system.

 

[madmat]

It'd be a boon to my rig since I run my rear fans as intakes and I could utilize the muffler not only to muffle the fan on the PSU but also to direct the air upwards away from my rear fans.

 

[Buck-O]

Here i am, Mr. Negativity again.


Having worked in sound before, and understanding basic acustics...this really isnt muffling as much as it is decreasing the sharpness of the fan blades cutting through the air. Very similar to how a foamy on a microphone reduces the impact of P's and B's and other "putter" sounds from popping though the sound system. Essentially the foam absorbs the impact of the sound wave so the microphone diaphram sees less of an impact, but maintains the same amplitude. Same principle here. Its a plenum with a foam lining to disperce the sound wave, and then reduce the impact of it into the foam, making it less noticable to the human ear. So its not really "reducing" the sound trhough a noise canceling baffle system like you would see on a automobile muffler. Its just masking it, and throwing it down away from the users ear making it less noticable.


I think to honestly review this product, you need to have a db meter. Becuase while precieved loudness levels may decrese, i have a feeling that actual noise levels will be just as loud. Also, when you do get a db meter to test it. You should use a seperate PSU, hot wire the ATX connector, and run the PSU solo with no outside noise interference. Hell, you could even make your own little anechoic chamber with a carbboard box and some egg crate foam. But anyway...


Plus it would be interesting to see how much the case temps increases, if at all, with this product installed on a case reguardless of sound levels.


Unfortunately i think its kind of a gimicy product. And will do more to insulate my system from proper cooling then it will for reducing noise. In which case i dont think the trade off is worth it.

Also, whats the suggested MSRP on this product? Typically speaking Silverstone products tend to carry a premium price on them. And if the cost is $20 or above. It begs the question of actual value. Becuase at $70 for a PSU plus a $20+ exaust widget, you could buy quient design PSU, or for a couple bucks more, even a fanless truely silent PSU. So the value may not be there.

Id like to se a little more depth please.

 

[Unregistered]

not a good review

Silverstone, one of the few companies who just cannot built a silent high power PSU, making a device to quieten down PSUs.

so much irony


the review:

1. lack of scientific measurements

2. too high rating, you can still hear it that's not a 9 at all

3. Scale of 1-10 is useless, since it's hard enough to fit in products in a scale from 1-5 so that there is a consistent picture

4. Lack of pointing out that it is worthless if you have a single 120mm fan PSU, like most high power PSUs and an increasing number of cheap PSUs. Yes, it was mentioned that it doesn't help much for an already quiet PC but it must be pointed out so that everyone gets it.


It's important to show no mercy when a product just doesn't cut it nowadays, as there are hardly any bad products anymore.

 

[Unregistered]

It'd be a boon to my rig since I run my rear fans as intakes and I could utilize the muffler not only to muffle the fan on the PSU but also to direct the air upwards away from my rear fans.

That was also my first thought when I realised what this product did. And I think it would really help if the review included a picture of the product installed so that we can see where it directs the exhaust air to.

 

[madmat]

Since it's open on one side out of four, because it's square, it can direct the air in one of four directions.

It all depends on how you decide to mount it.

 

[Greg King]

I am sticking to my review. It does not, anywhere, say that it will make your PSU "silent". It only states that it will dampen the noise, not silence it. When I review a product, I grade it on how it preforms compared to how it says it will preform. This did what it said it would do so I rated it accordingly. I understand all your concerns and will address them in future reviews. Thank you for your feedback.

 

[sound-like-henry-hoover]

hey guys, iv got a problem where iv managed to quieten down everything else in my case i bought a quiet power supply that claims noise levels of 20-27.5 DBA and zalman cooler which is awsome at 18-27 DBA, case fan 80mm the golf ball ones at 17.5 DBA, and iv noticed that when i pur my finger on my GFX fan, cpu fan and case fan briefly for a few seconds, the culprit of the noise level comes from the PSU area, im thinking its my PSU lool, but any ways what they claimed their noise level to be is rubish, its noisier than anything in my case, a more high pitch noise than normal, would this product be my solution or would u recomend a quiet case?because even though their 20-27.5 dBA rating could be right, it could be the fact that the noise is just high pitched, i dont mind low pitched humin noise, it makes me sleepy ... i got brillient internal cooling so im not worried about internal temps rising by 5c....i know my post sounds selfish and im rele not discusing the product and that i wnt help from any one here, but im desprit as iv spent so much on reducing noise levels and yet not much improvemnt, i h8 my PSU now, its called X-power i think, 500w, any advice much appreciated

 

[madmat]

I'd suggest spending more than $20 on a PSU. You most likely spent 3 times as much on your cooling setup as you did on the PSU for your PC and now you're seeing one reason it's so cheap. It's pure rubbish.

Actually I'm amazed that the unit hasn't taken a crap on you and wiped out half your PC with it. Long story short, read some reviews (here and at www.jonnyguru.com) and buy a GOOD power supply.

 

[NicePants42]

im desprit as iv spent so much on reducing noise levels and yet not much improvemnt, i h8 my PSU now, its called X-power i think, 500w, any advice much appreciated

I'd also suggest checking out silentpcreview.com. I understand where you're coming from - even my PC Power & Cooling 'Silencer' 750 sounds like a hair dryer under load.

From recent memory, the quiet PSU's I'd suggest would be the Corsair HX series (either 520W or 620W) which have been reviewed at jonnyguru.com, or a Seasonic S12, chosen by Ockie in this thread for their silence, and from what I understand, he's very happy with them. I'm sure Jonny's reviewed those also.

Good luck, and let us know how it goes!

 

[sound-like-henry-hoover]

yeah thnx for the reply, but i also spent 45 pounds on the power supply, it was on sale. maybe thats the reason for being on sale, cos its rubish. but its farily new so it aint done no damage to my system. ok iv removed all case fans now and im only using the psu and cpu fans, cpu quiet but still noticable, i aim to make it as quiet as my brothers silent un audible del dimension 5000, them pcs are so quiet but crap, my pc fast as hell but noisy, im wafling on a bit now so sorry about that. now do u rekon getting a new case from sya cooler master would help, as my case is thin, cheap and flimsy, might be leaking noise or even producing its own from vibrations. and is the noise accoustic cover thingy still an option to consider for me, thnks for the replies i heard dismantling the psu and changing the fans can kill you even when its unpluged, yikes...btw heads up everyone, am3 platform soon to hit the shelves and a new cpu from athlon that is faster than any conroe cpu, cnt w8!

 

[NicePants42]

I doubt that a case is going to effect noise nearly as much as a loud PSU. I would suggest selling your current PSU and buying a quiet one before dropping more money on a case. Selling a case is harder than selling a PSU, usually.

 

[sound-like-henry-hoover]

ok iv reaslised that when my pc is idle and ambiant temps are low, the pc sound so quiet, so iv realised that the noise is coming from my PSU when playin games, in hot temp rooms just using the pc makes it noisy, so would making my case cooler in other ways using silentmethods make my overall noise level minimal like it is when the psu is quiet at idle?when its idle its quiet near silent, im stil considering the accoustic thing, but would additional case cooling help?

 

[NicePants42]

That PSU fan is controlled by the temperatures being measured on the heat sources inside the PSU - so you will not able to modify your case in such a way to keep than fan speed down while the PSU is under load - the only way to do that is to open the PSU and attach the fan to an external controller, which will void your warranty. Again, if your PSU is too loud, I suggest selling it and getting a new one that is quieter.