I think this is the right forum for this question. I'm gonna mod my case so I can add a 60mm fan grill to the exhaust fan. I was also thinking of doing something to the front intake fan. Should I get one of those filter grills instead of the normal fan grills for the intake? My case covers the outside of the intake. The air opening is at the very bottom. Not sure if that fact matters but I thought I would throw that in.

Are filter grills only for intake?

Yeah you would only put filter grills on the input. Their purpose is to try and reduce the amount of dust build up in your case. Putting them on the exhaust would just cut airflow unnecessarily.

Preface: my PC is not a display peice. See my sig.

After weeks of bleeding ears, I decided to do what I could with what little I had lying around. I played around with fans hanging in free air, no grills, using a small 12v power wart for quietude. Found out that anything anywhere near intake(more) or outlet(less) makes noise. Noise we don't need. Answer: skip the grills - don't need them.

• First I yanked the cheapass PSU, and cut out the grill. Wide open round hole. The PSU fan is slow enough not cut even a baby's finger, and nobody's back there anyways. Result: much quieter; much better airflow.
• Second, I yanked the stock 60x10mm screamer fan off my Arkua cooler. Built a square 80->60mm duct using thick felt (about same as white synthetic felt shoe insoles), hot-melt glued at corners, and hot-melt glued to plastic flange that screws to top of HS. Use a Thermaltake 80mm thermal controlled fan, sinched in with string. Again, no grill, the case is closed anyways. Result: quieter but TT fan is still loud; much cooler than screamin' stock 60mm.

My ears don't bleed quite so much now but my panaflos are on the way As for filters, I only run the PSU fan for case venting, so the less air restriction the better.

Yeah, ill echo what crisspy said as well regarding noise caused by grills. I dont have any grills on any of my fans (they are all at 7 or 5V anyway, so no significant pain is caused by putting your finger in one).

But if you were gonna use filter grills, it might be worth trying them on the inside of the fan, ie so the fan blows air through rather than sucking it through. And like i said before, only put them on the intake fans.