Effective intake muffler...DIY.

Bluefront · Post by **Bluefront** » Sun Feb 26, 2006 8:25 am

Don't try this on an exhaust......it will create excessive back pressure and cause temps to rise, quite a bit in the case of a PSU.

My PSU is relocated in this setup, with that opening now an intake, filtered of course. The muffler is made out of a plastic food container that matched the curves of the HP case pretty well. It's lined with pax-mate foam, and holds tight to the case with an upper flap of velcro.

Depending on where this case is sitting, the muffler can be flipped over to draw air from either side. This setup works well....completely eliminates any intake noise from reflecting off a rear wall. A setup like this could be constructed to fit in the standard intake location. Testing found absolutely no temp rise at all......partially due to a large intake opening. (Nissan cabin filter used).

Easy to try.....works for me.

jaganath · Post by **jaganath** » Sun Feb 26, 2006 9:28 am

Silverstone do a similar product, only difference is it is meant to go over the PSU exhaust rather than the intake:

Silverstone PP02.

Bluefront · Post by **Bluefront** » Sun Feb 26, 2006 11:09 am

If you flip that Silverstone duct around so the exhaust points up, the temp hit is not so great.....but of course then it is not as effective at noise reduction. Pointing it down like the picture shows it, will creat enough back-pressure to raise internal temps in the PSU....and cause the PSU fan to ramp up. Guaranteed.....

Over an intake, there is no back-pressure effect, and almost no temp rise. I'm assuming the size of the muffler is big enough. It's easy to rig one of each type up for testing. On this computer the reduction of intake airflow noise was dramatic.

Flying Dutchman · Post by **Flying Dutchman** » Sun Feb 26, 2006 2:35 pm

Nice going bluefront, can you show us a more detailed picture of the intake?
this stuff really gives you Ideas

Bluefront · Post by **Bluefront** » Sun Feb 26, 2006 2:41 pm

A suspended laptop hard drive now hangs in the (former) PSU area.

The air passes over the hard drive and is sucked through the Ninja heatsink, and exhausted out the rear by a 120mm Yate Loon.....

epiphane · Post by **epiphane** » Mon Feb 27, 2006 10:43 am

Nice..did u consider a noise baffle? OTOH, I don't know if it would help, since it's intake not exhaust.

here's an intake muffler I made w/ a baffle;

Bluefront · Post by **Bluefront** » Mon Feb 27, 2006 5:00 pm

The idea with my setup is to point the muffler so the opening faces away from where you are sitting.......or if the computer is against a wall for instance, I could point it away from the wall. In any case I feel it is too thin/small for any internal baffle. Actually with the limited airflow of the setup, the intake noise is virtually eliminated by the muffler as you see it.

A bigger muffler like your setup might be better for a noiser airflow. This muffler thing needs more experimentation.....very few examples have been shown on SPCR forums.