SilverStone PSU Muffler

Face it, we all have loud computers. Well, perhaps not all of us, but I know that I do. There are so many factors that come into play when the volume of your computer is a problem. Most of us use fans to actively cool our vital components. When all added up, fans effectively cool your computer but put out their fair share of noise.

Today we are taking a look at an innovative and unique product from the fine folks at Silverstone. The PP02 as it is so affectionately called is a cover that goes over the back exhaust of your power supply. The idea is that the sound of your power supply fan put out will be dampened by the acoustic cover. I am going to take a long look at this product and see how it performs.

The packaging is straight forward enough. A blue box with a clear front allowing you to clearly see the PP02 is the first thing that anyone buying this will see. Once open, the PP02 is made out of flexible molded plastic with a thin layer of foam on the inside. The purpose of the foam is to dampen the sound that comes out of the back of the power supply as well as channel the hot air pushed out of your PSU away from your case.

Installation of the PP02 was about as easy as anything I have ever installed. Basically you remove the 4 screws holding your PSU in place, put the PP02 in place with its 4 holes over the same 4 holes where the screws were in place, and then replace the 4 screws. A rather mindless install, but the fact that it was so easy was a refreshing and welcome experience.

I am in an awkward position for this reviews in the sense that I all ready have a fairly quiet PSU. The Ultra X-Finity is a nice and quiet PSU due to the single 120mm fan that is located on the inside of the case and expels warm air out the back. I instead switched out the power supply with an old one I had sitting on a shelf with dual 80mm fans. This PSU is quite a bit louder so it should help me gauge the effectiveness of the PP02.

With this item installed the sound was silenced somewhat. I had to unhook my case fans in order to get the ambient sound down low enough to hear the power supply. Once I isolated the PSU so to speak, I compared the sound with and without the PP02. I am happy to say that this worked nicely. I could tell a difference with the PP02 on and with it removed.

This product, while it did what it was supposed to, the purpose is lost on my PC. This is something that I would highly recommend to anyone who is either building a media center PC or is looking to quiet down their all ready built media center. This is a great product that refreshingly does exactly what it says it will… quiet your PSU. All in all, I have to give this a solid 9. A perfect 10 would have been in the cards but it is a bit difficult to plug in and remove your power cable into the back of the power supply.

That is the only beef that I have with this product. This comes with my recommendation to anyone who would like to quiet down their all ready quiet PC. If you aren’t too worried about sound, this isn’t for you as it doesn’t really offer much outside of acoustic dampening. I am happy with this product and applaud Silverstone for going for designing a product that not many companies have addressed.

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