Is it safe to wrap a PSU as part of a mod?

[Dawelio]

Heya guys,

So this might be a very dumb question for you all, but I'm rather unsure about it and hence want to ask all of you modders out there...

Would it be possible to use something like a noise dampening kit and put over a PSU, in order to cover the stickers etc on it, for a more cleaner look?

Ie, to tape the dampening film on the sides of the PSU, just to cover the top stickers.

Will this have any effects on the PSUs temps? Ie, do you think that the film might get damaged or maybe a bit paranoid, but even start to burn?...

The kit is this: https://www.inet.se/produkt/8500207/be-quiet-ljuddampningskit-for-fulltower-svart

And thinking of putting it on an Corsair RM1000x PSU.

Or do you guys maybe have a smarter way of doing this?... I have an Fractal Design Define C TG case and it has a small see through for the PSU in the PSU shroud, which is what I'm trying to get a more cleaner look, rather than having the sticker show through:

Thanks folks,
Dawelio

 

[Avet]

If you don't cover PSU ventilation openings, you can pretty much do whatever you want. If your case fan will be pointing down, and you want to cover the sticker on the back so it wouldn't be seen through the PSU shroud there will be no problem. Only thing to have in mind if you want to wrap you PSU, in car wrap foil for example, is to always have metal to metal contact with the case. Usually enough through the screws. PSU casing is grounded, and it will ground your case too if there is short somewhere, and keep you safe.

 

[AlienALX]

The only problem I can see is that you are adding a thermal jacket onto the PSU (regardless of not blocking any vents) and it may thus run warmer and the fan spin up more often.

 

[Avet]

The only problem I can see is that you are adding a thermal jacket onto the PSU (regardless of not blocking any vents) and it may thus run warmer and the fan spin up more often.

As long as the airflow through PSU is not obstructed it wouldn't matter even if you wrap it in wool. Casing doesn't have enough surface, thermal mass, or contact with heating components to make the difference in temps. That is why there are heat sinks inside PSU, and fan blowing over them.

 

[Warchild]

The only problem I can see is that you are adding a thermal jacket onto the PSU (regardless of not blocking any vents) and it may thus run warmer and the fan spin up more often.

There is hardly any heat / watt dissipation through the walls at all. Wouldn't matter what you covered it with as long as the vent is free.

 

[AlienALX]

As long as the airflow through PSU is not obstructed it wouldn't matter even if you wrap it in wool. Casing doesn't have enough surface, thermal mass, or contact with heating components to make the difference in temps. That is why there are heat sinks inside PSU, and fan blowing over them.

You do realise that 90% of modern PSUs do not spin the fan at all until they get to a certain temp, right?

As I was saying, wrap it in a thermal jacket and it will reach those temps much faster. Especially if you put something on the top as the heat rises.

So if he can live with his fan going most of the time? fair play. I've had plenty of experience with that foam and trust me it's a real heat insulator. Alienware used to use it. Note, used to. No one uses it now.

 

[Warchild]

You do realise that 90% of modern PSUs do not spin the fan at all until they get to a certain temp, right?

As I was saying, wrap it in a thermal jacket and it will reach those temps much faster. Especially if you put something on the top as the heat rises.

So if he can live with his fan going most of the time? fair play. I've had plenty of experience with that foam and trust me it's a real heat insulator. Alienware used to use it. Note, used to. No one uses it now.

Quite funny you mention that because I have done exactly what he wants on my old Seasonic 850w. There was no difference before and after. In fact I had the foam + Acrylic plating which I used as a shelf. I disagree with you on the "real heat insulator".

My reasoning was the foam + acrylic was the perfect width to support a shelf I used as a watercooling passthrough.

 

[AlienALX]

Quite funny you mention that because I have done exactly what he wants on my old Seasonic 850w. There was no difference before and after. In fact I had the foam + Acrylic plating which I used as a shelf. I disagree with you on the "real heat insulator". You maybe had bad air flow in the case then?

My reasoning was the foam + acrylic was the perfect width to support a shelf I used as a watercooling passthrough.

Science - any insulator (note, the clue is in the name of it) for sound or heat is pretty much the same. It is a dense material used to absorb.

It may not have made enough of a difference to bother you, but it will make a difference. He may as well get a square of 3mm acrylic cut and just plonk that on top.

 

[Warchild]

Science - any insulator (note, the clue is in the name of it) for sound or heat is pretty much the same. It is a dense material used to absorb.

It may not have made enough of a difference to bother you, but it will make a difference. He may as well get a square of 3mm acrylic cut and just plonk that on top.

Negligable difference in my opinion. Your wording though seems to greatly exaggerate it.
I am running my pc in Shadows of war right now. Touching the PSU under a pretty heavy load, and the PSU is still very cool to the touch. Cant see how it makes any difference so saying his fan will be going off most of the time is a bit much.

And before you jump in and say "well its because the fan is going" It is covered with a PSU shroud that has no airflow from the PC itself.

 

[AlienALX]

Negligable difference in my opinion. Your wording though seems to greatly exaggerate it.

I exaggerate everything dude. That's Autism for you !

I bet if you grabbed a thermal camera and tested it though it would be pretty bad. Especially if the fan isn't running. That insulator is good at what it does (deaden noise) but like I said, it's like a thermal blanket. I bet if you had one of those heat scope things and looked at the shell of the PSU through it, then put that stuff over it? you would see hardly any heat at all on the outside.

 

[looz]

Okay so fans would spin up at a sustained load of approximately 2 watts lower (numbers pulled out of my own a**). Now what's the practical impact of that?

 

[AlienALX]

Okay so fans would spin up at a sustained load of approximately 2 watts lower (numbers pulled out of my own a**). Now what's the practical impact of that?

Depends how anal/fussy you are I guess. Some people can hear a pin drop.

 

[RobM]

just remove the stickers and be done with it

 

[Dawelio]

just remove the stickers and be done with it

Well that would avoid the warranty, which is one of the main reasons I got this PSU in the first place. So that wouldn’t be the best thing to do, especially considering it’s a 10 year warranty on it as well.

Does anyone here might know where to get a thin plastic plate or something similar, that you could then glue or similar to the bottom of the PSU shroud, that way to cover it?.

I’ve tired searching around on eBay, Amazon etc, but didn’t have any luck in finding something suitable unfortunately.

 

[Davva2004]

It's called plasticard mate, can get it as thin as 1mm, and usually has a gloss finish on one side and a matt finish on the other.

 

[Avet]

You do realise that 90% of modern PSUs do not spin the fan at all until they get to a certain temp, right?

As I was saying, wrap it in a thermal jacket and it will reach those temps much faster. Especially if you put something on the top as the heat rises.

So if he can live with his fan going most of the time? fair play. I've had plenty of experience with that foam and trust me it's a real heat insulator. Alienware used to use it. Note, used to. No one uses it now.

Modern PSUs don't spin up fan until they come to a certain temperature because they are efficient, not because they are cooled via metal casing. The heat dissipation over metal casing, with no direct airflow over it, that isn't in direct contact with heat producing component is negligible.

If you take VRM heat sink and cover it with plastidip yes your VRM will build up heat. Because you obstruct it's primary heat dissipation process. But PSUs do not cool themselves via casing dissipation.

I have no doubt that sound insulation foams will trap the heat.

You can pick plasticard like Tom used in RGB Ryzen Gaming Build.

 

[looz]

Depends how anal/fussy you are I guess. Some people can hear a pin drop.

I guarantee you couldn't tell the difference in a blind test, just knowing about a potential inefficiency is what's bothering you. Covering the PSU's non-ventilated side doesn't matter, at all.

 

[Avet]

Depends how anal/fussy you are I guess. Some people can hear a pin drop.

I guarantee you couldn't tell the difference in a blind test, just knowing about a potential inefficiency is what's bothering you. Covering the PSU's non-ventilated side doesn't matter, at all.

Anal thing is real. I can tell the difference between MP3 and FLAC. YouTube music quality just triggers me. My best friend can't, and he still doesn't get why i waste so much HDD space.

 

[looz]

Anal thing is real. I can tell the difference between MP3 and FLAC. YouTube music quality just triggers me. My best friend can't, and he still doesn't get why i waste so much HDD space.

I doubt you can tell the difference between a V0 rip, 320kbps MP3 and a flac. Even youtube audio can be decent if it's a recently uploaded video with an okay source format - they use a reasonably high bitrate Opus if memory serves.


But yeah, classic 128 kbps mp3s are garbage. I also prefer FLAC if only for archival purposes so it can be transcoded to the "latest and greatest" codec.

 

[Avet]

I doubt you can tell the difference between a V0 rip, 320kbps MP3 and a flac. Even youtube audio can be decent if it's a recently uploaded video with an okay source format - they use a reasonably high bitrate Opus if memory serves.


But yeah, classic 128 kbps mp3s are garbage. I also prefer FLAC if only for archival purposes so it can be transcoded to the "latest and greatest" codec.

Think of it as perks of the job. I did hearing test, and i do hear a bit more than what is considered normal. Add 15 years of recording and producing music on top of that, and yea, you can tune your ears to hear the difference.

On the other side i change glasses every 6-12 months. Unlike my ears, my eyes are not military grade.