Silent HTPC

[asmith]

Right im looking for some tips you could say on silencing my to be HTPC case or at least I hope so. At the moment in my current CM case I have (Fan Wise):

Silent PSU NorthQ (terribly loud)
2x120mm Fans (Silent)
Stock E6600 CPU Fan
Stock X1950XTX Fan

However this will change when I purchace an HTPC Case possibly the Silverstone GD01MX however I am still open for suggestions on this front. The cooling will be upgraded with the following.

Zalman Reserator 2 (GPU/CPU Sorted)
2x 80mm Hiper 17Db(A) Fans
Corsair 520W PSU

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I did replace the 120mm fan in my northQ PSU with a 120mm Hiper 19Db(A) but it still sounds loud! (im a silent fanatic) unfortunately fanless is out of the question for me!

* So more to the point can anyone recommend a decent HTPC Case with the frond VFD and IR Controller?

* And any possible way to silent my current NorthQ PSU to save me shelling out £70 for the Corsair PSU. I was thinking about replacing the fan with a Nocuta 1200RPM Fan!

Cheers

[Lu-tze]

If your '17dba' hiper 120mm fan turned out to be noisy, then i suspect the 80mm versions will too. check this article out for quiet 80mm fans:

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article689-page1.html

for 92mm fans, they recommend the nexus.

the 1200rpm noctua would make a good choice for your PSU imo, though i'd be inclined just to buy a seaonic 430W PSU for £45 instead.

Not sure about the CPU hsf, though perhaps a zalman 7000 would fit. likewise the vf900 for the GPU. The reserator is ok, but costs more and you then have the hassle of an external cooler. to each their own though.

[asmith]

cheers for the reply that link is very handy, im not sure what it is with my PSU and fans but I tested the Hiper 120mm outside the case it was brill but when put inside the psu and attached inside the case the noise dramatically increased.

As for the seasonic 430 psu am i correct in assuming it is silent well near silent should I say?

[Clunk]

Grab some Yate Loon DS12 fans and undervolt them. Cheap and work great.

[amjedm]

I haven't done much reading on the Noctua but IMO it may not be the best fan for the psu. Design, back pressure, confined space etc.

I bought some Sharkoon Golf Ball 1000rpm 120mm fans from Scan and two of them don't like running in the vertical position - some sort of noise as if bearing or other part is brushing against something.

However, they're excellent in the horizontal position so I swapped the fan out of the Seasonic Tornado 400W psu with one of these. Previous fan was an Aerocool Turbine 120mm.

Modded psu may have been very quiet but I broke the fan connector so fan is currently connected to molex and runs at full speed. Still ok IMO.