Case fans...

On what seems like the never-ending quest to get my computer perfect, I've come to what seems like a wall... a wall of noise.

The humming sound coming from my three 80mm and one 120mm case fans is getting annoying, to say the least. After unplugging them all for a bit of a laugh I was surprised by how damn quiet things were. Sure I could hear the GFX card / CPU fan, but it was nothing in comparison to that I'm currently putting up with.

I came across the rather nicely rated SilenX range of case fans, the only problem being it'd cost me near on £50 just to replace what I already have!

Are there any better ways to go about this? I kinda love my Enermax CS-527 but I'm starting to think a new case with 120mm fans may be a better way to go...

Sound padding can help depending on the frequency’s that the noise is, but SilenX are really excellent. I went from a AC Ryan 120mm fan to a silenX one with only a small drop in CFM. The noise difference was amazing though.

I have a couple of SilenX. They're undervolted to 5V, and are VERY quiet. (In fact, they're silent....)
The noisiest component for me now is my Northbridge cooler, time to get passive on that one methinks.

I had 3 80mm case fans in my case, so I just ripped out their mountings and put one 120mm in the place of two adjacent 80mms. It's quieter, and just as cool, if not cooler.

Well I've just changed the one fan that came with the case and that seems to have made a nice difference (no more high pitched wailing) so I think I can live with it for now - the majority of the noise is coming from the air flow itself.

I'll buy a new case some time down the line with more room inside and nice 120mm fan spaces... and hopefully no side window as making it look nice inside is a pain, as is the glowing when I want to sleep. :mrgreen:

I would have to say go for Akasa Amber range of fans, ok I am turning into a bit of a fanboy (no pun intended) of Akasa's but they're stuff has failed ot let me down yet, or a friend of mine who was really pleased with the ones he got.

I wanted to go with SilenX but couldn't afford it (19 odd quid with delivery for a 120mm fan) then I came across these wonderful things, I think its as little as £4 in some places for the 80mm and £8 for the 120mm.

Got one of the Amber fans on my Akasa Evo 33 - turned down it's sweet but turn it up and wee-ee, I can hardly hear myself speak!