quiet fans for an htpc?

[philhu]

I built a great htpc, but it is loud. The cpu fan (Pentium 4 3ghz) is the culprit as it is VERY loud.

And I need to put a case fan in the machine.

The unit will be in a different room, so it is not crucial, but the fans ARE loud.

Anyone have a site or recommendations for quiet fans, cpu and case?

[HTBuilder]

Phil,

First of all, check out http://www.heatsink-guide.com.

For CPU coolers, I always like Zalman because they're quiet. For case fan, I like the Vantec Stealth series. If you go with this combination, you'll be happy with the sound reduction. You may find your hard drives louder that you thought! That's what happened to me.

HTBuilder

[S1DIMMER]

They are pricey but I've found SilenX products to be quite good.
www.silenxusa.com
Check their fan specs against regular fans.
Zalman's are excellent coolers but the new socket 775 cooler (model 7700) is huge and you may have clearance problems either with motherboard parts or between the heatsink and where your power supply is mounted. SilenX makes a 92mm socket 775 cooler which is very similar to the Zalman but smaller.

[MoFunk]

You would have to check to see if this HS is compatible with your board and case (it is HUGE) but I put a thermalright xp-120 in my system. I used an adjustable 120mm fan set to low. It is quiet and runs my system very cool.

http://www.thermalright.com/

http://www.pccareandrepair.com/images/xp120/1.jpg

[cburbs]

These are what I bought and now my pc is nice and quiet:
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=373037

and this

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=17-159-023&depa=0

[AndyS]

I've had good results with the Nexus 80mm "Real Silent" fans. Good reviews on them too.

Zalman stuff is good. I have their HDD cooler and it totally rocks for an HTPC solution. I also have their 7000-Cu CPU cooler which is great.

Don't forget to choose a video-card that is low-noise and your choice of PSU will also affect noise-levels (I have a Seasonic Super Tornado 400W that does a great job at very low noise-levels).

Andy.

[Axel]

Panaflo fans have an excellent reputation for being both, very quiet and affordable.
_____
Axel

[ManhttnBeachMofo]

Don't forget Papst fans...

[Axel]

Originally posted by ManhttnBeachMofo
Don't forget Papst fans...

I agree, Papsts are good... but fairly expensive.
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Axel