5/2     I'm that noise intolerant guy who wanted to make my PC noiseless.
        Here is my update. In addition to changing my power supply to
        Seasonic Tornado (which is nearly inaudible at around 20db), today,
        I just received my brand new Papst 80X80mmcase fan. At $18.95 each,
        it costs 3X more and weighs 2X more than the other fans. However,
        it is only 12db and just as efficient as the other fans. It's
        amazing to hold something noiseless and totally VIBRATIONLESS to
        the touch, yet still being able to feel a huge amount of cool air
        moving through. The other fan I got is the Silentmaxx 120mm air
        intake blower (with filter). It pricey, at $22.95 each, but it
        delivers a whopping 41.2CFM at only 19.0db. Both Papst and Silentmaxx
        are import items from Germany. I'm now a big believer of quality
        German engineering. ALL HEIL DEUTSCHE TEKNIC, and fuck
        Yankee/Chinese made cheapo goods.
        \_ PABST BLUE RIBBON!!!
        \_ The standard quiet 80mm fan according to http://silentpcreview.com are
           specific models of the (Panasonic) Panaflo.  I got one last week,
           it's quiet and pushes medium-amount of air:
           http://www2.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835180041
           I got the Vantec 80mm below but it clacks and is annoying:
           (probably only mine sucks - poor quality control)
           http://www2.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811999602
           My Athlon 64 is still louder than the old Pentium 3 866 MHz, but
           I have now judged it "quiet enough" and will stop tweaking it.
           (God, I also put in a Zalman 120mm /CPU/ fan.  That thing is huge.)
           \_ Sorry, but your cheapo $5 fan is 21dB. While that is pretty
              quiet, it is not completely silent, like my superior
              GERMAN MADE fans (12dB). Each 3dB increase means 2X the sound,
              and each 6dB increase means 4X the sound. Also, try lowering
              the speed of the fan. I find that a lower speed actually cools
              the case better. The reason is that you want air flow to be
              uni-directional, and too many fans will blow hot air everywhere.
              By the way, what kind of power supply are you using? A rule
              of thumb is that they account for 1/2-2/3 of total noise.
              \_ Uh ... okay ... anyway, I have an Enermax power supply:
                http://www2.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817103458
                 I do know the Seasonics are quieter.
                 Can you post a link to where you bought your Papst fan?
                 BTW, a 3 dB increase will increase sound POWER by 2x.
                 You need a 6 dB increase to increase sound PRESSURE by 2x.
                 Most people say you need 8-10 dB to increase perceived
                 loudness by 2x.
                 BTW, a 3 dB increase corresponds to an increase in sound POWER
                 by 2x.  A 6 dB increase corresponds to an increase in sound
                 PRESSURE by 2x.  Most people say you need 8-10 dB to increase
                 perceived loudness by 2x.
                 \_ I got my Papst fans from http://quietpcusa.com, the site German
                    John suggested. I can't find the db spec for your
                    \_ W00t!  -John
                    Enermax, although it is using 2 pretty small fans (80mm).
                    I suggest you concentrate on the noisiest thing first,
                    which is usually the power supply. Getting a power
                    supply with ONE 120mm fans means it will run at a lower
                    RPM (mine runs at 750RPM, compare that with 1500 with
                    normal fans). Noise is quadratic with RPM. After you've
                    done that, then concentrate on secondary stuff like
                    fans. Like I said, adding speed controller arrays (and
                    using a digital thermometer) really helps you cool your
                    case better AND lowering fan noise. I've done all of
                    the above and have gotten noise down to a point that
                    the only thing I hear is the humming noise of my cheapo
                    Maxtor drives and the humping noise of my neighbor 2
                    houses down. I hope to fix #1 by replacing Maxtor with
                    completely silent Seagate Barracuda in the future. I'm
                    not sure how to fix #2 though.
                    \_ Yeah, I did say the Seasonics were quieter than my
                       Enermax.  I do know the Seasonics use a big 120mm
                       fan, for lower noise.  I'll try out the Papst and
                       the Seasonic for the next computer, I think.
                  \_ Amendment: Actually, I also took out my chipset fan
                     and my VGA fan. I replaced them with big heat-sinks.
                     Taking out the VGA fan was painful (and kind of scary
                     because I had to pry open the hard thermal glue)
                     But everything worked out at the end:
                     http://www.quietpcusa.com/vgainstall.html
                     In summary when I started the project, I had: 1 noisy
                     power, 1 loud intake, 1 loud CPU fan, 1 loud HD fan
                     1 chipset fan, and 1 VGA fan. In the end, I had:
                     1 22db Seasonic fan, 1 19db Silentmaxx intake (19db),
                     1 12db HD fan, and 1 semi-quiet (but not completely
                     silent) CPU fan.
                     \_ My Panaflo pushes 24.0 CFM of air at 21 dB(A), but
                        your Pabst pushes only 19.4 CFM at 12 dB(A).
                        Ha-ha! (according to the http://silentpcreview.com Excel file)
                        </sarcasm>
        \_ I bought the Antec Sonata case to replace my existing case
           which is too noisy. Although not completely silent, it is
           significantly quieter than my old case. The Antec power
           supply is pretty quiet, and the 120mm case fan is also
           quiet and mounted on a rubber feet connected to the case.
           The HD slot is also dampened by rubber feet, the only
           component the HD actually touches. I also replaced my noisy
           Intel CPU fan with a Zalman CPU fan, and replaced my video
           card with one that does not have a fan. Actually in my
           experience the CPU and video card fan generate quite a bit
           of noise. I could install noise absorbing padding inside
           the case, but decided it was not worth the money as the
           case currently is very quiet. Is your setup completely
           silent? (except the HD noise of course...). Silent PC is so
           nice. I hard the Mac Mini is also very very quiet, too bad
           it doesn't run XP, haha. -chiry
           \_ I also have a silent PC. It costs me $0.50 and 5 seconds to
              install. It's called a EARPLUGS. This whole conversation reminds
              me of how dumb Harley bikers go to those dumb Harley conventions
              and compare how loud their pipes are, except in a completely
              different direction.
              \_ Here's an even better idea, why don't you just perforate
                 your eardrums so that you go deaf.
              \_ Huh? earplugs? you joking right? Instead of solve the
                 problem, you cover your ears. Who said PCs should be
                 loud? Have you ever used a quiet PC? Building a quiet
                 PC is just the same as building a quiet car, a quiet
                 home, you don't solve these problems by putting in
                 ear plugs. This is the stupidest argument I've heard
                 in a while, but then again I am feeding the trolls,
                 damn. -chiry
        \_ I put mine in the closet and I hear NOTHING.