I have an 9800GT XLR8 1GB from PNY. The first one I got was very loud, the 2nd one was much quieter. It's pretty much inaudible when idle in my Antec Three Hundred. I can hear it when it runs the fan up while gaming. I've never noticed it during desktop useage with Aero enabled, or running Media Cen...

I'm using Speed-Link Medusa 5.1 Home gaming headphones, they come with a switcher box that will manage 2 surround or stero input sources and let you select between the speakers or headphones. I use the Creative Labs control software to switch between surround and stereo mode on the PC. The box is ge...

I used an old pair of Auralex Mopads that I had around.
They're a really firm foam material, and they have a lip built cut in them.

You could probably make something similar for cheaper, but I had them already and they work great.

The Zalman doesn't bother me. I turn it way down with the Fanmate that came w/ it. The E4300 doesn't get very hot even at low speeds. The LED version I have doesn't go slow enough via Q-fan to make it quiet. The 9500AT version that has 4-pin is pretty manageable via motherboard control though.

There are sometimes tax reasons that these companies operate across borders in this fashion. If they handled your stuff direct from their US warehouse they could become responsible for paying duties, or preparing a lot of customs documents, preparing RoHS compliance documents, or filing for business...

Yes, I want to cut the grille off, but I don't have a pair of tin snips yet. I'd use my dremel, but I figure I'd have to remove the motherboard to avoid getting conductive dust into everything, so I'd rather just use snips. I did end up turning the cooler back horizontal. It didn't really change tem...

I'm an fan of Intel chipsets on ASUS or Gigabyte boards. I'm running a E4300 on the now discontinued P5PE-VM. It's cheap, but it works, and allowed me to recycle my DDR400 RAM and AGP card. The E4300 only has a 800MHz FSB, so it runs well on this older chipset. I think there's some kind of automagic...

Go with a 7 series Geforce card. You should be able to find lots of passively cooled models that will generate less heat, and perform fine for desktop use.

Antec has some semi quiet fans that are affordable.
Enermax has some adjustable ones as well.

I don't know this PSU. Does it have several 12v rails?
Make sure you have the Video Card, CPU, and Drives evenly distributed across any available rails. I'm sure running one of them at full load will generate more heat (and probably fan noise) than sharing the load.

Most of the 9500's airflow will go out the back. I don't think putting it over the top of the 9500 will help much w/o some kind of airflow going through the cooling arm.

Perhaps you could modify something like this?

http://www.zalman.co.kr/usa/product/vie ... 6&code=009

Maybe you could even use the existing heatsink and just use a similar mounting bracket to float a quieter fan over it.

I found the front vents were not allowing much fresh air into the system, especially when the rear fans were drawing air in the side vent instead of pulling from the front of the case. I figured by flipping the glass at least it's moving the fresh air across the whole case instead of just the CPU ar...

http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s203/macrogeek/Arbiter_PC/img077.jpg http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s203/macrogeek/Arbiter_PC/img082.jpg http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s203/macrogeek/Arbiter_PC/img085.jpg This is my now quieted Home PC / Budget Gaming Rig. Motherboard: ASUS P5PE-VM CPU: ...

The 5000 series have been mostly phased out. The go to models for dual monitor support on the cheap lately seem to be the Geforce 6200TC (low end), the 7300's (replacing the 6200's), and the 7600GS (good budget gaming card). On the ATI side the X300 and X550 were replaced with the X1050. It can be p...

Does your PSU have a 120mm bottom intake?
Try running the CNPS9500 pointing up into the PSU.
I'm doing this on my E4300 and it's working fine so far.

I see this at work. When a chip is announed to be EOL the price plummets until the last shipment arrives to the wholesalers. Then it starts to creep back up. They tell me it's because vendors who build embedded systems, or lower power boxes for CCTV, manufacturing controllers, security systems, and ...

Rack cases usually have good airflow from the front, but sometimes poorly designed rear vents. Most of the ones I've worked with count on small loud fans, because most server rooms are not quiet, and may have supplemental air conditioning. Some rack cases seem harder to cool quietly because since th...

I work for a company that used to build w/ the Aria. After about the first 6 months we used them, they switched to the vented lid version. That's all I've seen for about a year and a half or more. Unless you're building a very low power system, I'd avoid this case. I built one for my in-laws, using ...

I've never found a very quiet one. I was able to undervolt one of the ones that comes with the Antec Aria, but it doesn't move much air. Have you considered making your own duct out of foamcore or plastic, and then feeding it with an quiet fan of your own choosing? You could also look at some kind o...

I'm not sure what changed on the Zalman side of things, but the 7000AlCu used to only be certified for some P4's at full speed, and not at all for Pentium D. Now it's recommended for all Pentium D and Core 2 CPU's. I've personally used them with up to a Pentium D 3.0 GHz with no problems on a relati...

My own machine is in one of these cases right now. I think I found a partial solution to a lot of the case noise. First, I got rid of the stock PSU, it's a pretty junky supply, so I changed it out right away with an Enermax Noistaker 380 Watt. I don't use the top and side fans. They're loud and nois...