bonestonne,
Thanks, but as the others pointed out, the "Mine" wasn't viewed all that highly in reviews I've been able to find. I still wonder if an "IFX-14" would find in the Sonata III case?
dhanson865,
I don't have the tools to determine an exact dBA I'd like. I do know I'd like to get as quiet as realistically possible in the constraints of the case & processor chosen and still be able to safely play some of the modern, system taxing games occasionally (a couple of hours a week at the most). Beyond that, it's email, web surfing, word processing, financial processing, photo (not video) editing, music listening (and ripping/encoding - i rip my own CDs for my own MP3s) and occasionally watching a video (this is
not being used for a home theater or "movie" watching). Oh, and I do tend to run either Seti@Home or a Folding process when I'm not around.
If I can get by with a passive CPU sink, or one that I only need to speed up the fan during game play, that would be ideal. If I need a fanned cooler to be safe, so be it ... I want the quietest I can get because my SFF's fans have driven me to distraction and I'm finally READY for quiet!
The "Andy" looks interesting. It
looks like it should help cools some of the components near the CPU, but the SPCR review leads me to believe that looks are deceiving in that regard. But looking at your embedded chart, it does look to be quieter than the normal Ninja & fan combo, although it does let the CPU get a bit warmer ...
and it's lighter ... which means less mass cantilevered off the mother board when it's in the case ... hmmmm ... I wonder if I should still go with the Thermalright bolt-through kit with something this heavy?
bendit,
The Ninja Mini looks awfully noisy compared to the other sinks on that list above your port?? ALbeit it
is a whole heck of a lot quieter than the stock Intel sink/fan!
Thank you ALL for taking the time to try & help guide me through this research.
pat----