argh, my comp sounds like an elephant in a washer dryer. i'm about to replace the fan/heatsink (for my Athlon XP 1600+) with something *absolutely silent*, anyone have a particular fan-based solution to suggest? Silence is paramount, but it has to be fan-based...

I can recommend the Tt Volcano ....

I had the Volcano 7+ which was very loud due rotations of 3000 4500 or 6000 but the new V11 based on 80 fan and the same VERY good Heatsink .. is a ver good solut at low fan speed

I could never go to a silent cooler I'm so youst to hearing my PC from a mile away I'd get nervous.

LONG LIVE 80MM DELTA FOCUSFLOW!!!!!!!!!!!!! lol

actually though i am loooking into watercooling any of you guys have experience?

I run a Vantec 92mm Tornado, or as I like to call it, a super vac.
However the:

Vantec - Aeroflow:
http://www.vantecusa.com/afc250.html

That baby runs a TMD @ 5700RPM. Variable speed. That 5700RPM fan is quieter than a regular 80mm case fan. That is one of the best "silent" air coolers I have ever had the privilege to use.

NEWEGG.COM has it priced at $27.99 for an AMD. So it's pretty dirt cheap too. I highly recommend it. Go on google.com and search for "Vantec Aeroflow", read some reviews and understand why it is one of the best.

argh i'm so jealous of my mate's almost-silent dell... how do they get them so quiet?

The Vantec w/ TMD is a Magnent Driven 72mm fan. So it dosen't have the noise of conventional ball bearing fans. Plusthe fins and the fan itself is designed to have a small center. There for eliminating a lot of space being lost in the center, which is a failing for conventional fans.

most coolers are calculated for high temperature to work fine ... but in normal case ... not the hottest summer ... nearly alll fans can run @ 7 or 5 V ...
so get a cheap fan controller and lower all ur fans ... e.g. my PSU has 2 fans and even in summer one @ 7V is enough (if it is not toooooo hot)

just look what is the most noisy fan and see how slow u can get em

Zalman fans are very quiet too.

Yeah, use Zalman Passive Cooling. No fans at all.

what, you mean passive cpu cooling? i've seen the zalman flower, but that still has a (quiet) fan...

I'm sorry, you're right. I forgot those (since they are not mounted on the HS). But they sure are quite!

does the zalaman flower NEED a fan blowing cool air onto it? Them Zalman flowers are TOO loud. Your better off with a Alpha Pal or a Swiftech heatsink and stick a 12dBA papst fan on top!

Go for Cooljag.

tztzzt....again...a little bit too late for posting?!
half year later....

löl ... don't need to till him every post ... not that you blame someone here ... loosing a member is never any good