[d0od]

I replaced my "silent" 500W PSU today with a more expensive 650W "Silent" PSU... and found no real difference in the noise of my computer. Which is noisy.

So, being brave, i stopped one of the case fans with my finger and wow - quieter!

When i stopped the CPU fan for a few seconds - EVEN QUIETER!

Infact, it's the CPU Fan that is the noisy culprit!

So a few questions:

Whats the best and quietest CPU heatsink for AM2 that doesn't cost the eart?

Is replacing the heatsink an easy-ish affair? I built the computer from scratch, so it fitted the "Stock" cooler that came with my CPU [64 x 2 6000+]

[thingie2]

My recomendation would be the Arctic Cooler 7pro, except that's for socket 755, however there is the same one for AM2 socket, I just can't remember the name, I'll have a quick look now, but it only costs about £15 and will be much quieter, and provide much better cooling than the stock HSF.

EDIT: Here is the fan.

[KanoakaVirus]

Have you cleaned your cpu heat sink and fan along with any others? also have you re tried re-seating your fans?

[serverguy]

I normally find the Arctic Freezer to be one of the noisiest components in an otherwise very silent build. But its great for cooling.

This things pretty damn inaudible on its slowest fan speed and still cools great: http://www.scan.co.uk/Product.aspx?WebProductID=480705

Its a tad expensive though.

[d0od]

Originally Posted by thingie2

My recomendation would be the Arctic Cooler 7pro, except that's for socket 755, however there is the same one for AM2 socket, I just can't remember the name, I'll have a quick look now, but it only costs about £15 and will be much quieter, and provide much better cooling than the stock HSF.

EDIT: Here is the fan.

thanks for that - at that price i'm tempted! Will i have to get some thermal paste aswell or... ?

[thingie2]

Yea, I would say it's best to get some thermal paste. My aswell, it doesn't cost much anyway. However someone else will have to tell you which paste to get, as I'm not sure which ones are good, however I'm pretty sure the Arctic silver stuff is very good.

[serverguy]

Anything by Artic Silver is good stuff.

I always replace the stuff that comes on the coolers, but then I actually wander how much it helps if you're not overclocking. I've got 10 year old computers still on the original crappy stuff and they still seem to keep cool enough...

But yeah, I'd use Arctic Silver.

But the Freezer isn't my choice if you want quietness - if you want cooling power it is.

[pete21]

also you can get an adapter from 80mm to 120 and use a 120mm fan and use that on your heatsink i am and because the fan is big it has no need to run fast to cool the heatsink hence silent i only here a wisper from it .if you do the converters are only a few pounds and a good quality 120mm akasa fan is about 10 pounds

[Mike0001]

I agree, if you have the room the big fan is much better. Or a fan with a thermostatic control.

[Desertfish]

Or go for something like this:

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/143721

Very quiet thing...