[mythtv-users] Re-finishing a low-profile case w/ silent parts

[Quinten Steenhuis]

Hi,

I put together a nice MythTV box about a year ago. Now, I'm wishing I
spent a little more on silent components.

I have a small case with a custom-sized power supply--the HEC 7K09. It
is nicely sized--3.9" high, but I feel like this is tight for a lot of
the truly silent components I've seen.

I have a WD Green drive, which I think is pretty quiet. The noisiest
components are definitely the fans. I've tried unplugging the front
case fan, which mostly just makes the CPU fan work harder and noisier.
I'm using fancontrol at pretty aggressive settings so that the fan
barely spins at temps 50-60 C. But especially in the summer, it's just
not enough to keep it quiet as the fan still has to spin constantly,
and it's noisy even at a medium speed. At the highest speed it sounds
like a jet engine (only spins at max speed now when it first turns on
due to fancontrol). I have an Athlon XP CPU, AM2 form factor, and I'm
using the stock CPU fan.

Any suggestions on CPU fans that folks have used in similarly sized
cases? I spent a few hours trying to digest some of the reviews out
there, but it seems mostly you make a tradeoff between size of the fan
and noise, and the best fans just don't come in a small enough size. I
guess I want anyone who has real-world experience with these fans
too--I don't know if I go with what looks like a good medium-range
one, it will really be an upgrade on what I have now. I want something
significantly better, otherwise it's not worth the hassle of taking
out the existing fan, getting heatsink compound, etc.

If not CPU fans, any other suggestions on what is the best route to
take to make this case pretty quiet?

Ideally I'd spend no more than $100 to make it quieter. I'd be willing
to go up to $150+ if that $100 figure is just unrealistic.

Quinten