I was really inspired by the work done on a system as seen in http://forums.silentpcreview.com/viewtopic.php?t=10084 so I set out to do a similar job with a Ahanix BlackKnight X195 case.
For five bucks I found Rust-Oleum Specialty Grip&Guard Textured Rubber Coating. I sprayed the entire inside of the case down after removing the face and taping a few things, including the inside of the side panels. I then applied AcoustiProducts acousti-padding to all flat surfaces... taped off the holes in front too, etc.
I am right now installing a new PSU (SeaSonic Super Tornado 400W AFPC) that should be silent (cross fingers) and I installed that ArticCooling CPU. Hardware is a FX-51, 2x74gb raptors, CDRW/DVD combo drive, floppy w/ 6in1 compact media reader, SB Audigy 2 Platinum with Livedrive, Abit Radeon 9800XT 256MB, 2 x 512mb Corsair PC3200 TwinX ECC. With the previous, and less efficient PSU and the stock cooler I had near complete silence at boot and the CPU never got above 57C under load. The new PSU is more efficient and the new HSF should be approximately the same for cooling only more silent (cross fingers)... all I need now is the Rev3 ArticCooling VGA silencer for 9800Xts (out this month) and I am set.
The fans and PSU are mounted on rubber gasgets. The only thing left, and I am not convinced yet I need too, is to remove the front/rear fan grills for the 120mm fans.
The case is a BlackKnight X195 from Ahanix, a relatively affordable, front and back 120mm case with a built in fan controller and temp monitoring that works. The only other mod I made so far was to enlarge the bottom vent area in the front bezel that lets the front 120mm fan breath... doing that shaved 2C off the ambient easy. Case temps have not gotten above 30C (room ambient is about 75F, so that's only a 11 degree rise under load, not bad if you ask me). Mobo is sitting at 32C idle.
Edit
Okay, it's up and running... wiring isn't perfect yet. After 30 minutes in the bios the CPU has settled on 59C idle with the artic cooling HSF... higher than I really want, but it's quiet... a good 14 buck experiment, may go back to stock or something. The stock cooler was idling at 52-53C for comparison sake, but is 'louder' (again, not a ton). Pretty limited selection out there, Zalman is the only other one that comes to mind.
The new PSU, a SuperTornado 400W with APFC, is generally quieter and providing more voltage than the SilverStone SST350W that it replaced. I am a bit shocked as this one is only producing 11.43V on the +12V rail... the silverstone SST350W that the SeaSonic replaced was hitting 11.136V or so, yet it ran an all night loop of 3DMark03 with audio at high res without a hiccup. I am wondering if the onboard V sensor for the SK8N is off a smidge as I am pretty sure that the SilverStone PSU shouldn't have been stable and this new SuperTornado PSU should be more than enough to hit 11.8V or so on the 12V rail I would think.
Going to let it sit ad idle all night for some break in on the new ArticSilver5 application to see if it improves - I suspect the temp will drop to 57 or 56C. If not, I may have to find something else... the stock cooler is not bad, but for the noise it isn't doing a good job either.
Maybe someone knows... The PSU fan, a 120 with pretty good thermal control from what I am seeing... would it perhaps be more efficient if I had it setup to draw outside air from the back and blow into the case versus using case air to cool itself? I would think it would run cooler and provide more air in the case. As it is now, the PSU has now ramped up to a quiet but distincly audible level... my goal is near silence if possible. I did buy a Thermaltake 120mm fan with 3-way control and could replace the existing fan with it, running the rheobus knob on the PCI plate in back for adjusting it. Any ideas or thoughts about either switching the fan blow direction or replacing it?
