Hi all,

I'm starting working on the quieting (not to say silencing right now) of my old rig, based on
- Cooler Master Centurion 590 case
- AMD Phenom X4 9950 CPU (140W TDP)
- Sapphire HD 4850 Toxic video card (110W TDP)
- Fortron Aurum 500W (installed this month)

My goal is to make the system near-silent at idle, and OK-quietish under load. It's about 3 years-old now, I hope to keep it for 3-4 more years as a general purpose/older games system. It's also in our bedroom, so I'm rady to invst some cash tinkering on the system - it's going to be cheaper than than replacing the whole thing.

The case came with 2 120mm fans (1 front, 1 rear), the 4850 was loud as a windblower even at idle. Since I've added 2 side intake 140 mm fans (stock Fractal Design fans from the Arc Midi case), the 4850 Zalman cooler is much more quiet, the louder element is now, by far, the CPU cooler, an old Cooler Master design which designation I can't recall.

So now, it's time to change the cooler. Because of the side fans, the CPU cooler clearance is limited to 135 mm, so I'm goona shoot for a top-down blower. The Noctua NH-C14 looks like a winner for the job, probably coupled to a bottom Nexus Real Silent fan @9V. This would leave 30 mm of breathing room from the side intake fan blowing straight on the cooler fins, which should be OK from my internet readings.

Would you agree with my choice, or suggest another heatsink and/or fan?

Get and downdraft cooler.

Try one that has an underfan and try it both with and without the underfan. See if you can get enough breeze from your side fan to do without a fan on your cooler.

Noctua has two such coolers
NH-C14
NH-L12

They also have a top down with no under fan, that is 126mm without a fan. It would fit right under your side fan.
NH-C12P SE14

Someone else had good results with a Scythe Samurai ZZ. But your only option would be to run it fanless.

One reason you might favor Noctua coolers over the long term is that with each new type of chip introduced by Intel or AMD, they provide their customers FOR FREE... new mounting kits. Just remember to scan in your receipt and save it somewhere where you will not lose it. That way you can use the same cooler through multiple generations of computers.

Thanks for the advice! I guess I'll do the NH-C14, as I'll be able to reuse the provided fans.