Alright, i pretty much gave in and went to silence this computer, it went a lot easier than i'd though...there are just a few flaws i can't overcome with some hardware.

1) the PSU is loud and vibrates a lot, but with even quiet music playing, its drowned out, and i almost always have music playing, so its no biggie, but its the original PSU for the system, and i don't have one that can replace it yet.

2) the HDD was almost killed by one of my other computers. the little filmstrip contact for the mother somehow got caught in a drive bay, luckily it didn't loose contact..because of that the motor has a tendancy to spin up constantly, it just causes a sort of pusling vibration, but no sound from it, so thats a plus.

The system specs are this:
Pentium 4 CPU, Socket 423, 1.4GHz, 400Mhz FSB
256MB RD RAM
80GB Hitachi Deskstar
LG CD-RW 52x32x52
some DVD drive
GeForce MX/MX 400 32MB AGP4x card
Creative SBLive! 5.1 Digital Surround Sound PCI
Linksys WMP11 Wireless B PCI

everything else is silent unless i'm ripping/burning a CD or watching a movie.
here are some pics i took earlier today...it looks like it would be loud, but its actually really really quiet. all of the fans spin incredibly quietly for their speed. each one is about 1000-1400rpm, but they're so quiet for it, it seems weird, but since its under my desk, its super quiet, but its only half under my desk, so with the majority of it exposed, its a feat.

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g142/ ... G_0858.jpg
^thats a shot up towards the top fan, those cables aren't as neat as i'd like, but the issue is that they aren't very long, so i put up with what i have.

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g142/ ... G_0857.jpg
^turned off the cathode for this shot, shows my ghetto little GPU fan, its off a Cooler Master Blue Ice stick on heatsink, cools this really well, spinning at 4500rpm, and you can't hear it.

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g142/ ... G_0856.jpg
^thats the main silencer for this computer, that 80mm fan replaced a 60mm fan, and not only is it cooler, but its quieter. just fashioned some tiny brackets to give it a little height and to make it to the holes...its 3C cooler than with the stock fan, and tons quieter.

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g142/ ... G_0855.jpg
^shot of the front. i want to put a fan there to cool the HDD, but i have none left. i'll just wait a while for the funding to allow the aerocools for my server before i do much more with this.

basically, this is my free system, i'll just give a brief explanation of it.
About august i went looking for a good computer i could use in school for editing music, basically, all it needed was a decently fast processor, no less than 256mb of RAM, good sound, wireless internet, and graphics. well, i went to the dump with my dad, and found this HP system...the tower was huge, and i though, if its full size ATX, its got to be decent for an HP, as there are a ton of HP computers and stuff here, i like them a lot, so i decided it was worth a look. well, it ended up having basically everything in it, right out of the dumpster. CD burner, DVD drive, digital 5.1 sound card, GeForce MX/MX 400 AGP graphics card, 256MB RD RAM, heatsink, fan, floppy, PSU, fan duct..everything but the HDD..i thought, why the hell not? whats the worst that could happen, it doesnt work?

well, i got home, took the air compressor, and blew a considerable amount of dust out of it, and hauled it inside to work on it...now do know, that the size of the case is huge, i had trouble holding it sometimes because i was about 4 inches shorter then, and could hardly get my arms around it, much less move it around.

well, i aimed at putting linux on it, and it almost went well, but it refused to install no matter what i did. well, of course, while i was at the dump, i decided to grab a bunch of parts, including another graphics card, a few spare processors, heatsinks, and a couple fans. well, turns out, the computer was thrown away because the CPU was fried to the point where the silicon on one corner was seperating by layers. well, lucky me, i managed to pull out an exact match processor from another computer...that was the beginning of this system.

for about a month it used a 40GB maxtor and ran Ubuntu 5.10...then i got the server, and that was my next challenge.

ever since, i've basically babied the systems along, and its all good. now its running an nLited XP, and has a wireless internet card, that was pulled from the dump, an 80GB hitachi deskstar, that was given to me...there are only three things that i bought that are in the system, one Antec Tri-Cool for the side, the case itself, and a cold cathode kit for it. seeing as all that was really cheap, i consider it a good investment.

[img]xxxxxxxxxxx[/img]

Link to your images using the 'Img*' button

i'd rather not do that, as i've been mod and admin at other forums, it doesn't take much to see how much bandwidth posting an image really takes...its not hard to click links either. i posted the links like that on purpose.

Well, you see, people would have an easier time relating pics to words...

but those pics are significantly large, i'd rather post them like that than be told to after wasting time doing that the first time.

its not hard to click a link..i'm not going to argue it.

Interesting. Are all the fans running at full speed? If so, I don't see how it could be quiet. IME, LED fans aren't usually that quiet, the exception being Arctic Cooling.

well, the rear fan, top fan, and CPU fan are running at full speed because i'm unable to control them, but the side fan is on Low. i'm sitting right next to it, and i honestly can't hear the thing..when i had a 60mm fan on the processor, it was a little screamer, and you could hear it in the kitchen down the hall.

i'm satisfied with it like this too, although i'd prefer more RAM, its too hard to get...i've looked on ebay, and been countlessly outbid because i'm not spending a fortune on this. actually, i'm gonna swap the PSU right now as i'm not doing anything...hopefully i wont have an issue with the cathode after this.