Thanks, I didn't know you could disable PWM in hardware. Good to know for future reference. However, after a bit more web searching I discovered that the motherboard manufacturer has published a BIOS upgrade that includes a "Smart Fan" temperature-based control function. Everything is quiet now and ...

Thanks for your helpful responses! I temporarily disconnected the 2 case fans and started the computer with only the Coolermaster fan running. It was still extremely noisy, so yup, the Coolermaster was the problem. I tried speedfan, and was able to decrease the CPU fan speed. The volume is now reaso...

This article gave the Coolermaster 48 very positive reviews as far as noise is concerned. So, I just bought & installed this CPU cooler in my generic computer from Fry's, because the stock cooler sounded like a vacuum cleaner. Well, now the computer sounds like a louder vacuum cleaner. I'm not norma...