Another vote for the CM TX3. Even if the fan turns out to be mediocre the total cost of the cooler plus replacement fan will be lower than that of the NH-U9B.

Big heatsinks in small cases can make maintenance a pain indeed. Nowdays that cpus are more efficient I prefer to use compact blow down coolers on any computer I build, my main rig is the only exception. Still, it`s a very neat rig and hopefully you won`t have to perform maintenance on it for quite ...

I`m not a big fan of the Apex case and the bundled power supply. I would prefer something like the Lian Li pc q7 or q9 for the mom build and the pc q11 or q8 for the rest. The q7, q8 and q11 can take a normal atx psu while the q9 comes with a fanless 150 watt psu (which I trust more than the one tha...

I was wondering if the bearing noise could be generated only because the PWM on the fan doesn't like the non-PWM fan controller, if anyone has encountered this. I`ve come across the opposite, pwm control making the fan buzz but you never know. Still, it seems more likely to me that it`s simply a ba...

It`s likely that the motherboard won`t be able to control the 3 pin Noctua fans that came with the heatsink (that`s what pwm fans are for). You could still use the 12cm Noctua as a case fan. If you decide to add a fan to the bottom compartment cooling the hdds, a Noctua with the ULNA would do a fine...

If your motherboard features good fan control then I agree pwm should be your first option. Not that you can`t get automatic fan control with 3 pin fans but that would require a dedicated fan controller with temperature sensors.

So if I understand you correctly, blocking the top vent will improve the airflow? Should I use only one fan at the front though? The issue with the unused vent is that it allows air to enter the chassis though the top, bypassing the cpu heatsink and other components you want to cool, so blocking it...

It looks pretty good overall. If I was in the market for a mid tower case this would certainly be a contender. I like the clean, understated styling but what sets this case apart IMO is how they handled the unused vents.

Noctua wouldn`t be my fist pick either. The NoiseBlocker fan in question is the BlackSilent series which comes in different sizes. I have no personal experience with these but they are well regarded fans. Other popular fans are the Skythe Slipstream and of course the Nexus Real Silent.

Coolermaster Hyper 212, Scythe Mugen 2/3, Thermalright Archon are some of the better value coolers off the top of my head, you can find others in the SPCR recommended heatsink list . Then you have the Thermalright HR-02 which could cool your cpu passively though it`s not really necessary for the rea...

The HIS IceQ X Turbo 6850 & 6870 might also be worthy of consideration. You could go for the cheapest card and add an aftermarket cooler but you`d still need a card with good fan though. An intermediate solution would be to get a card with decent fan control and stock cooler and replace the fans. @S...

Ok, the system fan header is 3 pin but what about the cpu fan header? Those are 4 pin (with automatic speed control) in the vast majority of motherboards, have been so for quite some time.

I wouldn`t replace the fans. I also have some Kama pwms and they`re excellent fans with a very smooth motor. There problem is that they`re running at full speed. There are two ways to solve this: either get a pwm splitter or manually control the voltage fed to them by using a fan controller or the 5...

I see a couple of problems with this. First, there is a risk of crushing the capacitors/mosfets, whatever these little squares are. The other issue is that you risk an uneven distribution of forces on the cpu resulting in sub par cooling. One solution would be to hack the backplate otherwise you wou...

Most cases including Lian Lis are not silent out of the box. Usually the user needs to reduce the speed of the stock fans among other things. After removing any unecessary fans (like the top rear exhaust) check if your motherboard has any headers that can slow down 3 pin fans (look for options like ...

In Canada right now, the A8-3870 is $152, the A8-3850 isn't even listed, the A6-3650 is $133, the i3-2100 is $137, the A6-3500 is $105 and the G6950 is $110 and the G620 is $80-90 depending on if you get the lower power variant or not. I would rather not go as low as the old pentium, so I'm throwin...

Another reason is EMI shielding. Gaps/holes can only be up to a certain size for the grille to block EMI. I don`t know how important this is in practice (many people remove the grills or run computers in wooden cases with no problems) but I think there are regulations regarding EMI which leave manuf...

I will second CA Steve`s recommendation. Another thing to consider is where the case will be placed. If on the floor, a micro atx case might end up less practical than the typical mid tower (usb ports and optical drive placed too low to easily reach). If on the desk, I would seriously consider a min...

I like your approach of strategic drive placement in order to structurally reinforce the hdd cage. You could take it a step further by adding more drives (unused left overs or failed drives). On the other hand, the wider than usual hdd cage looks like a good candidate for elastic suspension. The fir...

The 6670's cooler is quite good, barely audible at idle. Still, a hint of the bearing noise can be detected if duty cycles goes above 55%. What kind of replacement fans do you have in mind, and how would you attach it to the card? By the way, do you know if CCC's fan speed control work? Indeed, it ...

60c at load is not bad at all and perfectly safe. It doesn`t seem too unusual considering the relatively small size of the cooler, the slow speed of the fan and lack of a case exhaust. The hyper 212 could lower your temps a little but I don`t think it`s worth the trouble as they are fine to begin wi...

70 degrees in furmark is fine. To put it in perspective, most manufacturers put 80 degrees c as the default target temperature. Either way, you won`t be seeing this temperature in real use as games come nowhere near furmark in stressing the gpu. Do you want to switch to a passive card because your c...

A fellow member was looking for a quiet card and ended up quite happy with the HIS X Turbo 6950: http://www.silentpcreview.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=63454&p=552727#p551385 There is a version of the 6850 with the same cooler here: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161363

The Cyclone version of MSI's 6850 is pretty decent in Silent mode. Here's a benchmark from HT4U. Aparently the MSI is quite adept at staying cool and quiet and even the temps of the vrms are under control in quiet mode. My only reservation has to do with the sound character of the fan. Typically st...

The Powercolor SCS3 has a great cooler but I`m not sure it`s worth the premium. For that kind of money you could get a cheap reference design and a high end aftermarket cooler like the Thermalright Shaman or the Accelero extreme. However, If you`d rather avoid taking the time to install a 3rd party ...

How about the Silverstone nt07? http://www.silverstonetek.com/product.php?pid=262&area=en I think there should be enough clearance for the hdd with this one. Noise at load could be an issue though it should be smoother than the stock fan. reviewed here (lga775 version): http://www.silentpcreview.com...

Somehow I missed the last posts. Eventually I settled for a thin Skythe fan @ 1000 rpm and returned to the stock heatsink. The fan is pretty much inaudible and I`m not particularly annoyed by the hard drive either but truth be told, among other members here, I`m not particularly sensitive to noise. ...

An update adding an aluminium version and a alternative, larger instance attempting to build a viable gaming pc with the smallest footprint possible.

If you like the pc-X series you might also like this one: http://www.lian-li.com/v2/en/product/product06.php?pr_index=555&cl_index=1&sc_index=25&ss_index=62&g=f Still expensive and I`m no big fan of the hard drive mounting system (I would remove the cage altogether and DIY soft mount the drive) but ...

I guess my last p180 build was too loud to notice the hdd, had better damping, or had better hard drive mounting. It could be, vibrations are more likely to transmit through an aluminium chassis though I wouldn`t expect that from the FT02 which is based on a fairly thick frame. Either way, since yo...