I recently upgraded the innards of the computer, and the modern components are getting bigger and bigger, so everything is quite cramped in there. Also there are hardly any air holes at all. This then reflects on the noise level - as soon as I run any decent game it sounds like I've turned on the vacuum cleaner. Note that I cannot open the side of the PC because of a curious 1-year-old.
I'm a casual gamer, so my current setup includes the following noisemakers:
- Phenom II X2 550 with default box cooler;
- Radeon HD4890 with default coolers;
- Elderly 40+160GB Maxtor HDD (the noisy edition);
- Fortron 500W (I think) PSU - the least of my worries, but still worth noting for the sake of completeness;
- Optiarc 7201A DVD-RW drive - rarley used, so not worth bothering with silencing, but it's gotta be there in the end.
So... in which direction should I look? I've seen an Antec case in action once and was quite impressed, but maybe there is something even better/cheaper out there?