best silencing technique?

[Kartajan]

See sig for system details. I need to silence my machine before my wife loses her mind.

Budget: Limited- Aiming for sub $100
Skillz: Effectively zero. I can follow directions, but any advanced modding is beyond me.
Shipping Limitations: FPO AP!
Local Sources: None in English, and I don't speak Japanese (located in Okinawa)

I need to keep it in the case. I beleive the power supply is making the most noise, but the stock intel fan probably contributes.

Thoughts?

Easy solutions for "hook hands" people?

 

[SaveYourself]

A good power supply to try and get is the Antec TruePower series. But your problem may be a fan that is going Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr and that is the sign to you that a sleeve-bearing fan is about to die. Open the power supply but be careful to touch NOTHING except the fan's power leads (unless you like electric shocks that send you across the room when they jolt you) and replace the fan with a known good fan. Cannibalize one of your case fans if you need a new PSU fan.

 

[xXgambitXx]

i agree w/ "save yourself". as for your P4 heatsink, i really doubt that's making the noise, the stock HeatSink's are supposed to be really quiet. The Power Supply mod would be your best bet.

 

[LazyBastard]

Check this article out. It may give you some ideas.

 

[Kartajan]

Thanks for the input. The P/S fan is NOT defective, it makes a small amount of "whirr". Whenever the TV is on, I don't even notice any noise, the wife just turns it off whenever I leave the house becauuse it "makes too much noise". (My old P3 made more noise)

I read that article, and was wondering if there were any experienced around here in "silent" operation to back it up. (I don't belive everything that I read...)

maybe a few more new/ modified PS suggestions?

Is the zalman HSF going to have a major impact on temps?

 

[Pothead]

Do a PSU fan mod but if you have the money get a quietPC.com PSU, it's worth the money and at times you'll think it's not even running at all...I know they have several stores outside the US.

If you get an alpha pal for the heatsink with a panaflo l1a, that will quiet it down a tad.

Another huge noise maker is your vid card. I got a quietPC PSU, the alpha pal, a front and exhaust 12dba Papst fans, and it was still making a tad amount of noises. I took the Vid card out. Case was dead silent. So you can either replace the heatsink and fan on the vid card or leave the 1st PCI slot empty. Trust me, leaving the 1st pci slot empty makes a difference.

BTW, I'm running a p4 1.8A @ 2.3Ghz. Temps are under 50 even with my quiet setup.