[idleloops]

There's lots of good advice on building silent PCs. I actually have a roomy desktop case, a Lian Li, a passive GFX card, an energy efficient CPU and only one big CPU fan, and a pretty silent energy efficient PSU. These were all picked with noise in mind when I last built my desktop PC. My case actually is pretty thin alu, it resonates because of the hard drive and thin chassis, so I've had to tediously dampen the drives with rubber (I wouldn't recommend that case.) Some of the older cases - I'm talking a naughties case, can be found (probably at the local tip) that are incredibly thick, and these make for a better quieter unit in my opinion - but at the same time they can be quite ugly. But then again - most PCs are ugly!

A friend of mine just picked up a Pentium 4 (yes all my friends have P4s), for £20, with a nice thick case, but the thing sounded like a helicopter taking off - the fans were so loud. We replaced the CPU fan (something like an Arctic freezer), and now it's quite easy on the ears.

My PC case is hugely bloated for my needs, I barely touch the DVD unit anymore, so I could just throw it in a trunk. Or make a new chassis for it. I only keep it as the size doesn't make me curse whenever I have to go in there. How about a piano stool for a case?

I think my favourite case I ever had was a micro ATX case that I modded to accommodate the PSU on the front. I could then keep it on the floor and still turn it off easily. As it was low down it was quieter. It also served as a rather nice foot warmer.