I'm moving towards a much quieter build, my PS2 slim is very quiet and having a computer in the same noise ballpark would be great. Now despite being experienced in building computers, I never actually customized one, in any shape. I've been told a great and cheap way to reduce noise is to replace the CPU Fan which IS a noisy bastard at times.

Now I've picked out 2 fans, but I'm having difficulty in establishing if they'll be compatible with this mobo and fit inside the case:
http://www.sunbeamtech.com/PRODUCTS/silent-storm/silent-storm.html
http://www.m4store.co.uk/m4a785td-v-evo.html?utm_source=Google&utm_campaign=GoogleBase

I've picked out 2 cpu fans and my budget is £30, since I'm also saving for a new case, which I'll discuss later:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Arctic-Cooling-Freezer-Rev-2-Cooler/dp/B002G392ZI/ref=dp_cp_ob_computers_title_1

http://www.quietpc.com/products/amx-coolers/gel-tranquillo

Personally, I'm leaning towards the gelid, since the temps and noise levels in reviews are better then the artic cooling one. Also, what are fan retention wires and how hard are they to set up? Is it a pain to install a custom cpu fan?

Finally, would it be better to use the fan in this case, and install the fan whilst moving cases and components altogether?

http://www.quietpc.com/products/pc-cases/fd-definer3

I'm going for the white one. Thanks for hearing me out.

I am lookig for one too and currently I am leaning on this one, Xigmatek Gaia, as I read some good reviews about it. Should be quite quiet and is cheap. Don't have experience with it, though, so I can't tell for sure.

It is a good choice. Like most coolers with 120mm fans, you need a lot of vertical clearance. Xigmatek fans are high quality.

Well, I'm not looking for o/c capability, since my phenom 2 x955 still outputs the goods. I have a platform upgrade planned at the end of next year so if I ever do o/c it'll only be a couple of hundred mhz. My main focus is quietness. You said yourself the Gelid is quiet, so I'll keep that one in mind.

But, I've decided to add £10 to the budget, for that these ones are available:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Scythe-Mugen-CPU-Cooler-Processor/dp/B002SCPH9W/ref=sr_1_31?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1331934625&sr=1-31
http://www.quietpc.com/products/amx-coolers/ninja3
There are others, but these appeal the most to me.

Oh, I've seen a few that are under £30, and seem good:
http://www.quietpc.com/products/amx-coolers/katana3
http://www.quietpc.com/products/amx-coolers/cnps9900a-led
http://www.quietpc.com/products/amx-coolers/yasya

Thoughts?

The price on the out-of-date Scythe Mugen 2 at Amazon is excessive, even at UK prices.

The others are all good. The thing I don't much care for with the Zalman cooler is that the fan is integral. The others all have fans you can replace when (not if) the bearing eventually fails.

I've managed to barter the price down for the gelid to a piffling £15, so I'm going to jump for that. I also managed to have some hands on experience with it whilst at the shop, it's a good looking, not to big cooler which suits my tastes after looking at all the others available. There were ninjas 3 there, but I was put off by the 25£ asking price.

One final question! Should I install the fan in my current case, or wait a couple of months and put it in the fractal?

You can move a cooler to a new case pretty easily, so I would favor doing so.

Hang on to the Intel mounting hardware. It comes with both Intel and AMD mounting hardware, so you have to use the AMD brackets with your current Phenom II, then switch to the Intel hardware when you move it to the new one.

You also have to clean and reapply the thermal compound. Get a tube of thermal compound when you get the cooler. Ordinary cleanup solvents like Goo-Gone will clean it off. Follow the CPU maker's instructions to apply new compound.

It says on the product page that a thermal compound is supplied with the cooler, so there's no need to worry about that.

Is that a thermal pad attached to the cooler, or a separate tube of thermal compound?

If it's a thermal pad already on the cooler, which is what is commonly done, it can't be re-used; when you move the cooler, you must polish it off and use new compound.

I have a Coolermaster 212 Plus and it is way quieter than I ever thought possible, I have the side of the case off and sitting 2 feet from it I can barely hear it. The best part is it's like 25 bucks.
Some fans will come with a tube of paste for you. Coolermaster does this as do several other manufacturers. You can pay for Arctic Silver or some other expensive stuff if you want, it's up to you.

Use cotton swaps + rubbing alcohol to gently and carefully remove thermal paste on the top of the CPU.

EDIT: And for the love of all that's holy, WASTE THE SWABS AND ALCOHOL in order to be careful, they cost like 2 bucks whereas your CPU costs much, much more.

A fair point, one which I didn't consider at first. According to the GELID website the cooler comes with the GC-2 thermal compound, which is a seven-gram syringe so should be good for more than one use.

In other news, I just noticed that the cooler comes with a five-year warranty, which is rather unusual especially in that price range.

In that case, you're fine. That's a big tube of compound that should last you forever. Always clean the CPU surface and cooler surface well before applying thermal compound and mounting the cooler.

Ok, cooler is on the way, along with a spare can of compressed air and this paste remover and purifier:


http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B000BKP306/ref=oh_o00_s00_i00_details

Thank you for all the advice guys, again the GoG community proves how classy it is. :)