[kmote]

I was looking at getting back into light gaming a bit (Hitman Contracts, CS 1.6, Doom 3, Red Alert 2, Half life 2 and some CSS). I've been out of it a bit and my current 'gaming' machine consists of:
a beaten-up silverstone TJ05, opteron 150, 8800GT, 2GB corsair XMS, 40GB Hitachi Deskstar and a DVD ROM drive.

Awesome but you know what in terms of performance it does what I need, what I was hoping to do was reduce the noise level. It's not crazy loud but I have recently developed an aversion to noise which isn't supposed to be there (music is fine lol).

The silverstone has never impressed me so that is definitely going to go. The 8800 is quite loud (though not as loud as the 7800GT I had before) but it does make a racket when the computer is first switched on. The MSI motherboard has 2 fans but I can't tell how much they are contributing to the noise situation. The CPU is cooled with an AC freezer 64 and the PSU is an OCZ gameXstream 700W.

What I would like to do is replace the chassis with something else (looking at the antec P180).
New HDD (I am very impressed with Samsung and have found them very quiet)
New optical Drive
New sound proofing
and if that does not make it quiet enough I will be replacing the rest of it. The last part I would be willing to replace is the 8800 as it is comparatively new, I'm hoping that if it does come to it, replacing the cooler will do the trick.

So what do you guys think? Suggestions on good parts? Warnings about bad ones?

[Peter.Cort]

pop a hr-03 or accelero-s2 on the 8800gt and you can strap a fan on if you think its necessary and that will quiet it down loads. get a new hdd as it will be quieter, also there are like noise dampening foam kits you can get that will dramatically lower the volume of your rig.

[kmote]

OK well out of these two coolers, the HR-03 looks to be the better one so unless anyone has experience to the contrary, that will be the one i get. Hopefully I will have to put a fan on it (cross fingers).
I believe that fitting this cooler means that I will also need some VRAM heatsinks: Thermalright 8800 GT RAM /PWN heatsinks For HR-03Rev.A,V2 - Scan.co.uk

For the sound proofing I think that Akasa AK-PAX-2 PaxMate II Acoustic Sound Proofing Kit for Case - Midi to Full Tower - Scan.co.uk might be good

For the case I am trying to choose between Coolermaster elite 335, Antec 300 and compucase 6xr8. What I am going for in the case is:
1) smallish but will need to fit an ATX motherboard, 8800GT, and third party CPU cooler
2) strong construction (preferably steel)
3) good airflow
4) no side window or anything like that

Out of the three I am loking at now I think the compucase best fits my requirements. Again any suggestions or whatever would be great!
For the HDD maybe this: 250GB Samsung HD252HJ, Spinpoint F1, SATA300, 7200 rpm, 16MB Cache, 8.9 ms, NCQ - Scan.co.uk

So what do you think? Is there anything else I should be looking at?

[saltynay]

Why don't you get pre soundproofed case KustomPCs - HTPC, Gaming, CarPC, Cooling and Modding Products in the UK !

Something like this would be better to make the gpu silent
KustomPCs.co.uk - Thermalright HR-03 GT Heatsink

[kmote]

I do like that cooler, it's the front runner at the moment but I am not so sure about those cases.
The best one there was the catapillar but I don't like that much either (PSU ends far too close to the HDD bays, only one panel removable, cheesy sliding front and it's too long to fit where I need)

[kmote]

Believe me, I'm following advice. I'll be getting the HR-03 as peter and salty both suggested I am also getting the foam and the new HDD as peter suggested. In fact the only thing I don't like so much is the selection of cases in the link from salty and I have given my reasons already. I'm not saying they aren't good, I'm just saying I don't think they are for me. There is plenty of choice out there and I'm just weighing my options as I see them.

[Peter.Cort]

with the foam it should work in just about any case, you'll just have to spend some time and get it all 100% right.

[saltynay]

Actually some cases come triple paneled to help insulate noise like double paneled windows Look into companies like silverstone which offer premium cases and you should find one. Silentpcreview.com is also an excellent source of info.

[kmote]

The case which is on it's way out is a silverstone TJ-05. I thought it was a safe purchace but didn't like it at all. The P180/2 which is the one I was looking at first is triple layered apparently and I am still considering it but the solo, which is smaller and so should fit better into the space is double layered so seems better overall.
The problem I have at the moment is that I need a smallish, quality case but as the quality and price goes up it gets increasing difficult to find one which is the right size and has decent airflow. The front runners at the moment are:
Antec SOLO
Antec 300
Compucase 6XR8

Others I am still considering:
Antec P180
Akasa Mirage 62
Silverstone KL02

I have a fair amount of money to spend on the right parts. For the case maybe £120 max but I would prefer to spend < £90.

[Valdeam]

Originally Posted by Peter.Cort

with the foam it should work in just about any case, you'll just have to spend some time and get it all 100% right.

Yup. Just like putting Dynamat into a car.
Half-*** effort = Half-*** results

I've gone the foam route and it did make quite a difference.