Quiet CPU Aircooling...

Hi, well... I have a friend who is looking to quiet his system, and he came to me for advice... The only problem is I watercool and he isn't quite ready to take that step. He has a pretty barebones system, with the CPU being his only real source of noise.

So... What heatsink/solution should he use. He was a little indefinate as to exactly what he had, but from what I gather... He has an XP 1700+ and a thermalright heatsink of some sort (said he saw reviews saying it was a good one, I'm assuming its an AX7). Should I simply purchase a better fan for his heatsink? Get a large fan and use an adapter? Or would you suggest a better heatsink/fan combo? He said his budget for this is approximately $50.

Thanks for any advice.

Edit: Forgot to mention, he does *not* intend to overclock.

IMHO, Thermalright makes the best heatsinks. If he isnt overclocking, then any quiet fan that will fit the heatsink should work just fine.

I think you missed the point. For quiet, just run the live wire of the fan to the 12v line, and the ground to the 5v line. You now have 7v and its nearly dead silent.

if hes not o/cing tell him to just go stock or to buy a led 80mm there almost silent under 30db i think

Zalman CNPS6000Cu. Great heatsink design and for non-extreme computing nothing beats it for noise with the fan turned down. My dad's XP2400 runs at 53C with a 39C case temperature (he hasn't got any fans ) with one on.

They're about £30 in the UK

I built a system for my brother (not overclocked) using a Speeze Heatsink that I got at Newegg for 10 bucks. It's got a massive copper core aluminum heatsink, an 80mm fan that runs at 2500rpm's, 28db. I think it's as near to silent as you'll get and still have good cooling. It's cooling an AthlonXP 1800+ not overclocked.

2nd vote for the CNPS6000Cu they are dead silent =d

Zalman cnps7000A-AlCu
http://www.zalman.co.kr/english/product/cnps7000a-alcu.htm

If he's already getting a thermalright heatsink that supports 80mm fans, I would try a Vantec Stealth. If it isn't overclocked, this should be sufficient on a high-end heatsink. It should be dead silent. Alternatively, try a Panaflo L1A. Both of these should be similar in noise level to the hard drive, give or take about 3 decibels.

Panaflo makes some good fans. I have a 47cfm Panaflow 80mm and it is quite quiet, yet it pushes 47cfm!

i would either get a TMD fan (cleaner and quiter) or for about the same ~35-35 USD in Oly/Tacoma/Seattle area for a CNPS7000-CU. it is a monster but it is quite and cools great, if you are scared by it 773! grains of weight (keep in mind intel spec is 450 and amd is 300) you could go with a CNPS7000-ALCU, half copper and half Alunmininininininum (SP?) and it is only 445 grams, alot closer to amd spec, and with in intel specs. pluse they are both only rated at 25 dbl and that is damn quite.