sorted
If you are using the stock cooler out of the box than this is probably the case.
Do a web search for Zalman and Coolermaster. These websites specialize in CPU cooling solutions and have lots of info.
The other reccomendation is to go to the computer market, and buy a higher end heat sink from these same manufacturers that is rated for a higher level CPU, i.e. a 3.0 GHz CPU fan for a a 2.6 GHz CPU, etc., especially one made of Copper as it has better heat conductivity and therefore can be used with a lower fan speed.
Zalman heatsinks also typically come with a fan regulator that you can play with to lower your fan speed, but use with caution in that if you set it too low you will have frequent crashes and possibly CPU damage.
Finally, you can also buy fan speed regulators that slip into one of your drive bays that has a temperature sensor as well fan speed adjustment. You can then manually adjust the fan speed on the fly to meet your needs.
Finally, if you are really feeling adventurous you can look at water cooling. I currently run a 3.2 GHz P4 with water cooling. However, because I also have 2 DVD drives, 2 HD’s, a GeForceFX graphics card, etc., I still run with several sytem fans (as well as the power supply fan) which all do their part to generate noise. But, it is still much quieter and stabler than my original cooling solution.
Theres nothing like doing a hard days work then going home to relax and enjoy the noise of your computer fan. I have bad tinnitus so get to hear whooshing and ringing together.
Some years ago I cut all the blades in half and kept reasonable cooling while making it quiet. Unbalanced the fan and buggered it after a few years though.
FEI, what water cooling system is good? I recall seeing some reviews of awful systems that were worse than useless.
Also make sure that your case fans are quiet. I just replaced one original case fan with one from Thermaltake I believe, something about silent cat. It is a white fan, and much quieter than the old one. I am not sure if it produces the same air flow, probably less, but it is enough for what I need. And check out the power supply fan, make sure that this isn’t making too loud either. I usually stop the fans by hand for just a second to see how much the noise changes if the would be turned off. Then I know which one to replace first. The power supply fan is a little tricky to get at, I use a screw driver, but it might be somewhat controversal. And be carefull with sensitve equipment such as CPU and videocard.
FEI,
I am thinking about switching to water cooling myself. I saw the Eheim pump and some heat sinks in Gunghua. The guy wants NT$9350 for a set with 2 heat sinks, a copper radiator, the pump, a water tank, and all the tubing etc. Do you think that is reasonable? What kind of system do you have and do you think it is possible to cool down the Video Card and the CPU with one water circuit. At the moment I run a AMD XP 2800+ and a Radeon 9700 Pro. I will probably try cooling the CPU alone, and then check out how much the water temp increases before I fool around with the videocard. That one is much quieter than the CPU cooler anyway.