Case noise

[buschman31]

I have a system that is noisy as hell. Would like suggestions as to what fans to use for cooling as well as quietness. My gateway is not as loud compared to the second system and it has three fans: rear case fan, power supply fan and heat sink fan. Here is a run down on the system:
AK31 mobo w/ Duron 1.0ghz processor heat sink and master cooler fan
rear case fan unknown brand or size
mitsumi 24x12x24 cdrw
2 hdd- ibm 20gig 7200 & 20gig samsung 5400
768mb of ddr- 512 of kensington pc2100/ 256 of elixcir pc2100

All this in an Enlight 4230 case and Enlight power supply which I believe is 300W. I did not build the system but was purchase used from out of state pawn shop. All come with it except the cdrw and 20gig ibm. Cdrw replaced 52x cd rom already in case. To everyone thanks in advance for your response.

[wallie_x]

Does the rear case fan attach to a plate that has a series of holes? On my beast, I cut around the periphery of that intake area with tin snips and removed it. It can create noise as air whistles through the holes. Doing this also eliminates an air flow impediment and helps to further cool your PC. Smooth air flow is what you want. Route IDE cables and tie them together to form as minimal a surface area as possible and turn them paralell (sideways) to the air flow.
Upgrade to more modern fans if they are old.
A good dusting of the whole PC especially fan blades also helps reduce noise.

[speedyvision]

ya cut those pesky little holes out, if u can get some 120 mm fans and fit them in ur case get them, also i just bought the antec sonota case witch helped alot, also a quieter psu would help, although if ur low on cash for ur psu get urself a low dba 80mm fan take the one thats in it now out, cut out those holes where the old fan was and put the new fan in, also a new heatsink/fan combo might help, i dunno how loud urs is, wat do u have for a video card cuz those fans can be pretty noisy, if all else fails and u still want quieter theres material u can by to dampen the noise itll make it a little hotter but quieter

[stroyal]

DC fans with those little holes over rev, especially the intake ones. As previously stated, remove them and use the wire fan grills if you need a grill. Front fans usually don't need grills.