I've got an AMD Athlon 1800XP processor and two fans inside there to keep my computer cool. The problem is, when I turn it on it sounds like it's about to take off. The fans, either both or one, is VERY loud and a complete pain. Is there an alternative I can go for? Silent fans or something?

Vantec sells what they call "stealth" fans, and there is a company call Silenx that sells very quiet fans. I recently bought the Silenx and they are very quiet. Of course, no fan is TOTALLY quiet.

Thanks Kevin. I don't know very much about processor fans. Are they a standard fit? If I go out and buy one does it just clip in where the old one was?

CPU fans are `usually' held on the heatsink by four screws. They are very easily replaced.

Processor fans are coupled with the heatsink to provide adequate cooling for the processor it was designed to be installed on. If you attempt to quiet a processor fan you may cause the processor to overheat. There are aftermarket HS/fans that are very noisy. I doubt that is what you have. I would suggest that you download and install some temperature monitoring software. Once you get it setup, you can monitor the processor and system temps. Then you can attempt to possibly disconnect one or more of your case fans, after which you can see the results.

SLK 800A or 900A heatsink plus an 80MM vantec stealth fan. Makes life golden because of their silence. Also, as an alternative... look for some papst or comair rotron fans... they are usually used in telecomm industry and such, but they are extremely quiet!! Good luck!

many change their oil but few change their water pump many change their vid card but few change their cpu heatsink. So decide whether you you are up for this task as it is not trivial. The cheapest and easiest solution is these two steps: 1) Go here: http://www.bestbyte.net/Product.cfm?ProductID=82&CategoryID=8&Keyword= http://www.bestbyte.net/Product.cfm?ProductID=1122&CategoryID=8&Keyword=adapter and get a 80mm-60mm adapter and any 80mm fan, and replace your current 60mm fan (which sits on your cpu heatsink) with the adpater and 80mm fan. This will quiet you down some. 2) Run all your 80mm fans at 7v instead of 12v. Here's how. http://people.freenet.de/s.urfer/7vtrick.htm and note your temps before (at 12v) and after (at 7v). If the cpu temp is under 60c at load you're okay. The more elegant and costly solution is to get a big copper sink, and then run those 80mm fans at 7v. Your temps will be perhaps 10c lower than with the small aluminum stock sink with the same fan. Also run vcool and see if it likes your chipset. http://vcool.occludo.net/