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Case fans spin relatively slowly, they produce some noise but not the most noise.
What you need to look for are the small fans, and the fans that spin at high speed in small spaces.
- Motherboard fans
- Graphics card fans
- Potentially CPU fans (if small, or on a smallish heatsink)
The biggest benefit is usually gained from passively cooling the motherboard locations if you have space for a more CPU-like heatsink.
Then attacking the graphics card.
The graphics card is best solved by choosing one of the more recent models which will not power the fans unless you're gaming. Which means that they have hardware modules for decoding video, so even when watching a 4k film my home graphics card is still passively cooled by the heatsink.
Attack the things that move the fastest, it's the smallest fans in tightest spaces wherever those are.
Water cooling, if you're not overclocking, isn't really worth it long term. Satisfying short-term... but long-term a pain in the arse.
- Motherboard fans
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Velocio
Trying to make a PC quieter. I have a decent case, what else should I be looking at?
Power supply I guess, case fans, CPU cooler. Is water cooling worth it? Any suggestions for decent makes that are quiet given that every sodding component seems to claim it's quiet when you look at descriptions.