Need a quiter fan for my new pc-advice needed

[monel]

I've got a new pc and the fan is too loud, I'd like to replace the fan with a much quiter one, could I please get some advice on what kind of fan I need and where I can purchase it from? I'm willing to spend for quality but I hope it doesn't cost a silly amount.

My new pc has a Nvidia ECS 8100VM-M5 mother board bought in a bundle at a reduced price from Maplin and the processor is an AMD Phenom X4.

Since the system was built for me last week will there be any problems in removing the original fan (which is a good make I think, can't remember the name though) and does the new fan have to support the processor? Thinking it does.

I'm hardly an expert at this stuff I know nada about hardware so I would really appreciate some advice.

[briareos_kerensky]

Which fan exactly? The CPU or any of the system fans?
For system fans it's best to ditch 80x80 fans altogether, even if some brands like Papst produce excellent silent fans if your system can withstand a relatively low airflow.
For CPU fans you have a very large choice of products and brands, but before suggesting anything it's better to take a look inside your case and see if there are any motherboards component that could be in the way of larger heat sinks; also, if the case in not a middle/full tower you won't be able to fit large HSFs inside.

[monel]

The main CPU fan I think is the one making the most noise, I'll take a look inside and see if the motherboard space is a problem, might try and post a picture. I really would love to have this issue resolved. Thanks for replying, btw.

Oh yeah it's a standard sized tower.

[abigsmurf]

A phenom x4 puts out a lot of heat so you do a reasonable amount of cooling. How much you need depends on the airflow. Download Speedfan. Look at your CPU temp after running something CPU intensive such as a HD video or a game. If your current cooling is working well, it won't go past 75c (however CPUs are safe up until about 90c). A low temp indicates good airflow if it's using a stock cooler which means you likely don't need a cooler with a large fan (you do still need a fan with that CPU though, passively cooling a CPU like that is asking for trouble unless you know what you're doing).

Zalman do a nice range of coolers that aren't too huge and are generally quiet but be sure to check out heatsink and cooler reviews for benchmarks.

In terms of installing a new fan, it's a lot less risky than it used to be thanks to all CPUs having a heatspreader on that stop you crushing the CPU (it's still possible to do so though so don't press too hard). You'll need to wipe off any existing thermal compound after you remove the current cooler and put your own on. Arctic Silver is a good brand of thermal compound but in truth, you don't really need to spend much on it. Do not put much on, you only want to put on the absolute minimum that you need (the arctic silver website used to have guides about how to apply it). Thermal compound is not a good heat conductor and you only want just enough to provide a good contact between the heat sink and CPU.

But anyhow, try simply lowering the fan speed first. It may be stuck at 100% all the time which you likely don't need. Most modern Bios' can control CPU fan speed and you can set it at either a fixed percentage or set it to rise as the CPU temp rises (and even set the thresholds at which to do this on some). You can do this in Speedfan too but watch the CPU temp (the temp under load, not the idle temp). All motherboards will shut off if it gets too hot now but it's still not good for the processor.

[huxley]

Go with the abismurfs advise on speed fan to get a bench mark of your temps, running and idle. My advise on a fan would be to take alook at some of the Zalmen flowers. My AMD htpc runs cooler with the 120mm flower running below 1000rpm than it did with the stock cooler running at twice the speed but with almost no noise. Be sure to check the size of the fins on the cooler before you purchase as they take up a lot of space and can block access to pci sockets etc on smaller mother boards.