I'm following up on this topic:
http://forums.overclockersclub.com/?showtopic=25619

Finally had the time to open the case and see what exactly is making it far from quiet. I can hear noise omitted from these devices: PSU, CPU fan (Vantec Stealth 80mm, 21dBA) and the hard drives. I put my ear against the CPU fan to see if that's causing the loud noise, nope. Then I put my ear against the back of the PSU (where the fan is) and it is darn noisy! When I cold boot my system, the noise isn't that obnoxious, but when the system runs for around 5 minutes or so, it gets noisier.

As I mentioned in my previous post, my PSU is a Powerman FSP300-60BT. I have no documentation on this unit and can't find any specific information online like the fan's noise level (dBA) and if it's variable speed or not.

Could a PSU cause this much noise? The second loudest in the system would be the hard drives. The Vantec Stealth 80mm fan is the quietest in the system.

Any help appreciated.

The power supply unit could have a variable speed fan, and considering bootup is the highest power draw, it would heat up fairly quick. Two choices, but a new, quiet power supply, or rip it open and replace the fan with another of the same size (Have fun with wires ^-^) and make sure it blows pretty good. In a computer, the cooler the better.

The best way to confirm your thoughts is to isolate what you are trying to hear... so power off and disconnect from the mains and then unplug the molex's on your hard-drives and cd/dvd drives... maybe take out your graphics card too...

then switch on and have a more informative listen...

you can (BE VERY CAREFUL) unplug your cpu fan for a few seconds to see if that is making much noise... make sure you don't leave it unplugged for more than a few seconds...

if you want a new psu (trust me, you do) then thermaltake do a silent purepower which i've heard is very quiet... (i've got the apparently non-silent version which is the quietest fan thing in my pc when its on low-speed fan setting)

"pc power & cooling" is another company that does nice quiet psu's...
zalman probably do some (a guess)

Thanks for the replies.

As I mentioned, when I turn on the computer, the noise isn't as bad, but when the OS boots up, the noisy fan kicks in and never stops until I shut down it down. Typically, what temperature should the noisy fan be turned on in a variable speed fan? My current temperatures are 50C/CPU and 40C/case. When I first turn on the computer, I get 44C/CPU and 35C/case.

Is the fan a high CFM or is it just screwed (dirty) if it 's an old ps it might just need torough cleaning and a bit of grease /oil

http://www.moddershq.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=602