How to Silence an old system

[celliott]

I currently have an old P3 Dell SFF unit which is acting as my home server, sharing the internet, files and printers with the other PC's in the house.

I really want to try and make this silent, as I cannot afford a Router, print server and network storage to replace it, plus its easier being able to do it all from one unit.

Cooling in this system is pretty bad, cpu temps are around the 43-45c mark even when its not doing anything. The hard drive is making most of the noise as its one of those old ones that constantly makes a whining sound. This was getting pretty warm so I have fitted a extra 6cm fan in there running at some stupid rpm to help it stay cool.

I have tried many brands of hdd and it seems the only way to get a silent hdd is to buy one of the latest models, which then brings the problem of heat even more.

Whats the easiest way to get this system running quiet (so its barley noticable) and running at reasonable temperatues? Or do you think its a better idea to try and build something cheap that will run quiet?

I have a max budget of £100 for this but would like to spend as little as possible.

Any suggestions appreciated!

Thanks, Chris.

 

[celliott]

Well the PSU in this system is already silent. Its just the cpu fan and the hdd which are causing all the noise.

What sort of price am I looking at for the Quietdrive?

 

[celliott]

I must admit I do like the idea of having the server in another room but there isnt anywhere else it could go really, and I would have to move the printer too since its USB only.