i currently have a 1.2 gb AMD Duron at the moment and its in a micro atx case. the fan for CPU seems to be quite loud. could this be just the fact that its not a particulary good fan or would a case fan and exhaust fan help to relieve any strain this fan is under resulting in it running quieter?

By maybe introducing additonal cooling and effeicient airflow, a set-up where the cpu heat dictates the fan speed may reduce the noise slightly if the fan not having to work as hard. however, if this noise is quite new, then its more than likely mechanical. A large or even sometimes small build up of dust is usually the cause, and depending on how good you are with taking components off, you can usually just clean them with compressed air blower or similar. Check your fan and see if theres anything obtrucing or rubbing against the fins of the fan as it rotates and look for dust build-up.

its been like this since day 1 really. i thought it would be the air flow coz things are pretty tight in the case. i will get a case fan and exhaust fan and see how that works out! thanks!!

Originally Posted by scott

its been like this since day 1 really. i thought it would be the air flow coz things are pretty tight in the case. i will get a case fan and exhaust fan and see how that works out! thanks!!

if thats the case, then youll have to live with it, unless you want to start fitting 'ultra-quiet' etc cpu fans, but most of these work in conjunction with bigger heatsinks and in my opinion, so you enter the reamls of becoming obsessed with having a quiet pc

i will see if the fans help then thats it!! just need to put up with it!! thanks for your help!