Quality, inexpensive case fan.

I have an old P4 with a pcie Radeon 9250 (256MB) in it I would like to extend the life of so my son can play MMOs with me.

I see an Nvidia 8600 pcie x16 (ver 1) card that should be much faster and does not require a pcie power cable. I figure it should let him play most of the games I play at medium-high instead of the absolutely lowest settings (if at all). The 8600 has a larger heat sink/fan and I am concerned about heat in the old case. It doesnt even have a case fan, it relies on the CPU cooling tower fan to blow air out the back vent or the PSU to pump hot air out the back.

I would like to put a fan on the back vent to pull more hot air out but I dont really know which brands/models are relatively inexpensive yet still reasonably quiet and push a good amount of air. I read fan specs, but then the reviews complain that the fans are really either louder, dont spin as fast or dont push as much air as the spec. Anyone have some recommendations for me? I would prefer clear or blue LED so when the P4 finally dies I can put it in the side of my antec 900 case.

OK! No problem. The first thing to determine is the size of the opening on the rear panel. You would need that measurement to determine what size fan could be installed. You would also need the same measurement for the opening on a side panel.

Please post the size or diameter of the two openings. If the width or diameter is about 4 inches, then it's designed for a 120mm case fan. There are other size fans too.

For information about quiet reliable case fans and other quiet components check out this web site:

http://www.silentpcreview.com

Here's a link to the specific page with quiet case fan recommendations:

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article63-page2.html

Personally I use the Scythe S-Flex series that is on the recommended list.

Above all else remember that the term quiet is subjective rather than objective. One person's quiet case fan is another person's jumbo jet engine on take off.

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ShtBrix - Nice link. I added it to my bookmarked references. I see they like the Scythe S-Flex series too.