You could actually go a little cheaper and get something slightly better on Tiger Direct:

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4040108&Sku=M975-5185

That way, you could upgrade to 2GB RAM as well, while staying within your budget:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820146526

BTW, both Newegg and Tiger Direct are good companies, and you should be able to return a refurbished system at either place with little problem.

EDIT: Since you're all here already, does anyone know of a cheap power supply that's really quiet? It doesn't have to do much, as I'm just putting it in an HTPC. Anything that wont start a fire is great. Thanks!kodex1717

The Corsair VX450W, $40 after promo code and mail-in rebate at Newegg. If the promo code doesn't work for some reason, then the Earthwatts 430W for $30 after mail-in rebate.

(Aside: The fans in the Rocketfish can actually get pretty quiet if you hook them up to a fan controller. Mine are practically inaudible after being reduced to half their top speed :))

I'm probably going to buy an antec 300 because it looks like a pretty awesome case. But I have an issue with how loud it might be.

I'm a fan of a really quiet PC with good cooling and I'm willing to pay for it to an extent. My current rig is near silent with a Accelero S1 + turbo module on my GPU, suspended HDDs, cut out the fan grill and put dust filters over any others to try to stop noise.

Problem is, I don't really want to mutilate my antec. My current one is a cheapo £10 case so I don't mind the fan grills being badly cut off with a cutter because I was going to replace it anyway. The fan grills were pretty thickish and I definatly noticed a drop after I removed them. Will I notice a big drop in noise from giving the antec some chopping? Because I noticed the honeycomb grills on them are alot thinner than the thick ones on my current case.death1505921

The grill on the 300 looks fairly restrictive, so I'd imagine that snipping it will help reduce noise. Cutting out those front grills will be a double-edged sword for noise reduction, though. True, you'll lessen the backpressure against which the fans work, but you're also creating an unimpeded path for noise to reach your ears. Granted if you're already using quiet fans, that may not be too big a deal, but that depends on your noise threshold. I have my front fan running at about 750 RPM, but if I leave the front case door open, I can still hear it when ambient noise is low. This is why cases with indirect airflow paths, like the P182 and Solo, make for good quiet systems.

Have no qualms about cutting up an Antec! Half the fun in silencing is in the hardware mods, and besides, it makes your case unique!

Final question will adding any foam stuff to the inside really reduce noise? I've never tried it so I'm skeptical if it will work on a steel case. Any other mods/ideas to reduce case noise? I'm going to fit it with a 650w moduler Xigmatek PSU which I've heard is pretty quiet.death1505921

Foam really doesn't do all that much for computers. There are two main reasons for adding insulation to a computer case - mass loading/dampening and acoustic absorption/reflection. The first reason applies mostly to rattly aluminum or thin steel cases, which probably won't apply to the 300. (If it does, applying aluminum roofing tape, available at places like Home Depot, should fix it.) Sound absorption would be great, except the sizes that can fit in a PC case are too small to absorb most relevant sounds. Basically, products like Acoustipack and Dynamat do an excellent job at muting high frequency noise, which isn't usually a problem with the innards of a PC. Unless you've quieted your case so much that you can start hearing coil whine from your motherboard or PSU, foam will give a minimal improvement to your PC acoustics. However, adding a block of eggcrate-style foam to the inside of a PC can break up standing waves, which can create unwelcome case resonance.

I'd recommend that before you add a side intake fan, cover it up temporarily and see how that affects temperatures/noise. It's always good for quieting to reduce the number of fans in your system. (Though, if you get that GTX 280, you just might need one!)

Last question can anyone reccomend a good quiet CPU cooler. I want one that is prefrably no louder than my stock E8400 one and will manage to get me up to around a 4ghz OC. I'm looking at the scythe ninja rev 2. Anyone else got any ideas? I don't mind paying a little premium on this, but anything over £40 might push me a little.death1505921

You can buy a Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme plus a decently quiet Sharkoon fan on scan.co.uk for about £40 after VAT, and that's probably the best air cooler that fits in most cases. You could switch that Extreme for an HR-01 Plus and save about £5, but I'm not an overclocker and I don't know how it would work for that. The Xigmatek HDT-S1283 is also a fine option, since it's close to both of the Thermalrights in cooling ability while also including a fairly good fan and costing under £25. The Ninja is a great passive cooler, but it's fallen behind the competition in terms of active cooling.

I was thinking about watercooling. Since I may get a GTX280 in a few weeks and would probably put that into the loop aswell as my CPU but im confused on watercooling as I've heard it's quieter than air, but then I've heard pumps can be loud as hell and rads require big noisy fans so IDK.death1505921

The GTX series isn't compatible with the S1, nor any other air cooler on the market right now of which I'm aware. The stock cooler probably isn't very quiet, so watercooling might be your only option for reducing its noise. However, I know nothingabout liquid cooling, so I have no advice here. A better choice for quiet gaming is the ATI 4800 series, since it's compatible with anything that fits on a 38x0 (like, say, an S1).

[QUOTE="ajkalan"]Quality brand or no, 750W is extreme overkill for an 8800GT. Assuming the other components aren't too power hungry, even a good 380W would be fine. If you aren't planning on SLI'ing them, I'd recommend a Corsair VX450W, or if you feel you must have a more powerful supply, an HX520W.WDT-BlackKat

450W is the bare minimum (and that's presuming a PSU that never delivers less than) for an 8800GT. Modern components are very power hungry though, and one likes to always plan for the eventuallity of going SLI and Crossfire. Presumably that's why he'd want at least 650 watts.

I'll revise my statement. A quality 330W PSU (like this) will comfortably run a mainstream 8800GT system. Sure, if you're planning on Crossfire/SLI, then that 600W power supply makes sense, and it might make sense to get a somewhat large supply for future single-card upgrades or other power-hungry components (like a dozen hard drives?). But my point stands that an 8800GT is not such a card.