One of the strangest, often repeated, comments that I see in forums is ?noise doesn't matter?. How could noise not matter? You point out that you can't even watch a movie on the PC and the response is?..?it doesn't matter?. Gaming?..?I'll buy headphones?. It's distracting and simply irritating?.?it doesn't matter?. If you are in the ?it doesn't matter? crew, you may as well stop reading now. However, if you value silence, or at least reasonable noise levels that don't require the need to use headphones to be near your PC, read on; there are good things in store.

Personally, I have always placed a great amount of importance on noise/performance, as well as price/performance. I own several sets of headphones, but I don't want to be forced to wear them, thank you very much. Nor do I want it to sound like someone is vacuuming in the room while I transcode a video. I certainly don't want it to sound like there is a window fan on when I sit down to watch that video, either. So, ideally, I want a cost effective cooler that offers adequate performance for my needs along with the ability to give me relative quiet. That shouldn't be too much to ask.