6. Cooling Kit Installation, Continued

Figure 10: Completed installation
(click image to enlarge)

Figure 11: Supercase 500 with radiator fan modification.

Figure 12: Radiator and fan close-up

The water cooling kit eliminated my noise problems. The only fans that I left running in the case were the radiator fan and the fan in the power supply. It was a huge improvement. I would estimate that it brought the total system noise to about 30 decibels.

I couldn't have been happier with the results...until I put the new case next to my TV.

Figure 13: The bright blue nightmare emerges.

It turns out that bright colored cases with even brighter lights look goofy in a home theater. (Go figure.) In my excitement to build a quiet HTPC, I had completely failed to consider that the case might not look right in my living room. Sure it wasn't noisy, but somehow it still seemed to be shouting at me. I pulled the lights out of the case (a mild improvement) and went back to the drawing board. Luckily I was able to hide the case behind my television and continue to use it while I pooled my resources and decided what to do next.