I found that the older the computer gets the noiser it becomes. I have three computers in my house. Mine which is brand new and the most powerful. Its 2.8GHz with HT and I bought in in June and from Dell. Its quite quiet except for the processor fan which sounds like a small fan. Then there's my brother's bought in 2000 I think, I just remember it was when The Mummy Returns came out. It now sounds like my air conditioner. Then there's my sister's which was bought in 1995! The processor fan together with the inter-changeable HD slot's fan, it sounds like a vaccum cleaner and works like one too because its now full of dust and is emitting alot of heat like and oven! My brother's is also hot but feels like a radiator. Mine's as cool as the room expect for the processor which is emitting alot of heat. The GPU isn't really hot except when I play games. I've also been wanting to reduce noise because I don't want to let my mother know I'm playing too much games...lol!