Advice on quiet case / PSU etc. please

A couple of years back I bought a base unit off Ebay. To cut a long story short the seller disappeared and the unit would shut off after 5mins due to overheating.
After some advice I got some Arctic Silver thermal compound and fitted a new heatsink and CPU fan combo. My first time - but it worked out o.k. and machine was / is stable.

BUT
The whole unit is super noisy and although I do fancy a new Core 2 Duo based PC, I am trying to economise. What I'd like is recommendations for a new case + PSU and whatever case fans I should get extra with it. I think the heatsink and CPU fan is o.k. so not too worried about replacing that.
Don't want to spend more than

I am eyeing up a new PSU as well, and again I'd like it to be quiet. Whilst I haven't bought it yet, so can't recommend it, I do like the look of this one or something similar.

Take a look at some Antec case+PSU combos, they'll fit into your budget nicely. Most quality PSUs these days that are actively cooled (fan\s) are whisper quiet anyway, and the cases are well ventilated and cooled (front, rear side etc (though not all fans are included)).

examples:
http://www.overclock.co.uk/product.php?productid=11069697&cat=426&view=rel
http://www.overclock.co.uk/product.php?productid=11069696&cat=426&view=rel

However. When you say you would like a core 2 duo - if the chances are high that you would build a new system from scratch in the future, then imo you should buy a bigger specced PSU now so it allows headroom for future system upgrades - the warranty on a well specced PSU will cater for this nicely. Though, as always, this will come at an increased price; probably nearer to

Edited by deleted (Mon 20-Nov-06 16:12:38)

For the PSU I would recommend the Antec TruePower II. Apart from being very quiet, they also have special 'fan only' molex connectors which are 5v instead of the normal 12v. I also have a Thermaltake Tsunami Dream case with 2 x 120mm fans (1 front, 1 rear) which are both connected to the 'fan only' molex connectors and spin at about 900rpm.

Overall the system is very quiet. I can leave the system on at night and apart from hard disk activity, the noise level is acceptable.

I'm sitting at my desk at the moment and i've got two tower systems under here, both with Antec PSU's and a total of 7 fans and 6 hard disks and it is surprisingly quiet.

If you could prehaps stretch the budget a bit, you could get this:

ThermalTake Soprano VB1000BNS Black c/w 2x case fans
Antec TruePower 2.0 380W PSU

i've always liked the antec sonata as a quiet case/psu combo. looks good and has great build quality too.

the only thing i'd recommend is a second 120mm fan if one isn't provided and a controller than can leave the fans on for a short while after the system is powered down to move the hot air out of the case.

Thanks for the advice all - I will probably go with the Sonata case, though there seems to be a few reports of the PSU causing trouble over at Ebuyer?
I probably won't be building myself a Core 2 Duo though RiffRaff - I'm too scared, so won't try and futureproof the case. I might even go to the darkside and get an iMac.
I guess I need to get a 120mm extra case fan for the Sonata too?

Well I plumped for the Sonata II case in the end. My first attempt at poking around in a case and was a bit stressful (screwdriver slipping whilst trying to screw in the motherboard!).
All is up and running now happily - it's fairly quiet overall but still noticeable, I think I was expecting a little less noise. I think my CPU fan is super noisy so may investigate it a little and see if I could maybe replace that and tinker around with the other bits and bobs.
Anyway - the noise is low enough for me to get back into using the PC for audio work - so job done.
Thanks all.

Just disconnected the CPU fan - it was that making all the noise, but obviously it runs too hot now. Will probably look for a quieter alternative. Zalman do some quiet ones don't they?