I don't recommend any of the super quiet fans that are available because I've never seen one that provided adequate air flow. Those boutique fans often don't even come close to the CFM they claim. I've searched for quieter fans from reputable manufacturers, and I've never found anything that was significantly quieter without sacrificing a lot of air flow. A properly functioning 360W shouldn't be that noisy anyway.
First and foremost, it's great to hear from you. Thank you for providing competent service to our community!
I absolutely agree with you about the MDD fans. I've watched, literally for years, as one DIY expert after another has raved about the latest boutique fan or fans they've found that somehow move as much or more air as the originals while making only half as much noise, somehow defying the basic laws of physics in the process.
I've resisted repeatedly posting negative comments about this, because everybody's always certain they have the magic solution and they really don't want to hear somebody yelling "Danger, Will Robinson" to spoil their day. It's a frustrating position to take trying to explain that:
1) Almost ANY fan(s) you stick in there will work…for a while.
2) The algorithm for how long involves BOTH airflow AND how much load is on the supply. 4HDDs, a full load of PCI cards plus an ADC Cinema Display and 8-hour days of busy 2 x 1.25GHz CPU work will kill an under-cooled PSU in almost NO time at all while occasional brief use of a 1 x 1GHz single with one SSD and a self-powered display may last indefinitely.
3) All of the variables of the different PSUs make the predictability 10 times worse.
4) Nobody wants to hear that their just-purchased, very expensive solution may actually
accelerate the demise of their PSU from "just another user", nor are they likely to run back later to post they were wrong and their PSU died a slow, painful death.
There ARE solutions to the MDD PSU noise issue but they involve stuff like "quiet boxes", extreme modifications or wireless methods of providing physical isolation of the unit. It's ironic that the noisiest PPC ever made should turn out to be a favorite among audio recordists and musicians but…
In you, we now have, finally, an real, qualified expert on these damn things. Your opinion should be seen as authoritative.
Thanks again for being here.