After we had strung the interior of the case with the heat sensors, the HTPC underwent another stress test. The fans started whining audibly as soon as it was turned on. The noise level remained constant at 60 decibels, obviously too loud for us. A look at the BIOS and the cause was quickly found: Incorrect settings for the system fan - the default was 100%. We could hear very clearly what that meant. The fans could be throttled back to just less than 50% without stopping the blades altogether. With a considerably quieter HTPC, we started our stress test from the top again.

After we had strung the interior of the case with the heat sensors, the HTPC underwent another stress test. The fans started whining audibly as soon as it was turned on. The noise level remained constant at 60 decibels, obviously too loud for us. A look at the BIOS and the cause was quickly found: Incorrect settings for the system fan - the default was 100%. We could hear very clearly what that meant. The fans could be throttled back to just less than 50% without stopping the blades altogether. With a considerably quieter HTPC, we started our stress test from the top again.