I've had my PC for a little while now and am looking to start upgrading it. The video card will come closer to Christmas, but I really want some better case fans. Currently, I have 2 120mm and 1 140mm case fans and they get extremely loud when I play games. They are venting the air very well, it just gets very annoying. I was wanting the duder community's opinion on the best fans to buy that run very quiet while still venting the air very well. If you recommend water cooling, let me know how easy it is to install, as I've never messed with them before.

Good air coolers can be pretty quiet these days, take a look here:

http://www.silentpcreview.com/Recommended_Fans

http://www.silentpcreview.com/140mm_Fan_Roundup2

I have a Kraken X40 closed loop on my CPU right now, it seems pretty good and is mostly silent. I can sometimes hear the pump briefly upon start up, but that noise is gone once I'm logged into Windows (about 25 seconds from boot). A little bit more mucking around was required to get it installed, but nothing crazy.

As for using watercooling to handle your case airflow? I have no idea. Hit up Lyod Case on Twitter, maybe.

Would have said Gentle Typhoon but as I'm currently having some issues with mine I'm not sure I would recommend them personally, though I guess a lot of other people like them.

A while ago I spent a lot of time creating the perfect "silent" rig and this what I ended up with. Those fans keep my mid-range system very quiet and stable (HD5770, Athlon II X3 460) without the need for software fanspeed control (which I hate).

Power-controlled (VGA, CPU) -- Enermax Cluster (120mm PWM)

http://www.amazon.com/Enermax-120mm-Cluster-Cooling-UCCL12N/dp/B00AK5UPEG

Not power-controlled (case and the power supply*) -- Scythe Slipstream 1200 @5V (via badass molex mod).

http://www.amazon.com/Scythe-Slip-Stream-120mm-25mm/dp/B000W7NGWK/

*changing the power supply fan is a really dumb idea. I did it mostly as a proof of concept.

Also the bigger the fans, the less noise it produces generally. Because the bigger fans don't need to spin up as fast to move the same amount of air. But that's only if your case can support 200mm fans.