For my new pc, I'm aiming for quiet. A Vantec Stealth PSU, and a Zalman cooler are supposed to be quiet...and they are. But I have this fan in the window that came with the box, makes the most noise. It's being replaced soon by a QuietCat...but what about those two factory fan spots on the back of the case. Should I fill them up? Even with quiet fans?

I would myself. Without getting into to much details, if you have even 5 case fans controlled vs. 3 fans (quiet or not) at full speed it can end up quieter and better performing with the 5 because you can run at very low speed.

5 fans may accomplish more air flow at less dba than 3 that need to work at full voltage. My first Antec Aria was actually quieter/much better cooled when I added 2 120mm side fans. The "out of package" had one fan in the PSU that tried to handle it all. Was thermal controlled and would rev up heavy during use. With two additional fans turned down all the way it wasn't hardly noticable until your ear was within 1'.

Depends entirely on how much noise you're willing to tolerate...

I've got 5 Antec LED fans (~30dBa) and after installing them and running the computer for a day, I can't hardly hear them anymore - I tune them out... and turn up the speakers a little bit (or use headphones.. *shrug* )

I have a quasi-eardrum in my left ear because of my encounter with cloud to ground electrostatic energy, so the quieter the better.

I thought I'd put two vantec stealths, or two zalmans in the back panel, and have the three controlled by a 3.5" vantec nexus fan and light controller.

Any thoughts on this?

Years back, I too got an itch to fill all the empty fan slots on my Supermicro 250 case. After all, fans are cheap, and the more the better right?

It got to the point where I needed ear plugs to sit by the thing! Yup, you can quiet it down a bit by lowering the voltage either by using a controller or by using a "Pimprig" tip of connecting the fan to +12 and +5 :-).

Bottom line has to be your cooling goals. If you can cool your rig with a single fan, do it! :-) I would LOVE to go with a single "detuned" 120mm sucking heat off a radiator and water cool everything in my case. Unfortunately, that is a bit extreme given my three disk drives (water blocks on each?).

BTW, if you can, go with 120mm fans! 80mm fans have more noise per volume of air pushed IMHO :-).

I'd have to mod the acryllic, something I don't want to do, to use a 120, but a good suggestion.

If I go fans with controller, what kind...I'm going with a Vantec Nexus fan and light controller.

What kind of attention do I need to give my 2 hds? Just airflow and neg. pressure in the case is enough right?