"WILL YOU SHUT THAT BL**DY PC UP!"

We've been living in a one-bed flat in Cambridge for over seven months now. My PC is in the living room, and when it's turned on it sounds like an airliner is taking off. Anne's hates the noise (and it even annoys me). Last week I was round my friend Tony's flat in North London and saw his housemate's PC. He'd recently silenced his PC using all sorts of jiggery-pokery. It was almost completely silent - fantastic!

I was convinced, and quickly ordered a big (9cm in diameter) heatsink/fan combo for my processor (as I realised my current processor heatsink/fan was the loudest thing in my PC). It's a beast.

I installed it last night. Anne was very concerned that I'd break something in my PC (as I have before when fiddling with it) but hid her stress well. (She wasn't that bothered that I'd break it, I guess, as worried that she'd have to put up with my miserable face when I did.) I sat on the armchair with the motherboard on my lap, cleaning the grime off the processor with an old toothbrush.

I fitted it all and put the PC back together. The moment of truth came and I turned it on...

I hadn't broken it - hurrah!

The PC was noticeably quieter than before - much more bearable. Of course, the next loudest thing is now the loudest thing: the fan on my graphics card.

So do I now obsessively try to eliminate all sound from my PC and spend a fortune, or do I make do with what I've achieved? The latter may be the better option at the moment, especially as we don't have much cash (from Friday we'll be paying two mortgages!) and the PC won't be in the living room when we move into our new place.

It is much quieter than it was though. I'm quite pleased. And I always enjoy poking around inside my PC - especially when my PC still works after I've done so.

This post was brought to you by the words nerd and tragic.