It's not an easy task, I tell ya. I tried to silence a computer with an epia board once, thinking it would be simple and cheap! You just can't buy quiet fans anywhere - I've got cpu, case, psu, & an extra fan to keep the HD cool. All I needed was minimal airflow, nothing fancy. Everyone can buy a 3GHz Dell that's dead silent, yet I cannot purchase fans to make a 1GHz C3 silent... So being tired of adding more fanmates, I just said "screw it, I'm wiring these fans in series." Bet that's not in your faq!
Anyways, I'll add something to it, go Toshiba for quiet cd/dvd drives & burners. I've come across 'em all, NEC, LG, Lite-On, MSI, Plextor...