Good news! I just ordered the Silverstone GD05 case. Hopefully, it'll be in by next week. I think Windows disables a lot of the software features for sound with a digital output. For bit-perfect output you even lose volume adjustment. Does a USB DAC have the same issues as optical out? For the CPU c...

This time around I'm going to try the optical out from the motherboard and see how my AV receiver handles the input. Maybe I won't need anything else. For a case, I'm actually pretty happy with the mATX options and their sizes. The 21.5L Silverstone is a SPCR editors' choice, and it has nearly every...

Thanks again for the help. I'm planning on a micro ATX board because I don't need the extra slots of full ATX. Mini ITX is a possibility - it has room for a video card but nothing else. Will I want to add another card in the future? In one of my old computers I had a sound card and I used a NIC once...

Yes, I guess it will be a gamble with speedfan on the ASRock board. Since I also have an i7 available I am considering maybe using that instead. Do you of any good mATX motherboards for the 1155 socket? Which other brands do you think make really good cases? I'm deciding between the Fractal Design N...

As for the motherboard speed controls, I found this ASRock program that can control fan speeds. It doesn't seem to have the advanced options that the Asus utility does. The downside is that the Asus mATX motherboard for X79 chipset is $70 more but doesn't have any more features I need. Can Speedfan ...

Hello, I'm in a similar situation as you. I'm trying to a build a powerful PC is a small, quiet case. There are a few options for reducing hard drive noise on this thread - http://www.silentpcreview.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=8240 According the SPCR case recommendation page, your case is 48L in size...

Thanks for the advice at the Fractal Design cases. The Node 605 may work for me. It's downsides are that it's the bigger than the Lian Li and Silverstone cases I mentioned. Also, it requires slim optical drives. Lian Li cases look good (in pictures), and I thought that they were built well based on ...

Case: Do you have any experience with Lian Li horizontal cases? I'm looking at the Lian Li PC-C50 and the Silverstone GD05 cases right now. By padding do you mean acoustic dampening foam? Does it make a big difference for noise (and heat?) and if so, is it hard to find it and cut it myself? RAM: Tha...

Hi everyone, I got lucky and got a Xeon E5 chip (95W TDP) from work, and I'm looking to build a quiet PC with it as a gift to myself for the holidays. I could use some help filling in the missing pieces. I'm listing below what I'm planning to get along with a few items where I need help deciding. Mo...