Hazelrah, since you are planning on running an XP Mobile and want passively cooled vid I would sugjest you take a look at the Shuttle SN41G2-V2. The onboard gForce4mx level graphics should do the job for you, and it evn offers dual-head output. If you drop in a garden variety Vantec Stealth fan and ...

The seagate in my box climbs to 40c on average. Max recomended temp for most HDD manufacturers is about 60c, so I wouldn't sweat it to much.

Sorry you had bad luck with the PSU. I am sure you will enjoy it more when you get it straightend out.

If all connections are correct and your 45 works with the stock PSU, I would say you got a faulty unit. Contact Shuttle for an RMA.

Stick with the M1A. You can use the fan speed control in the bios to reduce it's speed and keep it quiet. If temps go to high the Bios control will automaticly ramp up the fan speed. In a Shuttle if you encounter high temps, you may need the extra CFM the M1A provides over the L1A. If you are going ...

Nieko -- Can you be sure you are not hearing the 2 rather noisy drives in you rig? You can isolate the PSu noise that clearly? My Seagate is silent (except for the seek noise) the way I have it mounted. I tested for PSU noise before I installed the Raptor (going bye-bye soon!) by momentarily turnin...

i'm sorry it is kind of late now and i dont think you answered my question if i am reading it right. about how quiet is it from a meter? Can you compare it to anything? a little fan noise? wind being push? any clicking? humming? Is the modded 200 silent? or just quieter then the 250 silenx? Could y...

Cutting out the rear grill on a Shuttle is a good idea. It does improve the airflow and reuce air cavitation noise from all the sharp edges. Even though you dont have exposed fan blades as the ICE Cooler radiator is there, a wire grill is still recomended to prevent acciedntal damage to the radiator...

My box sits one meter from my head on my desktop. The SilentX250 isn't really noisy, it just isn't silent. It is less noisy than an unmoddified 200w Shuttle/Achme PSU, but more noisy than the same 200w unit modded with an ADDA 0412MS-G70 fan. I have had both, and I wish I had my 200 back.

Sounds like a good build acaurora. Personaly I avoid system fans that don't have speed monitoring, there are others out there that offer it.
If you are setting up for a PVR/HTPC machine, wouldnt you need a AIW card ??

@ RaNDoMMAI - Yes, I am certain. I have been a member of the Sudhian Forums for a long time now. They are mostly devoted to Small Form Factor in general, and Shuttle in particular. Many of our members have had to RMA machines after cutting out the back grill, and it wasn't a problem. @ IceFire - Tha...

Swap out the fan in your PSU for an ADDA 0412MS-G70, I did this in a SN41G2 and it was silent and completely stable.
The fan can be found in the UK from Ultim8pc.com, or you can get it in the US in the CompUSA Chipset Cooler Kit.

Shuttle usually doesn't have a problem with RMAs with the rear grill cut out. They simply stick a new board in your case and send it back to you.

I installed an IOSS Bios Savior that I puchased from PCmods.com, which is now sadly going out of business. The kit adds a second Bios chip that I can switch to when doing a Bios flash. This way I can use winflash to load the newest Bios for my machine without worry of a bad flash (a common problem o...

Keeping the SN41G2-V2 is actually not that difficult. If you are comparing it to a fanless VIA mini-ITX board, you are gonna be disapointed no matter what you do. A more reasonable comparison to average mid to high end systems (which is what it is) can be a very different experiance. Keeping the uni...

The SilentX in my rig is far from silent. It is fine when I first fire it up, but it quickly becomes annoying as it heats up. The SilentX 250w is quieter than the unmoddified 200w unit that came in my origional SN41G2. The SilentX is quite a bit louder than the same 200w unit that I modded with an A...