If you're looking for something on the cheap with DVI and spdif for HTPC, you might consider this: BIOSTAR GF7100P-M7S $65 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138101 Celeron 420 Conroe-L 1.6GHz 35W $38 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116040 Add 1G memory...

jojo, what has your experience with long term stability been like? I see you were using Firestix-R. I was using 8G Corsair Voyager GT on a system that received daily light duty work. About once a week, the flash drive would lock up solid and I would have to fsck to clean it up, resulting in lost fil...

Hi, I've been running a shuttle X100 for the last 10 months on an 8G PQI 100x CF and addonics SATA CF adapter. No problems with stability or I/O to report. I've been running Fedora linux (currently 7). I disable swap and I also disable access time date stamps on the filesystem. Primarily, I use the ...

QNAP TS-101 NAS 1 internal SATA, 1 external SATA Fanless (silent when drive spins down) Feature packed Supports RAID-1 with external SATA drive Reviewers say it can get warm if under heavy use. Mine gets light use and is cool to the touch most of the time. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?...

In the same vein as Sylph-DS suggestion. Two larger hard drives and a QNAP TS-101 NAS. Runs linux OS. Supports 1 internal SATA and one external SATA. Spins down drives when idle. Has a gob of nice builtin features and is hackable. No raid 5, but from what I've read recently, the presumed safety net ...

My $0.02 ... I built a similar system in an SG01. CPU was an AMD64 3200+ in an nvidia 6150 based mb. I used a Thermalright XP-120 instead of the XP-90. There was about 3/4 inche between the HS and seasonic s12 PSU. I used some scrap packaging material to build a duct between the HS and PSU fan. This...

NeilBlanchard, I'm a bit of a lurker. I read every day, but don't often have
much I feel compelled to say. Thanks for the welcome.

John

No particular reason for picking Easyununtu. This is my first Ubuntu install.
Hadn't heard of Automatix (until now). I'll give it a gander.

John

This case appears to be close to the same size as a silverstone sg01. I managed to squeze a Thermalright XP-120 into the sg01, but there was
absolutely no room left for a fan. So if fanless turns out not to work, you
might end up sol.

John

Start with: http://www.logicsupply.com/product_info.php/cPath/49/products_id/374 Bump mobo to Epia EN1200EG Bump DDR2 to 1G Drop harddisk Bump DVD to slot-load DVD writer Price $850 Use compact flash in place of HD http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820208050 Transcend 8G CF model ...

Looks like someone had the cajones . I didn't think fanless would be an option. Regarding fanless operation. I've achieved it by a combination of underclocking/undervolting and use of the XP-120. I've been assembling a machine I intend to use as a video server and playback device for my media room....