New to the board, but not new to a silent pc. I have had my pc noise less than ambient for 10+ yrs (engineers love to fiddle with stuff).

Here is my criteria, most important first:

1 - Power (I really want a core 2 duo or something close in performance)
2 - Size (Ideally something small, a microATX would be best)
3 - Ultra quiet, near silent (think I can get there with good heatsinks, fans, fan controller)
4 - Sleek, something very sharp!

I need a pretty good video card, but nothing specatular (its not a gaming system, but I do have some graphics apps). Id like to get this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16814125025m but not sure if its going to work with a microATX too well. Any other thoughts?

So....what is a good case, mobo, vid card, and power supply (I would guess modular for me)? Will I have problems with hd and heat? It has to be ultra reliable. I think I just need a single optical drive and single hd (although room for a second would be nice). I think the case is going to be the big sticking point for me...as always (great looking, compact, cool)

Money isnt too much of an object, I want the best stuff (within reason!). If I can put it together for ~$1,000-1,500that would be nice though!

EDIT : This looks like it may be a winner
http://www.silverstonetek.com/products-sg01Evolution.htm

How much storage do you need? You can make your system a lot more quiet by using a 2.5" drive.

Thats a good point, but I will take the hit on the hard drive cause I really need the performance and size.

Problem with these small microATX form factors is getting a decent vid card in there I think? Even if you can fit, it will prob block a pci port...leaving you down to just one pci.

The other major prob is a lot of them come with their own power supply and I fear it will either be too loud or underpowered? For example, I like this one...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811163070, but worried about the PSU. Also, I think there is a new power connector for some mobos and not sure about compatability with that too...such a pain.

Can anyone shed some light on how to deal with this?

OK, IF everything will fit in that case, here is your build:

Case: SG01-E
CPU: C2D E6300
RAM: ?Corsair?
GFX: 7600GT SilentPipe
HDD: WD 5000KS
M/B: Asus P5L-MX (subject to change)
PSU: Seasonic S12-380

I would pretty much agree with all of that

Only problem is...I really want this case now!
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811163070

Problem is...dont know if it will get too hot for a core 2 duo and if I get it quiet enough with the stock propriety size fan. Maybe that is too much of a PITA and I go with the suggestion about. Cept I was leaning towards the foxconn board since the reviews were a little better on newegg.

Doesn't accept ATX PSU, also questionable if standard GFX card will fit.

Exactly. I think I can find a graphics card for it...but the PS is a real problem since I dont have many options if its too loud (does this have the 8pin CPU connector). My major concern is heat for a core 2 duo.

AFAIAA the Core 2 Duo only needs the 4-pin +12V connector? You shouldn't be concerned about the heat from the C2D, the E6300 will probably top out at 44W which is pretty low really.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16813186103

That is the board I was considering, and it has a 8 pin CPU connector. Also, I was considering the E6400, but that should be pretty similar to the E6300. How do you know if the stock PS on the ML01 has an 8 pin connector?

If I run this system I would suspect its pretty low power...in that case can I just turn the the PS fan down very low or even off?

If you look at the images of the ML01 on newegg showing the inside, you can see that it doesn't have the 8-pin connector. The stock PSU is likely a cheap ATX2.0 unit.



Very few good power supplies have a user-controllable fan. No fanned PSU should ever be used without its fan.

What I do is open it up and splice into to adjust the fan on the PSU. My current system has the PSU fan disabled completely (wires cut)...and has run 24/7 for a couple years. Of course, I dont have a high end vid card and is extremely efficient from a cooling perspective. While I cant say its for everyone, it can be done.

Thanks for the help on the ML01, my eye is not as good as yours for catching these things.

This might be a relevant link.
http://www.foxconnchannel.com/EN-US/ser ... -gb0000067

Good find....according to that, the core 2 duo certainly does not qualify as requiring the 8 pin connector. So maybe I can still consider the ML01 after all. Still a big question as to whether on not the PSU will be workable from a noise standpoint.

You might have a look at the C2D systems from Shuttle.

Else a pretty decent mATX motherboard is the AsRock ConRoe945G-DVI. You can always add a GFX card later on (especially if you think about gaming ). There're several positive reviews around and for the price you can't go wrong.

Cheers.