SPCR

I am attempting to build a HTPC and need it to be as quiet as possible. However, I want it to fit in and look clean in my living room so I have opted to gut an old direcTV receiver and use this as the case.

In doing so, I am facing some serious height constraints. The entire unit is about 3 inches TALL!!! I know I will probably end up opening up the PSU to work in the space, but didn't know what my options were for a low profile/quiet CPU cooler.

I'm hoping to do it on the cheap, relatively, since I will be using onboard hdmi/audio and plan on spending under $300 for the mb/cpu/psu/ram and already have the HDs.

Thanks guys!!

I forgot to mention two (maybe) important things:

Since I don't plan on doing any heavy lifting with this thing (no 1080P H.264 playback), I'm probably going to go with the smallest dual core I can find (not sure about Intel vs. AMD yet).

Also, if you aren't familiar with direcTV receivers, the entire case has small 'slits' over the top and side panels, so this may help in the cooling, but i'm not sure how much.

With a mini ITX board and low power CPU, you should be able to use a picoPSU, as long as you don't have too many HDDs.

Zotac 8200 ITX mobo + AM2 CPU / Zotac 9300 ITX mobo + LGA775 CPU / Zotac H55 ITX mobo + i3 CPU could all be possible combinations.

Have a look at these reviews for some low profile solutions:
- http://www.silentpcreview.com/mini-heatsink-roundup
- http://www.silentpcreview.com/mini-heatsink-roundup2

Can you cut a 120mm blow hole in the top (you can cover is with a FilterRight filter so that it will look factory made)

If so, you can tuck a Scythe Big Shuriken in there.

Thanks for all the advice guys! So i got my parts in the mail today... and its about 1/4 inch too tall :/ Looks like i will have to find a slightly bigger case, and maybe in the meantime have an excerpt cut out that allows the fan to stick out above the top of the case

Once I get the final build done, i'll post pictures.