Need your advice with Shuttle

[auricle]

Hi,

I am going to buy a new SFF computer soon to replace my old P4 system. I am looking at the Shuttle SG33G5 to run PCBSD, a FreeBSD distribution pre-configured for desktop use. The details of the SG33G5 are below:

http://eu.shuttle.com/en/desktopdefault ... ead-14126/

I like the idea of SFF because of their smaller footprint, more economica and more portable than their larger cousins. I am going for a Shuttle because they are fairly well represented here in Moscow, Russia. Other SFF designs are few and far between and very difficult to get hold of. I was also toying with the idea of a laptop, but I find it uncomfortable to type on laptop keyboards after a while and its more difficult to configure, upgrade and control the noise.

I know that Shuttle have had a bad reputation of late with noise so I am asking for your advice on how to quieten it down as much as possible.

For most of its cooling, it uses a single 92mm fan which shouldn't be too difficult to replace with a quieter version. It's the two 40mm power supply fans I am worried about. Are there any quiet(ish) 40mm fans about?

For the graphics, I am going to fit in a fanless Nvidia 7300 GS. For the hard drive, I am thinking about the Samsung HD321KJ

What do you think? Any advice will be gratefully received!