Hi everybody, new here and looking for some advice.

I'm looking to set up a home linux server and I'm looking for a silent PC that fits the bill. I bought one before but it was too big, the fan was noisy, and we ended up turning it off at night (we live in a small apartment and the noise was too much.)

So basically, I'd be using it for programming, web serving, SVN, PHP, mediawiki, and FTP, just terminal based stuff. It doesn't need a graphics card - I just need to install linux in text mode initially, and then I'd disconnect the monitor. The spec can be as minimal as possible... 1ghz processor, 1 gig ram, it doesn't really matter as Linux isn't exactly a hog on resources and it's just me using the machine.

My main concern is the thing being on all the time. It has to be cool (I don't want it burning down the place) and as quiet as possible. Small would help too, the one we bought before was the size and weight of a concrete paving slab.

If anybody has any advice please let me know. I don't mind how much it costs but obviously cheaper is better.

Thanks!
Taylor

Such a server can easily be cheap, small and utterly silent nowdays... except for one thing: storage. And you didn't talk about that.
The type and amount of drives you want will determine what options you have. And the more storage you want, the harder it's going to be to keep the thing cheap and quiet.

Oh storage isn't really an issue either, 20 gigs or so would be enough. Pretty much the smallest hard drive you could buy these days. It's not going to be used for file serving or storage, just development work.

Thanks!

Well then you could just pick a fanless Atom board and pair it with a case that's designed to run fanless and includes a fanless PSU. For instance: http://www.silentpcreview.com/article1010-page2.html
You would then need a cheap SSD or even a decent USB Flash drive instead of the hard drive and your server wouldn't make any noise. Understand that such cases need some space around and especially above them to work without any fans so you shouldn't put them in a closed drawer or something. Hot air needs to be allowed to rise freely above the case.
Note that there are cheaper cases and slightly cheaper boards (some of which run cooler like the single-core equivalent) and be aware that the next generation of Atoms should be available fairly soon (it's apparently been delayed).

Do tell if you want some features that most Atom boards don't have (ECC, CPU virtualization extension and so on). There are other options but Atom boards are the cheapest and most practical if you want an x86 CPU.

http://www.logicsupply.com/products/jt_t_1610
I'd choose the 2 GB RAM option, and the cheapest Intel SSD option. Brings the total bill to $324.95 ( plus shipping, maybe ), for a system that will draw < 20W and have no moving parts.

Building something similar yourself might save a little bit of money.

Note that an Atom board like this is not a powerful computer at all. Paying more for a CULV Core 2 Duo, or an entry-level Sandy Bridge, would give you much better performance, but would involve a fan.

What sort of development will you be doing? Running a C++ compiler on a big code base takes way more oomph than bits of perl or python or whatnot, of course.

If you don't want to build, you can have more performance for less money by picking a fanless D510 Shuttle. The PC linked to above has different ports and most likely runs cooler though.

You can run something more powerful without a fan but it wouldn't work out of the box and/or be a lot more expensive. If you merely want marginally better single-threaded performance, there are affordable AMD fanless boards which would fit the bill (they also have more features than Intel's).

For a quiet, low power server the Jetway J7F2 1.6GHz Eden CN700 Mainboard - Fanless could be an alternative. It will not set any speed records, but I have an earlier versjon with a VIA C7@1.2 GHz used as mail, media, file, db etc. server and cpu power has *never* been an issue.

Pair it with a pico psu and possibly a ssd and it should be possible to keep the case cool with a single 12cm fan at low speed. Had mine in a closet in the bedroom for awhile without noticing it.

That's more expensive than most Atom boards and less powerful. What's the point?

It uses less power and if it is fast enough, well then it is fast enough.

Would you mind to furtherly discuss this claim?
http://www.jetwaycomputer.com/download/resources/J7F2-POWER-COMSUMTION.pdf isn't really clear/exhaustive to me.

According to that document, it uses a lot more power than equivalent Atom setups. If it didn't, what would be the point of using a fan?

My mistake, it seems that I was living in the past and that Atoms has gotten a lot more efficient than they was. The Via Eden Cpu used above had a 8W TDP according to the product page, while MID/Ultra-Mobile PC/Lifestyle PC Atoms are down to 3W or less (single core) according to Wikipedia.

8W is lower than many Atom CPUs but that's only because this thermal envelope often includes graphics nowadays. The actual Atom CPU has always been pretty efficient for a x86 CPU.

Regardless, whether we're looking at Atom or C7 setups, the CPU does not explain most of the power consumption. So we need to look at the chipset and so on. The first generation of desktop Atom boards sold by Intel featured really inefficient parts. The 2010 Intel desktop boards (such as the one I linked to) aren't anything to write home about when it comes to efficiency but they're decent enough to work without any fans. Mobile Atom gear (such as the D945GSEJT someone else linked to) has always been efficient enough but is more expensive.