My priorities
1) Quiet - not necessarily silent
2) Small
3) Powerful enough (SC2 for now)
4) Reasonably priced

My Parts
Case: Temjin TJ08E
PSU: Seasonic SS-460FL
CPU: I3-2120
MB: ASRock H61M-VS
RAM: Kingston Value 4GB 1333
SSD: Intel 320 120 GB
CPU Cooler: XIGMATEK Dark Knight S1283
GPU option 1: ASUS EAH6850
GPU option 2: HIS IceQ 6770
GPU option 3: HIS iSilence 4 6770

Some thoughts
The MB/CPU/RAM are all pretty basic with the idea that I may upgrade them with Ivy Bridge parts next year.

I'm thinking of running the CPU cooler fanless (or at least at a very low voltage - maybe with a replacement fan). I was originally thinking of going with a Prolima Megahalems or a Noctua U12-P, but those seem like overkill for a modestly powered system.

I see that the Crucial m4 is a highly recommended SSD in these boards (I think I'd want to upgrade the MB though). I'll look a little more at that, but I've heard good things about the Intel, and I believe that the 320 will get me solid performance and high reliability at a reasonable price.

As for the GPU, I'm a little concerned that it's going to be, by far, the loudest component. I like the idea of a fanless GPU, but in the TJ08E it sits right below the fanless PSU. So, I'm thinking of going with the IceQ 6770 which vents externally.

I was thinking of not using an additional case fan with the thought that it might diminish the positive pressure and the air flow through the PSU. Maybe I'm a little too paranoid about that, but I've not had a fanless PSU before.

All advice is appreciated. Thanks.

If you intend to use the loud 180mm front fan you shouldn't waste money on getting quiet parts.

Didn't look so bad to the SPCR review:

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article1215-page6.html

Some people would consider 19 dBA to be quiet and others would not. 19 dBA might be good enough for you. The referenced page describes a test configuration with a HD 5450 and the 18 cm Air Penetrator running on low/9V and producing 19 dBA of noise. The 9 volt feed for the fan can be achieved with a Zalman Fan Mate.

But when the system was fitted with a Asus EAH6850 DirectCU GPU the noise rose to 20~21 dBA.

Here is a silent and powerfull gaming system that is 11 dBa at idle:
http://www.silentpcreview.com/article1223-page1.html

I mentioned that I was looking for quiet and not necessarily silent. From what I see, I still think that can be achieved by the TJ08E.

I agree that the Puget Mini is pretty impressive, but even if you dial down all options, it's still over $1.5K. I think that's just beyond my budget.

At the moment, I'm thinking that 19dbA (or however close I can get to that) is quiet enough for me. Do you have advice on which of my components you consider to be not worth the cost, and do you have suggestions for cheaper alternatives which are still of good quality and reasonably quiet?

If the Tjemin is the issue but u like the form factor I would wait for this case
http://www.silverstonetek.com/product.php?pid=314&area=en
same internals just with a front door and 2 120s which u could replace

It is bad, really bad, at least until you undervolt it around 600rpm, and even there is still audible, but good enough for me, i can undervolt it even further close 300rpm for totally unaudible, but my temps start to raise a lot. I really wished i had an alternative fan from Noiseblocker/Scythe... this is the only bad thing about the TJ08-E, but a 600rpm still moves a good amount of air mostly out of being so big and thick.

A replacement fan such as a Scythe PWM 120mm fan would be great. It can be dialed down to "virtually silent" via PWM-control. I know ASUS boards control the CPU PWM fan very good when using FanXpert in AI SUITE.

At 9 V, the front fan runs pretty quiet:
http://www.silentpcreview.com/article1215-page5.html