After much deliberating I'm going ahead with a Gaming HTPC Build that I want to be as quiet as possible.

Case

Silverstone Grandia GD08 or Lian Li PC-C60

The Lian Li seems a bit easier to use but is more expensive.

PSU

Seasonic X-460

Seems like a no-brainer

CPU

Intel i5 3570S or i5 3470
Or is there a better Sandy Bridge CPU which will be good for gaming yet quiet and relatively low power?

GPU

ASUS GeForce GTX 660 Ti Direct CU II 2 GB

Seems like the quietest card around that will be more than adequate for 1080p gaming.

Motherboard

No idea!
I want to be able to run the case fans as quietly as possible.

CPU Cooler

Corsair H40
Noctua NH-L12 Low Profile CPU Cooler

Others?

RAM

8GB of whatever is best for the Motherboard?


Case Fans

Scythe Slip Stream 140mm ??



I'd greatly appreciate any help you can offer, it's my first build.

Get an Asus board, the fan control is very good. The Z77 chipset has all options. If you don't overclock (non-K CPU) the H77 chipset has everything but overclocking. Z77 boards are more expensive, but have more ports (USB 3.0, SATA) and some have wireless on board.
Which board to get depends on what other cards you need to plug in: Sound card, TV tuner, etc.
ASUS P8Z77-V is packed with features, but expensive.

Idle power is very low for ALL Ivy Bridge CPUs and load power non-OC, too.
Get the i5 3570K.
If you ever need more power, you can overclock (on a K CPU), if you don't the price premium to 3570 is very small. The 3570k has the HD4000 graphic, which by itself is unremarkable, but Intel Quick Sync speeds up video recoding and uses the integrated graphics. The HD4000 in the 3570K is faster than the HD2500 found on most other chips.

Good card, quiet out of the box.

1600MHz is enough, I recommend Corsair. G.Skill is good, too.

The GD08 and the C60 both look good if you look at the front, only the Lian Li looks good from the side (->see WAF).
Neither case has good fans.

How many hard drives and which size (2.5" vs. 3.5") do you want to use?
I'm going to retire the last 3.5" drive in my desktop soon. In a HTPC I wouldn't want a single 3.5" drive. Installation of 2.5" drives is easier in the Lian Li and it fits 6, Silverstone only fits two 2.5". The Silverstone is sturdier and if you must (re)use 3.5" drives it will be quieter.
I would recommend a SSD (Intel, Crucial or Samsung) for the OS and a 1TB 2.5" drive for storage. WD makes a 2TB 2.5" drive, the height is 15mm instead of 9.5mm for drives up to 1TB.

Both are pretty big, which is good because you can fit a big cooler.

Neither.
Noctua C12 and C14 fit.
A Scythe Grand Kama Cross fits, keeping the fan on top only makes sense in the Lian Li with the top fan hole open. You can put the fan in the side of the case so it blows across the heatsink.

No, neither case is suited for a fanless PSU. A fanless PSU needs room above for the hot air to rise. Get a Seasonic X-560 instead, the fan won't start until you run a game (or stress test both CPU and GPU) and will be quiet even then.

I use Slipstreams, too.
Noiseblocker NB-eLoop look interesting, 120mm only for now and no reviews out yet. 140mm version will come out next year.

Are you going to cram the case into a entertainment center enclosure with limited ventilation or will it be out in the open air? That'll make a difference on the cooling choices.

Thanks for such fantastic help, I really appreciate it.
Things are much clearer now.

I will initially put a 256GB SSD in it (probably a Samsung 830), maybe a 2nd one later.
If I can avoid HDD use I'll be happy.
A 2.5" 1TB Drive may be a decent idea though.

WAF isn't a huge issue with the obscene amount of Hi-Fi in our living room but the nicer the better
The only card I would add later would be a sound card.

Maybe the Lian Li would be the better option?

You're welcome.
For 2.5" drives Lian Li C60 is the better choice.
I always exclusively choose Lian Li, my opinion in this matter might be (more than) a little biased. Unless you're in Japan and willing to spend upwards of $300 you can't do better, imho.

It'll be in this rack so reasonably open:
http://www.clearlight-audio.de/content/ ... Rack_E.pdf

Ah - the invisi-rack The image/link failed to post. Your PC will use ~290W AC at full stress load assuming 90% PSU. So, don't plan to stack anything on top of it If you have plenty of room around it for easy airflow, you can just do some fan-fu to tune it for quiet/cool running. Build the system and then tweak. Remember that it can be quieter to have more fans running slowly than fewer fans running faster.

+1 on Boost's suggestions. You might consider MSI's 660 Ti as well. The Asus card might be a bit quieter out of the box, but MSI has better VRM cooling and you can tweak the fan profile with their Afterburner utility. I like Asus mobo's fan control. Pick the one with the features you want and nothing more. The more they "...and the kitchen sink" motherboards, the more useless idle power is added.

I'll have a closer look at the ASUS P8Z77-V boards to see the differences between the LX, LE,Pro versions.
I don't think I need anything special apart from fan control, I'll only use a GPU and Sound Card.
What else should I look for?

Can you see the rack now?

It'll be on the bottom shelf.

W.r.t the GPU, is it worth getting the likes of the Asus or worth considering replacing the cooler on it or another model with something like the Accelero Twin Turbo II?
How easy is it to install?
How much better than the Direct CU II cooler?

Get the 660Ti DCII. The cooler on the is one of the better coolers and it is quiet. The cooler has some headroom left, a custom fan profile should be the first consideration.
How much money do you save on a different card? On the egg the Asus 660Ti is $309 while the cheapest are $299. $10 for the DCII cooler is a good deal.

If the cooler is too noisy for you, swapping a Accelero Twin is not hard (Asus card as exaple):
Four screws hold the original cooler, four nuts in the Accelero's base plate at the right holes and four screws to secure it.
The Accelero is better, no doubt: It is a lot bigger, it covers three slot and has larger diameter fans so it better perform better. Will it make a difference? Probably not, fan profiles are often limited to 30% speed for the fans. Idle mode there will be little difference between DCII and Accelero Twin. When you run a game the game will be louder.

I've been reading lots but there's a few things I'm not completely sure about so here are more dumb questions:



In this image I can see the 2 standard fans which I should replace with Scythe Slip Stream 140mm (500 or 800rpm) or Be Quiet! Silent Wings 2 and I presume, add an additional one on the right.
This fan next to the PSU should be mounted as an exhaust fan I trust, Is that as easy as I imagine, just have it mounted the 'other way round' from the case perspective? What about the cable?



Here I can see the Optical Disc Cage and the HDD Cage, if I fit a BD player on the Left Hand Cage, can I fit one or two 2.5" SSDs in the same cage and remove the right hand HDD cage to improve air flow.



Here the PSU (same as my intended one) is mounted so that air is blown out the case (if I've correctly understood), shouldn't it be the opposite that the fan pulls cool air in from underneath the unit due to the gap the feet allow?


Thanks again for the advice, I'm getting there, I just want to be sure of everything before ordering and going through with it.

You should reverse the stream indicated in pic 1. Otherwise you would risk pushing the hot cpu exhaust air right against the back of the GPU.

CPU-side fans = exhaust, PSU-side fan = intake. If you mount the PSU fan facing outside, i'd remove the last slot cover, but measure temps first, might not be necessary.

Thanks a lot.
Does anyone know about the HDD cages?

How much of a difference to noise will the likes of the Scythe Slip Stream 140mm (500 or 800rpm) or Be Quiet! Silent Wings 2 make compared to the stock fans?

The Lian Li 140mm fan runs 1000RPM @ 12V. At 7 V they're reasonably quiet. Scythe is better beQuiet even better than Scythe. Lian Li's fans aren't so bad I would check their sound level first, before buying new ones. Noiseblocker nb-eloop 140mm will come out next year and might be worth an upgrade.
I would keep the airflow as it is. One intake fan on the left one out on the right.
You could saw a hole in the bottom to pull fresh air in. I would only consider it if the case has no breathing room to the left or right on the shelf where you put it.

Thanks boost, there will be space on each side so hopefully that's ok.

Is there any reason to get the full ATX board instead of this one?

I only want a single GPU and at most a soundcard.

IMO, the depth of that LianLi case makes it difficult to use. 41cm is the cited dimension, and your rack has shelves that are 44.5cm for the top and 40cm for the others (afai can tell). You'd be surprised how much extra room connectors on cables take up... though the openness of the rack makes it easier to handle, that centeer back post could get in the way of some things. But 41cm is still shorter than some other ATX HTPC cases. I haven't found any that are really shallow, say 14" or so, like a few mATX cases.

Not sure why you're going with ATX, tho, with just 2 slots to be used. Any number of mATX boards (including some Asus Z77) would give you the same functionality. Then you could go with much shallower, easier to fit cases like the Lianli PC-C60B or Silverstone GD05/04.

I think he is using the C60.
I'm using the exact board you linked, it's an excellent board. I chose it because I need a mainboard with the video card in the slot closest to the cpu, to fit the graphic card cooler and all the cards I need (VGA, Sound and RAID).
The P8Z77-V costs 30€ more and has wifi and two extra sata ports. If you need either it's a good buy.
If there's an ATX board that has the features you need (dual lan, more sata ports, wifi, etc..) you should get the features on board, buying add in cards is more expensive than getting the board with the features you need. If the micro ATX board has all the ports slots, etc.. you need, go for it.

Typo... I meant C50.

Hi Mike,

Front of the shelf to the back post is 50cm with another 9cm to the wall (more if needed), I would hope that 10cm would be enough, especially as I'll only have an ethernet cable,HDMI cable and an XBox wireless gaming receiver. I choose the PC-C60 over the PC-C60 due to larger fan slots and the fact that it gives me more flexibility when it comes to GPU length, the card I intend to buy is just under 270cm so should just squeeze in but wouldn't be possible in the Pc-C50.
Do I have that right?

mATX definitely makes sense, less expensive and better airflow too I guess?

Thanks for your help.
Cheers
Denis

Thanks Boost,
Getting that board will save me CHF70, will make much more sense.

I've ordered the following:
Lian-Li PC-C60 Case
2x Be Quiet! Silent Wings 2 140mm case fans
Seasonic X-560 PSU

Really unsure about the CPU Cooler, it looks like it may make more sense to go for the NH-C14 instead of the Scythe Grand Kama Cross as the Scythe will possible be too big for the motherboard (Asus 8Z77-M PRO).
Checking compatibility with the NH-C14 states that "Possible compatibility issues with video cards that have large protruding components at the back."

I don't think the ASUS DIrect CU II 670 has any protruding components....

Those are the same cases I was looking at. I still don't know which to choose. The SilverStone seems a little cramped but I like the front better and that it has external filters is a plus. I seen a build video (see below) with the GD08 and the optical drive just barely plugs in because the CPU cooler fan (Noctua NH-L12) is right next to the back of the optical drive. I don't know if its just the hardware he was using or all coolers and optical drives will have this issue. The Lian Li seems to have more room but then if you want to clean the filters you have to open up the case and unscrew the fans to get at them plus it only has 2 fans. I don't know if a third fan will fit behind the drive cage as an exhaust.

I wish I could find more build logs or videos with these cases.

Here is the video with the SilverStone GD08
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... -O4#t=418s

Here is one with the Lian Li PC-C60
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xboFc5gj ... ure=relmfu

I picked up the Lian Li PC-C60. I will probably get the ASUS P9X79 mobo to go along with it. I was also looking at the Noctua NH-L12 CPU cooler. It's a perfect fit but I don't think you can use up all 8 slots.