I needed a card with DisplayPort for my Dell U2711 (an incredible monitor that prefer compared to two 24") and first bought an XFX 5670 card, but that proved to noisy for me. So I just got the Powercooler Go Green 5750 which is wonderful. I does seem expensive at $170 (NewEgg), but that huge cooler ...

I would upgrade to a DH57JG + i3 530 for the NAS and run it with a pico PSU, you should get idle usage in the mid 20s (+harddrives). It will simply make for a more flexible system that can do more for you. Four SATA means you may be able to hold off buying an addin card, thus further saving on the p...

Hard to beat a Mac Mini at that price even if you have to install Win 7 too.

I am doing exactly that (also have a Benchmark DAC) and my parts are on the way. I decided to get an A-tech 2500 enclosure though you may dislike the price. Other than that I will be running an i3 530 on the Intel DH57JG motherboard and a 40Gb Intel SSD so no moving parts. I will have a secondary us...

The big advantage of the SSD, at least for desktop use, is the reduction in latency. Faster throughput is nice, but I think this is more of a benchmark issue. So go ahead with the existing "slow" drives. I am waiting for availability of the DH57JG motherboard and will then use a 40Gb Intel SSD as th...

The Fortress FT02 is a great case if you are OK with the size (it is huge) and weight (heavier than I thought it would be). It does look fantastic though and I loved working with all that space after an HTPC build in the Grandia GD04 (the limited depth of that case makes it hard to fit the cables we...

I was OK paying the extra $30 since I wanted to have USB3 moving forward (having to install an extra card is a hassle). I am OK on power consumption at 52W AC idle (CPU is an i5-660), but I am using a 650W PSU (Seasonic X-650 for the quality) which is gold rated but if cause not with ideal efficienc...

I would think that a quad-core would be useful if you want a good VMV machine (at least one that can use 16Gb). The Q9xxx are not much more expensive that the E8xxx. The i5-750 and S1156 motherboard will give better performance for similar cost if you can wait a little, I have found that the Nehalem...

http://www.atechfabrication.com/product ... k_3500.htm

13" deep and 5 1/4" high (33 x 13 cm) with uATX motherboard and regular PSU. Nice looking, but you pay for it (no mention of budget except the concern over PicoPSU prices).

Get the Mac Mini anyway, upgrade the RAM (apple overcharges) and possibly the HD (same thing). Install whatever version of Windows you want (keeping the dual boot or just wiping OSX). They will love the small size - particularly when travelling - and the fact that it makes almost no noise (my unders...

I was in your situation three years ago, wanting a quiet PC and not having much experience. I bought the white Sonata (called the designer now with a bigger power supply) and can recommend it. The harddrive suspension is great and the composite panels seem to keep the noise out well. I am running a ...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6813130206

The MSI Diva (above is with 5-channel amp, you can also get it with pre-amp). Has all the outputs you need and 780G should be plenty.

Not inexpensive though, but that is mainly because of the extra audio capabilities.

Another vote for splitting the system in two. You can then get a smaller and better looking case for the living room (ideally with a amall solid state disk) and then put as many drives as you need in a server box of your choice (I am partial towards the Antec Sonata Silver since the elastic spring H...

Why do you wan to move away from the two-box solution when this will create so many problems? Would it not be simpler to but a compact and good looking box for the equipment rack (I like the look of the A-tech products) and just use a solid state drive for that. The A-tech solutions have no fans at ...

I really liked the size and quietness of the Mac Mini, but felt building a PC system would give better value from a price/performance standpoint. I'm looking for something similar to the above specs, but just as quiet (if not quieter) than the mac mini, while being as small as possible with at leas...

http://www.atechfabrication.com/products/mini_client_2500.htm will force you to find a mini ITX motherboard but you can fit full size graphics cards. The price combined with the need for a slimline Bluray player may give cause for concern though. But you will need some pretty fancy Hifi to not make ...

Is the AMP available as some sort of PCI card or so? No, the amplifier board will only work with this board (the D2 chip is on the motherboard). But don't rule the board out just because you want nVidia graphics. I would think that you could put an 8400 passive board in and simply not run the built...

Read the article here about the AMD Maui. That seems like a great choice if you plan on getting a new amp anyway. It does have integrated graphics, but you can add a dedicated card anyway (I like the idea of waiting for the 40nm ATI series). But it does limit your CPU choice given the present MSI bo...

Is it really worth putting an aftermarket cooler on an old low-end card (I think it is low-end) when you can get a passively cooled 4350 for less than 50 bucks?

I agree with you here the 7.1 preamp board seems a bit useless to me. I actually find this an extremely useful option even though my short term plans are to just run 5.1. You can get some excellent active speakers now which are great compromises between quality and size. My plan this summer is to c...