I'm thinking of putting together a Micro-ATX form-factor PC to have next to my TV in the living room. It would mainly be used for films, music, emulated console games (hooray! ) and maybe the odd 3D game that suits a front room like Guitar Hero (I don't have any other consoles like a PS2 or xbox).

It would need to be if not silent, then almost silent. Things like wireless network I don't need as my router is only about 3 metres away. Thing is, I have no real experience with small form-factor or quiet components, the only thing I have built so far is my huge monster gaming PC where size and noise weren't really an issue.

So cool-running CPU, small but quiet CPU fan (a huge Zalman modern-art sculpture would be quiet, but wouldn't fit in the case), average graphics card, ideally passively cooled, and a DVD drive. HD space isn't that important as content that takes up a lot of disk space can be streamed from the PC upstairs.

Any ideas?

Might want to consider mini-itx.

Possibly. As I probably implied with the first post, I've not really done much research into it yet.

Starting with somthing like this: http://www.microdirect.co.uk/( ... i-Aluminium-Barebone.aspx

..although that's only an example. Any and all of the components can be different, but it gives you an idea of the kind of form-factor.

Yea, definitely Mini-ITX is something to look at. There are quite a few fanless motherboards with integrated 1+ Ghz chips if you're not looking for performance. I use that as my carputer.

I do want a *bit* of performance. Obviously we're not talking Crysis here, but it should be able to run something like LFS.

In that case, you're going to need a graphics card... and at the very least, that's one fan in your system (and it could get loud too when you're USING it.) Unless you shoot for one of those silent, passive cooled cards, but those are expensive and take up more room than you'll likely have in a small case like that. Plus that only means you'll need more case fans (tho those will likely still be quieter than the GPU fan.) It's difficult to go silent and have power. Either that or get a P182 case, or some other silencing case (though those are just a tad larger, lol.) Actually, maybe they make mini-atx silent cases...

well im building one for my dad ill take some photos when im done
case
Tt Mozart SX（VC7001SNS
cpu cooler
Tt 火星9(A3085)

nvida GFX card 256m and a standard gigabite motherboard and a q6600 cpu for multitasking so he can watch tv and burn at the same time

I'd got for an Antek NSK3480 case, amd or intel micro atx board (as long as it doesn't have any fans on it), Scythe Ninja cpu cooler, a Western Digital Greenpower harddisk, and a midrange gfx card that accepts the Arctic Cooling Accelero S1.

Buy some very low speed fans (Scythe sells them) and you can get away with fans <1000rpm. That'll be a capable and quiet system!

I like the look of that Accelero S1 cooler. I take it you'd need more exhaust fans than inlet fans (most small form-factor cases don't seem to have an inlet fan anyway) in order for it to suck air in the back properly?

It depends on the chosen components. If you'd get a 8800GT graphics card, it would need some airflow over the Accelero S1 cooler, any 500+rpm fan will do, and there should be just enough breathing space to slap one on. You can pretty much rule out any PCI / PCIe addon cards though then, but most things are on board anyway eh?
For a 7600GT type card, they are less hot, so you would never have to bother.

The Scythe Ninja is one hell of a cpu cooler that you can't beat at its price. The new Western Digital Greenpower series harddisks are the quiettest (at no real big cost of speed) drives available up to 1000GB.

If you then buy three of these:
http://www.pccasegear.com/prod3489.htm
or these:
http://www.pccasegear.com/prod6023.htm

with one going in the back of the case as exhaust, one going on the Ninja cpu cooler, and one stuck to the graphics card Accelero S1 cooler.. Thats all you need, it will cool anything dualcore and up to a 8800GT with ease. No front intake fans will be required.

The powersupply that comes with the 3480 case is high quality, and fairly quiet.. If after this build you'd still want less noise, you can consider upgrading it to a Seasonic S12 model (430Watts is plenty)..

I think you'd be verry happy with the performance and silence of such a system..