[mythtv-users] Good Books/Websites on building computers

[Rich West]

R. G. Newbury wrote:
> Cole Brodine wrote:
>   
>> On 3/26/07, Dan Brown <dan at familybrown.org> wrote:
>>     
>>> http://www.tomshardware.com/2006/11/20/how_to_build_part_1/
>>> http://www.tomshardware.com/2006/12/04/choosing-the-right-vender/
>>> http://www.tomshardware.com/2006/12/14/how-to-build-a-pc-part-3/
>>>       
>
>   
>> Just want to second Tom's Hardware.  Their website has a lot of great
>> guides, pictures, videos, etc for building computers.  They also have more
>> advanced guides about things like overclocking, watercooling and other more
>> advanced DIY Hardware projects.  They have very good reviews of various
>> hardware with lots of good technical information like benchmarks.
>>
>> I also like to check the user pages on the Wiki to see what hardware and
>> brands seem to be working good for other people.  Tom's doesn't usually 
>> have
>> much info on Linux compatibility.  Some stuff works out of the box in Linux
>> better then other stuff.
>>     
>  > Hope my $.02 helps here
>
> www.silentpcreview.com
>
> Like Tom's Hardware but more focusd on how to do it quietly. Great 
> reviews about fans and water-cooling, discussions about air-flow in 
> cases etc. etc. Even building your own wooden case to 
> dampen/channel/restrict sound...
> If your wife doesn't want a tower server case in the TV room, how about 
> an TV stand which happens to contain a server??? Will that be in oak or 
> mahogany?

Definitely check out silentpcreview.com!  You can use them as a
reference, too.  For example, if you find something on-line that sells
itself as "Ultra quiet" or something, you can usually find a review
about it on silentpcreview.com which will tell you if it lives up to its
name (hint: if it is at a great price, there's a pretty good chance it's
not as quiet as you would like it to be).

Remember that there is a huge difference (in cost) between a "quiet" pc
and a "silent" pc, and each person falls in to a different comfort realm
with the amount of noise that comes out of their system.  Of course, the
easiest item to get "quiet" is the video card.. go for a fanless one if
you can because those little bun-fans get noisy. :)

-Rich