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On 08/08/2012 17:54, Joseph Fry wrote:<br>
<blockquote
cite="mid:CAAJE3StP3_GzGCZgOKVC0PFFesMTk5LtD+edF0pkHakVS21+cw@mail.gmail.com"
type="cite">
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My question is, Is there any good reason why the main
frontend should be<br>
a different machine (to the backend and network server) or
can I have<br>
them all in one quiet attractive box that lives on the
book case?<br>
</blockquote>
<br>
</div>
Well that's the real question. Can you fit everything in one
quiet attractive box that lives on the book case? There's
always going to be tradeoffs. Small and quiet means poor
cooling, which means you need much more expansive laptop-grade
hardware to get the same performance and storage. Quiet and
inexpensive means you're going to have to go big, to have
large heatsinks and large, slow fans, which are going to make
"attractive" difficult. Small and attractive is easy, but then
you end up with a vacuum cleaner in the corner of your room.<br>
<br>
You can do it, sure. However, many users find it is cheaper
and quicker to split the two (or more) boxes. It's
significantly easier to make a computer silent against the
background of a TV, and turn it off when not in use, than it
is to make it silent against a quiet room. There is always the
third option of using a loud old machine in your garage, or
other convenient room, and running audio/video/ir to your
television remotely.</blockquote>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>There is no reason not to combine the two, just be careful
with your component selection. </div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>A good case with great thought to airflow is key... I like
the Silverstone GD04/05 if you want something that is shallow
enough to sit with the rest of your equipment. These cases
use 3 large 120mm+ fans blowing cool turbulent air into the
case for great cooling. The fans don't need to spin fast to
cool well, so get a fan controller or wire them to run on 5V
to keep them quiet. Coupled with a low thermal load CPU
(<= 65watts) and the Silverstone fanless heatsink (remove
the shroud) recommended for that case, and you can have a very
quiet system. Use an SSD for your system drive/database so
that your media drives can spin down when not in use; and buy
quiet 5400RPM drives for your media. A bit of sound deadening
pad on the panels of the case to help kill any vibration can't
hurt either.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Odds are, the fan on your projector will be louder than
your system if you plan it properly.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>A visit to SPCR (<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.silentpcreview.com/">http://www.silentpcreview.com/</a>) is recommended...
the folks there are all about keeping computers quiet.</div>
</div>
</blockquote>
<br>
Thanks for the feedback everyone.<br>
<br>
Food for thought while I'm on holiday. I'll get out the credit card
when I'm back.<br>
<br>
Damian<br>
<br>
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