Synopsis
John Argus and I have decided to do some hardware hacking. The hope is that we can build a slow but completely silent, linux-based file/web server for relatively little money. We'll keep track of the progress on the project here.
Comments
McQ: Oct 4, 2006
I don't know enough about this! As far as I can tell from browsing the web, AMDs are better for underclocking, which we will likely want to do. I'm not really worried about the hard drive(s). I know some are quieter than others, but my current PVR has a drive in it that I never hear, so...
I am worried about the PSU though. It sounds like everyone uses ones with fans in them.
jnargus: Oct 3, 2006
The CPU is a good place to start. It will help us limit the mobo choices which will determine ram choices. If we go with a mobo with everything built in (LAN, Video, Sound, etc) we can ignore most other options for now. Then we can look at PSU options for the power requirements we have.
Hard drives should be the noisiest component unless we want to spend a little bit more and go solid state. We should be able to boot the system from a USB memory stick. I saw a 4GB stick for $99 in the latest Monitor mag.
McQ: Oct 1, 2006
As far as I can see, a lot of the "silent" PCs are really just "quiet" ones, since most have (multiple) slow spinning fans. I'm really looking for something that has no moving parts at all other than the drives, and given it's intended purpose, it's ok if that means it's slow.
I can't figure out which end to start at. How about CPUs?