Hey guys,

I'm getting bored of listening to my main machine running 24/7 so I want to move my media storage into its own box. While this would normally be a job for the old bits and bobs I have kicking about everything is WAY too old (IDE days) so a new setup it is! A quick look over at scan throws together this machine for silly cheap (£150) and has enough power to be used as a media machine if setup in the living room instead... the main questions are... would you choose something different (and why?), what case, PSU, heatsink/fans to keep it quiet without doubling the price.

AMD Athlon II X2 250, Regor Core, S AM3, 3.0GHz, 512KB x 2 Cache, FSB/HT 2000MHz, 65W, Retail  £36.59  £43.91   
500GB Samsung HD502HJ Spinpoint F3, SATA 3Gb/s, 7200rpm, 16MB Cache, 8.9 ms, NCQ, OEM  £25.25  £30.30   
Asus M4A88T-M, AMD 880G, S AM3, PCI-E 2.0 (x16), DDR3 1866(OC), SATA RAID, mATX, On Board Graphics  £46.88  £56.26   
2GB Corsair DDR3 XMS3, PC3-10666 (1333), Non-ECCUnbuffered, CL 9-9-9-24, 1.50V  £16.44  £19.73 

If I wanted to use it as HTPC as well I would throw in:

512Mb MSI N210-MD512D3H/LP, Low Profile design with brackets, 520MHz Core, 512MB DDR3 1200MHz Memory  £22.86  £27.43

edit: Just a note the storage is not included in that as its 4x 2TB samsung drives that I'm currently using in my main machine.

All them drives could be noisy in the living room.
An alternative is to build a nas/storage device I guess... and stream from there to a dedicated silent xbmc machine.

Indeed. I'm not after completely silent and I know the HDD's ticking over can be a bit noisey but I dont mind them as the sammys seem to spin down nicely. It's noisey fans I'm most offended by.

Unfortunately quiet and cheap don't often go together in a HTPC, the most important part IMO is the case, if you do plan to use it often go for something decent like an Antec Fusion.

The other items you listed would be fine.

Can agree on the quiet = cheap not realistic, esp if you really want quiet but if that was the case I would spend out and get 2 dedicated devices.

If i can get it so the HDD's are the loudest things in the case I'll be happy... it shouldnt be hard I just need to pick a case that doesn't vibrate, a couple slow moving case fans, maybe replace the CPU cooler (no idea if the stock is whiney) and a PSU thats running a quiter fan but thats not much of a problem these days (remember those 'gold' 500W which sounded like jet).

Ok change of question... no longer about parts as I doubt I'll get a cheaper PC for the job unless I buy older parts 2nd hand and I'm happy at that price.

Cheapest 'ok' PSU that will power 6x drives, smallest cheapy case with enough drive space, recommend coolers if any?

Hmmm maybe I'll give my LEGO case another go. It won't be quiet but it would be funky... doubt I have enough of it left for the job tho

It's a shame you didn't ask last month as the HP Microserver that was discussed then sounds like it would have been ideal, 140 after £100 cash back, mines setup and running now, currently at 43w idle and 50 watts load, but don't think my hds are spinning down at the moment so may be able to get those figures lower!

I just saw that in the other thread. Would prob of done the job very nicely... ah well.

Going to check out what I have case/PSU wise this weekend while I'm back at parents house and go from there

Look at the box in my sig under Zotac. 
It's low power, and hasn't struggled with anything I've thrown at it yet.

I looked at the HD22 and if I was going for 2 dedicated devices I would prob go for one of them (or one like it) but I can't plug 4 drives into and abuse it as a server as well

Quote from: Dooms on April 20, 2011, 19:07:37 PM
I looked at the HD22 and if I was going for 2 dedicated devices I would prob go for one of them (or one like it) but I can't plug 4 drives into and abuse it as a server as well

http://www.span.com/product_info.php?cPath=30_1403&products_id=27840
Pico PSU & lots of sata to USB & a USB hub

Not sure if I like the idea but thanks for the link, I actually want one of those!

Quote from: Dooms on April 20, 2011, 22:27:54 PM
Not sure if I like the idea but thanks for the link, I actually want one of those!

I want 2 - a pico PSU should be enough to power the drives

Then connect them to USB.
I currently use a twin HDD dock - but need more docks - to save swapping HDDs

It's an idea. Not sure on the speed of 5 drives running over a single USB tho.

Has the mini HP server £100 cashback deal has been extended till end of april I think I'll just get one of those and be done with it