[ijhobson]

I have recently moved into a new house with my girlfriend and she has not taken kindly to my pc and surround sound (massive sub-woofer and all) taking up half the living room.
I have always had a pc attached to my dell 32" HD LCD tv with a DVi cable and i just use it for web browsing, music and watching movies.
To be fair to my girlfriend the new living room is much smaller than my old one and the computer does look a sight as well as sounding very noisy in the smaller room.
Can anyone give me advise on a living room pc - particularily the case!

I want to get rid of the surround sound speakers is there any way i can route the sound through my dell tv and it's speaker?

I want to build my own - and on the cheap as well as it is only going to play music/movies and also get it as quiet as possible.
Can anyone advise on components?

I was also considering a flash drive to install windows on and a normal sata drive(1TB) for storage of media - is this a workable idea?
I know i'm asking a lot but any advise would be appreciated!
Cheers
Hobo

Edited by ijhobson, 24 April 2009 - 09:53 AM.

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A site that can help you outis htttp://www.SilentPCReview.com , which specializes in reviewing hardware from a sound stand point.

Also, where are you from as this will determine the sites you can purchase from.

As for right now, what you want is called an HTPC (Home Theater PC). What you want to do are either go fanless on as many parts as you can, or if you HAVE To use a fan use as large of one as possible (lower freq and lower noise for same volume of air). SSD hard drives are nice from a sound stand point but a bit pricey compared to the size of a regular (though newer HDs are much quieter than older ones).

Start with the case, you can find a lot of cases designed to look like stereo equipment, this will allow it to blend in with your other components (making it not such an eyesore). This will more than likely be one of your more expensive parts.

From there look for a passive heatsink for your processor and a motherboard that doesn't have any heatsinks on it. Then read SilentPCReivews reviews of HDs to see which ones are low noise.

Edited by PedroDaGR8, 24 April 2009 - 06:38 PM.

[PedroDaGR8]

A site that can help you outis htttp://www.SilentPCReview.com , which specializes in reviewing hardware from a sound stand point.

Also, where are you from as this will determine the sites you can purchase from.

As for right now, what you want is called an HTPC (Home Theater PC). What you want to do are either go fanless on as many parts as you can, or if you HAVE To use a fan use as large of one as possible (lower freq and lower noise for same volume of air). SSD hard drives are nice from a sound stand point but a bit pricey compared to the size of a regular (though newer HDs are much quieter than older ones).

Start with the case, you can find a lot of cases designed to look like stereo equipment, this will allow it to blend in with your other components (making it not such an eyesore). This will more than likely be one of your more expensive parts.

From there look for a passive heatsink for your processor and a motherboard that doesn't have any heatsinks on it. Then read SilentPCReivews reviews of HDs to see which ones are low noise.

Edited by PedroDaGR8, 24 April 2009 - 06:38 PM.

[ijhobson]

Many thanks pedro, i'm living in scotland so i know of plenty of suppliers.
You have given me plenty to work on,
thanks a lot,
Hobo