i don't want it that loud at all, normal sound at most
Reason I ask is that there is fanless (typically
expensive, or sacrificing performance or both) or you
can go for the easier method of buying quiet components
(not silent) and adjusting fan speeds. You'll also find
that it's going to be a stepping-stone problem, quiet
one piece down, find yet another piece that is now the
noisiest item in the system.
A few generalities:
Larger fans are typically quieter then smaller fans
(lower RPMs to push same amount of air per minute). So
120mm fans are quiet, 40mm fans are going to be little
white-noise generators.
FDB (Fluid Drive Bearing) hard drives are typically
quieter then the old ball bearing drives (which were
prone to "whine" noise). However, some drives have
noisy head clatter (during seek operations).
Not all CPU coolers are equal. Some sound like jet
engines, others like the quiet whisper of wind in the
leaves. Some of the stock CPU coolers that come with
the retail versions of the chips are already pretty
quiet, especially when put inside a case like the
Sonata.
MPEG4 means you'll need a more powerful CPU, probably
something around 1.5Ghz or so. (Check the AVSForum HTPC
forum, search for MPEG4 playback.) I don't know of any
hardware MPEG4 decoders that can handle the task
(allowing you to use a lesser CPU).
MPEG2-only can often be done with a special hardware
chip (either on the mainboard, or on the video card),
which allows you to use a lower power CPU. This is one
of the reasons the Hauppauge PVR boards are popular for
MPEG2 capture, the board handles the encoding via a
hardware chip, allowing the use of a low-power CPU.
i personally don't care if its a full tower case or not, the footprint
can be as small or as big as needed to fit the components
Sonatas are nice cases, take a standard ATX motherboard,
have a 120mm case fan on the back (larger, quieter),
have (4) internal drive trays with rubber mounts, plus
you can add a 2nd 120mm fan to blow air directly across
the internal drive trays for cooling.
Downside is that your ATX motherboard must be smaller
then the MB tray on the Sonata (IIRC, the Sonata has the
same dimensions as the Antec p160 that I use). Some
"ATX" motherboards are 10.5" deep, which won't fit
(standard ATX is 9.6" x 12-something"). Not 100% sure
that applies to the Sonata case, but something to keep
in mind. Also, the physical depth of the Sonata cases
is about 1-2" deeper then a regular mid-tower case due
to the internal layout.
Some of the small form factor cases using the micro-ATX
or mini-ITX boards are the same size as regular rack
stereo components.
Now, for some further reading:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/
- look in the Home Theater Computers forum, search for
quiet, silent, fanless, etc.
- this is where the hard-core folks hang out and you're
likely to get good responses if you ask specific
questions
