General

[uv_halo]

Originally Posted by Shane-O

...uv halo, thanks for that breakdown. What amount of Ram is in that machine? I didnt see it listed.

4GB DDR3 (Corsair XMS)
I also realized that the Seasonic PSU was actually for another build (on the same invoice). The Media Center Case includes a good, quiet one.

Originally Posted by Leafy

...The kicker in building your own or buying a non media pc is noise. I have a hard time building quiet computers that dont run into cooling issues (either they're quiet but over heat when streaming 1080p or gaming, or they sound like jet air planes but you could run benchmarks on them in 120* heat and be fine). Maybe its because I refuse to water cool or spend more than 50 bucks on a case. Maybe I get unclucky. Who knows, the zbox is very quiet and so are boxee boxes.

It takes a bit of research and dedication to build a good/quiet DVR PC. Renethx (over on AVS forums) buys, builds and tests setups before adding them to his recommended list (to get his most recent, he asks for a fee, and I'm happy with my 'purchase').

In any case, common/random parts thrown together just won't cut it. My video card(HD 6670) doesn't break a sweat doing 1080P ISOs, and it has a very quiet fan. My processor is powerful enough for it's tasks, and it's cooler is quiet. The PSU is also rated as very quiet and powerful enough to not break a sweat under load. Finally, the case is Well-designed for this application (dual 120fans, triple chambers, rubber grommets for the HDD).

Now, I'm perfectly happy with my setup however, I'm not necessarily in the absolute best listening environment. My floor plan is open and I can hear the fridge in the kitchen more than I can my computer. I can only hear the computer's fans at a distance of about 2ft (with head at same height as case).

[Shane-O]

Awesome, Thanks Everyone!