Looking to build low-cost, low-power and quiet PC

[JohnJackson]

I'm looking to build an eco-friendly machine to be used as a server. It's not going to be used for anything intensive, just for running a web server, database server, and subversion server for a few users, and for recording TV (not HD) and for downloading torrents. What CPU and motherboard do people recommend?

I have looked at the Atom 330, but I've read the chipset on the D945GCLF2 motherboard kind of ruins it due to it's comparatively higher power consumption, and the fans are noisy.

I'm looking to put in either a 500GB or 1TB hard drive, and I would like to be able to buy the components in the UK.

[squaregoldfish]

Jeff Atwood on the Coding Horror blog has written some useful some posts on this. Here's a couple to be going on with:

Building Your Own Home Theater PC (http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/001107.html)

Building Tiny, Ultra Low Power PCs (http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/001156.html)

Steve.

[Paqman]

You could get something like a Jetway J7F2 (http://www.mini-itx.com/store/?c=2#j7f2), the 1.2GHz ones are completely passive, no fans at all, and would suck very little juice. It comes with an integrated Eden C7 CPU for a little over £100, whack in a PCI TV card, storage and RAM, and you'd have a pretty cheap little server.

[logos34]

Building Tiny, Ultra Low Power PCs (http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/001156.html)

great link!

[JohnJackson]

Thanks for the replies. Reading up on the mini-itx.com website it says the Atoms outperform and are cheaper than the Via C7s. I'm tempted to go for the D945GCLF2 despite its poor chipset. The MS-9830 looks good, it's fanless and has lower power consumption, but annoyingly I can't seem to find it on any UK online shops.

[gn2]

Or just buy an EeeBox?

http://www.eeextra.com/reviews/asus-eee-box-hardware-review.html

[JohnJackson]

The Eee Box is ideal, except for the hard drive. Do you know how easy it is to open it up and swap in a different hard drive?

Edit: Quite easy apparently. Though it only takes 2.5" hard drives, I need 3.5" really.

[gn2]

The Eee Box is ideal, except for the hard drive. Do you know how easy it is to open it up and swap in a different hard drive?

Edit: Quite easy apparently. Though it only takes 2.5" hard drives, I need 3.5" really.

Perhaps a USB or NAS external solution?

[logos34]

why not put the desktop drive in an external usb drive housing and connect it that way? (slower but not really that noticeable).

[JohnJackson]

Thanks for the suggestions guys, but I have gone for the Intel D945GCLF2 as it's the only one available at the moment it seems. I don't want to use an external because I can't trust myself or someone else not to drop it or something. The NAS option would work, but I don't want to have two devices powered on.