[03029174]

Hi and thanks for reading my post.
 
I've decided to ditch my old laptop and build a dedicated PC to use mainly as a music component.
I already have a Cary Dac which i feed via USB so that should be ok. I have chosen the following case
 

 
Now i need to decide on the specs? I will be using it just to run Foobar2000 and output to my DAC.
I am planning on running EQ software and will probably use XP.
 
Not sure about HDDs, at the moment i have 3 external USB HDDs (total 3TB) but not sure its its easier to get rid of them and get internal drives?
That way it would be easier to schedule backups etc.
 
I want the machine to run as quiet as possible. I know this is really vague but could anyone recommend any components?
It will take  ATX & microATX boards. I dont think the CPU has to be anything special , maybe a Core2Duo. 2gb ram? and i have no idea what power supply to get??
 
Any advice would be greatly received
 
Thanks

 

[roachbro]

I would recommend getting an htpc, they come prebuilt and some are really decent. There are quite a few brands to choose from. I've been using a Zotac, so far so good, really small foot print if you are into that. However, if space isn't an issue, building a pc in a SFF is definitely the better way to go in the long run.

 

[Marcus_C]

If it were me i'd use internal drives, they're tidier for one thing, and the case can shield the sound, maybe a raid array of 3 drives and an O/S drive. Unless you want to run games etc. there are good enough graphics cards that are passively cooled. As far as power supplies go, I can vouch for ones built by seasonic (seasonic's own and most corsair ones are), you won't need a very powerful one. I run mine based on an AMD athlon II cpu but i'm sure there's not much difference so go with whichever takes your fancy.

 

[megtheabyss]

As mentioned above,internal HDDs get you a more compact setup with lesser noise.I'd rather build a RAID0(striping) or RAID1(mirroring) setup (depending on your priority of performance/security) with 2x2TB WD Caviar Black's and a OCZ Vertex 2 64GB SSD for the OS (totally optional).Seagate Barracudas are likely to produce more idle noise than WD's and run a bit hotter. For the CPU,the sweet spot is an Intel i5-750 (or an i3-540 would suffice on a budget) and GPU -> ATI 5770HD (bit of an overkill for a simple HTPC setup,but very much future proof IMO) or the Cheaper NVidia Geforce GT240.Corsair VX450 (PSU) would be the best choice for your setup.For the RAM,2GB DDR3 would be sufficient for it would be wiser to build a 2x2GB Dual Channel setup.Just remember to stick to Corsair,OCZ and Gskill on this front (Avoid ones from Transcend and Patroit).

 

[03029174]

Hey, thanks for all the helpful advice, i've just purchased the following to go with the black case in the pic above
 
CPU: AMD Athlon II X2 235e
CPU Cooler: Scythe Shuriken Low Profile CPU Cooler (Rev. B)
Motherboard: ASRock 890GM Pro 3 [size=smaller][size=x-small]Radeon HD 4290 graphics[/size][/size]
RAM: 4GB Corsair DDR3 1333MHz
SSD: OCZ Vertex 2 60GB E Series SSD
PSU: Seasonic X-400 Fanless Gold 400W
 
I've decided to use the USB HDDs for the time being, i have been using them with a laptop and they are silent when playing music so im happy with that.
I like the idea they are portable too, just incase i want to take my backup drive with me when im away on work with my laptop.
 
This all came about because im fedup of all the fancy turntables that keep being displayed in the highend forum pics thread. Personally i perfer digital but wanted something that looked the part. Its sad but my old laptop worked fine and there with be no improvement soundwise in this solution.
Nevermind, im sure it will look pretty Cheers guys