"J. Clarke" wrote in message
...
IF the machine doesn't need 3d accelerated graphics or full motion video,
then a thin client might be a possibility--there are several ways to set
that up--a netbook or a mini-itx system does fine as a thin client and
they
can be made as quiet as a lamp, while you can put the main machine in
another room.

If you haven't checked out http://www.silentpcreview.com you might want
to.
Search that site with keyword "wood" and you'll find some discussion of
wooden cases and some articles by people who have tried them.

If your objective is to do a woodworking project by all means have at it,
but if the objective is to have a quiet machine in a reasonable time then
I
think that buying one is going to be a better plan.




I have not read all of the posts in this thread. But, if one's objective is
to have
a quiet machine, then building one with a graphics cards having ambient
cooling
is a good start. Giga-byte makes some. I think their URL is giga-byte.com
I like mine. If you want a quiet machine, you will probably need to build
it yourself.
The specifications of most components will list their sound level in db.

As may have been pointed out, "water cooling" may offer the quietest
system--but
I'm not willing to bother with that yet.

Bill