>>>I'm considering getting a cobalt qube 2 to replace my noisy PC as my
>>>private mail and webserver.  The thing would most likely be in my
>>>bedroom, so I'd like it to be quiet -- how noisy are the qubes?
>>
>>Ummm, mine is fairly noisy.  It is probably less noisy than my tower
>>case PC, but there is still plenty of fan noise.
>>
>>At some point, I was chatting with a Cobalt employee (engineer?)
>>who insisted that the fan could be disconnected with no ill effects.
>>I haven't been brave enough to try, as my Qube and Raqs live in my
>>office, where I don't mind the noise.
>>
>>You should also be aware of the occasional complaints about file
>>corruption and crashes under heavy network load.  I've used a Qube
>>(and then a Raq) as my main mail and web server and firewall (and
>>even wireless access point) for several years, to good effect.
>>But YMMV.
>>
>>Kevin
>>kml@patheticgeek.net
>>
> 
> 
> It's not dead quiet, but I'd say it's probably going to be quieter
> than your average PC. It's got 1 small fan. My drive is a little noisy
> too, I've heard some 5400 rpm drives are a lot quieter.
> 
> It's not a super viable platform, really. It doesn't move data all
> that fast through the network. I've never personally seen any file
> corruption problems but I don't lean on mine either.
> 
> I hate to say it, because I hate PCs, but these new mini itx systems
> with the fanless Via processors seem like the best quiet machiene
> setup.
> 
> Andy

Maybe this one is interesting, too:
http://www.tom-e.de/coolprojects_eng.html
(If you decide to purchase a high quality, fanless mini itx system.)

Best regards, Tom.