im building a basic system with a 2.4 core duo system

maybe something slower.

I want to run the apple os on normal parts

but i also want to run the apple TV os as well

Mythtv

and maybe something like ubuntu

This is for my woodshop class final project due in 8 months

I am not very good with computer hardware but if someone could point me to a place and or the right hardware i might want to get to put inside of the woodie that would be great

(mircoATX),
PSU,
ram I have 2G's of kingston DDR 677,
FX card with HDMI???? not sure on this one
hard drive (2.5 Seagate Momentus 7200.1 ST910021AS 100GB) "might be 80" I have a server
tunner: Hauppauge WINTV-PCR
slim DVD
ZALMAN 9700 LED 110mm 2 Ball CPU Cooler - Retail

as you can see there are many problems and ive broken everything down. into parts just like when i create something in anyother project.

I'm going to call the thing. a MacWoodie. I should be putting a step by step of all my f'ups up as well.

so i put this to the mod'er folks. I NEED YOUR HELP! pretty please?

thanks for read,
toks

the new ati cards route motherboard sound through hdmi so you should look into a radeon HD 2400 whenever they become available. the HD video decoding for h.264 is a nice touch as well. the cards are also build on a smaller process 65nm i think so they should run nice and cool, important in a small case.

also, don't buy a matshita slimline drive. they cap ripping speeds and encript the firmware so it can't be hacked for speed updates or region free dvd playback.

depending on how small you want the system, you might want to look into a 1u server heatsink and fan combo for the cpu.

will the 1u server heatsink and fan combo. is it loud?

if its loud i might go with an external something like water cooling? but i want the size to be small. Very small. I'm not sure how to get the size down if i go with the full size DVD burner. I might just get a DVD-ROM that has a recessive slot and put it on the top kinda like a toaster?

plenty of other vendors sell slim dvd burners check www.newegg.com. i think a number of the 1u heatsinks are rather quiet. i sugest one of the slower core duo processors, they will put out less heat for you to worry about, and i think any speed dual core processor should be able to handle video encoding.

i thought about going with an itx board.. just to make it SUPER small. isnt that what a mac mini uses now the intel itx?

then go with a mobile M chip?