Build advice

I'd love to post this in the hardware thread, but it seems it's read only.

I'm in Australia so prices are hideous, but probably not quite bad enough to go through the hassle of ordering internationally.

I don't feel the need to put in an optical drive: I've got enough already connected to my TV that can handle that duty.

All I want is a machine that can do 1080p over HDMI scanning the content on my NAS RAID over either GB Ethernet or n-band wireless

To that end, I've come to this hardware build:

Zotac Ion N330: $347
http://www.techbuy.com.au/p/120478/MOTHE...TX-D-E.asp

Aywun MW-107 case: $85.80
http://www.techbuy.com.au/p/107277/CASIN...MW-107.asp

2GB Corsair RAM: $44
http://www.techbuy.com.au/p/101658/MEMOR...6400C5.asp


And.... that's pretty much it.

No fan, no moving parts at all - so completely silent.

All my media is on the network so I need minimal storage on the HTPC itself. I was considering a 32GB SSD drive but at $150 it seems a little excessive when I could just stick a thumb drive in the back.

Will using/booting a standard flash thumb drive be a problem?

Is there anything else I need to consider?

Is 2GB enough RAM?

I got quite a similar system running an Intel 330 board, with a PCI 8400GS Geforce. 2gb ram is the limit of my board and is more than enough!
Cause my videocard does all the work CPU stays around 5-10% cpu usage.

I use a laptop 1,5 "?? sata hdd which i had still laying around, get a small one 32 gb which will be cheap and also energy efficient.

I would stream ur video over Ethernet and not wifi, although i never tried an N wireless network, but keep in consideration it will not work out flawlessly.

my zotac board reached 60-70 Centigrade while pull off the fan connector..

@windirt: What else have you got running in your box? I plan to have the ION board, RAM and maybe an SSD drive - probably a thumb drive sticking out the back.

@menno: what skin are you running btw?

• Has anyone tired booting off a thumb drive on this board?
• What about 'wake from sleep' - I'm a little confused about the terms floating around for this - if it will wake from an XBMC suspend, I'm fine leaving it running 24/7.
  

@kbrookes

there are ion board, 2GB x2 ram, 20GB SATA HDD in the Aopen S100 case. I think you can't run the ion board without the fan in such a small case like me.