It also runs a Quake3 server.

I'd challenge you to beat its noise output with ANYTHING else :-)

Like I said, the rays are just as quiet but without the HDD.
From the user's point of view they're a desktop pc.

My main PC is a shuttle XPC which *never* steps its fan above the
slowest seting and is about as close to inaudible as a PC with a fan
and HDD can be (seagate barracuda harddisk is actually quieter than
the very quiet fan, and blindingly fast).

I'd agree with this. I still run a 60gig Baracuda V (suposedly the quietest
of the lot).

Te Via M6000 is capable of playing DVDs with its video systems onboard
DCT acceleration. it does this pretty well. mp3s are easy, it can
decode about 10 simultaneously no problem ;-)

--
Jim H jh
@333
.org