I'd like to thank Dave J for pointing me to Mini-ITX boards, which could be used for totally passive server setups. Unfortunately, I fear that the good boards are not available nearby and I'm in urgent need of the server.
Before I get to the server setup, I'll talk about the needs I have: First of all, it's not going to be a company wide used server, it's more a home server with some special needs:
1. File server : Storage of laaaarge amounts of photos shot by my wife, the kids and me, storage of the repository of my >200+ ripped DVDs (I've got all the originals) and series (all Star Trek stuff, some other series; all from my original DVDs), Storage of my CD collection (>500 Cds).
2. Media Server: For streaming the music and the movies to my PS3/Home cinema. Since I want to have subtitle integration, I need RT encoding (done through PS3 Media Server.
3. IIS7/MySql/MS SQL Server: Mostly for development of web pages and client/server applications for my customers. No IIS to WAN, only local.
As you can see, the needs aren't that high but I still want to have a machine that doesn't make you wait.
I ended with a hardware setup that will cost me approximately 1100 Euros (which currently is ~$1560):
1 Intel Q9550
1 Asus P5Q-Deluxe
1 CPU cooler Asus Triton 81
2 DDR2 4GB 1066 OCZ XTC Platin Kit (Cl5)
1 GF 8400GS passive cooled
4 WD 1000 GB WD10EADS 32MB SataII
4 Vibe-Fixer 3
1 LG GGW-H20LRB BluRay RW
1 Chieftec Dragon DX-01BDU
1 BeQuiet 550W BQTE6
1 Anti Vibe for the BeQuiet 550W
The setup should be quite silent since no single element produces more than 22-25db... I'll see how it sums up.
The Vibe-Fixer 3 disconnects the HDD from the tower. So does the Anti Vibe for the power unit. The graphic card is fanless and only uses 40W if on full power (which will never be the case).
The Q9550 has 4 cores and is powerful enough for any application I'd run on the machine. 8 gig of ram is enough, too. I never get higher than 4 gigs on my desktop working machine (even when running 2-3 Visual Studio + some other apps).
I put in 4 WD 1TB HDD which will be JBOD. I'll see if I put them into RAID 1 but my current experience let's me tend to not use RAID (15 years without a single HDD fail... I've still some 2 gig HDDs somewhere which are still working).
I also decided to spend some money on a BR burner. I'll use it for my backups. I've taken a look at streamer drives but the price just turns me down (>$500 for a good one that let's you archive 320GB compressed).The current situation doesn't make it necessary for such a high amount of backup data.
(NB: I own all the music CDs and DVDs that will be stored onto the HDDs. So if ever a HDD fails, I've just to re-rip the stuff onto HDD...)
Tomorrow I'll have to fetch some money and drive to the store... their web-shop says everything is available. I still have a couple of questions (concerning the power consumption of the mainboard and the HDDs), so there might be a small change to the setup.
Have fun,
Stefan
