Possible ideas for a new box?

[Stephen]

well i see where youa re going, and i think there is a path for you

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813182211&cm_re=X8SIL-_-13-182-211-_-Product
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813182212&cm_re=X8SIL-_-13-182-212-_-Product

the f looks like it has more features in it. be warned Supermicro is
Very serious with their memory compatibility. but they have a good
range of Linux compatibility

http://www.supermicro.com/support/resources/OS/C7_X8.cfm

And they have 1u down to 200/280 W that will run the lower power i5
instead of the i7 and HP uses that same CPU in a 400W psu based
server. so your doing fin with a decent quality 350-400w psu im sure.

inside something like the thermaltake lanbox. (good thermal cooling
and quiet, can take a std ATX power supply and at least 2 hdd easily
as well as up to 2 5.25 bays (for more HDD's if you want em), hard to
build in but nice once done. portable small and quiet.

and it may not be as cheap as an AMD but it will crunch numbers like
you wouldn't believe

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819117226