Graphics cards: either nVidia 6200 or ATI x300 are fine for what you're doing. Reliable and not overly expensive. As for the mainboards - you want reliability. I've seen cheap Asrock boards with integrated graphics, but they're not as reliable as Asus or MSI. I'd recommend spending a few dollars more for decent mobos. As for cases - you could buy a cheap case and replace the PSU by something reliable. Often cheaper than buying a decent case with a decent PSU. A cheap case would cost about $30, a decent PSU will set you back around $50. I use Fortron 400W PSUs in three of my systems, maybe not as good as Zalman, but very silent and stable, and fairly affordable. If you're going for an nForce4 mobo, go for an nVidia graphics card too. They play very nice together. The boxed cooler that comes with an Athlon64 CAN be quite silent, if the case is roomy enough. Usually it's the PSU fan that's the noisiest. Those Forton PSUs I use have a 12 cm fan, running at about 2000 RPM, as opposed to the ordinary 8cm fans running at 3000 RPM. The 12cm fans are way, way more silent. I built a Media Center last Christmas, using a Sempron 2600 + boxed cooler, a Coolermaster Centurion case, Fortron 400W PSU, Maxtor SATA 160 Gb drive, NEC DVD dual layer +/-RW. If the DVD burner is not playing you can't hear the system at all.

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