Last Thursday, I shut off my DVR computer in the living room, and it was really quiet in the room. I really liked that situation. Even though I tried to buy relatively quiet fans, it's still a bit noisy. The power supply fan in particular is bad.
I fired it up tonight because I know there's an episode of Mythbusters to record, and the silence is gone. Before I became self-employed, I had the intention to buy a Mac Mini and use that with the USB tuners, but that's obviously not going to happen now. But alas, it's the "off season" for TV, so I can try to make it a point to shut it down now and then.