Has anyone had experiences building these?

I dumped cable TV months ago, and we love it, but there are some shows the wife can't get via the HuluPlus app, so I figured I'd put together a small machines that will hook up to my 1080p projector in the den. I also decided if I'm doing this, it might as well be powerful enough to do some PC games.

I'm pretty well versed in building a full tower gaming and workstation machines, but I've never done an Ultra Small machine before. Any tips or suggestions? I know Shuttle used to be the top of the line cases for things like that, is that still the case (no pun intended)? Any special way to keep these things cool (I'd like to avoid water is possible, poor location if it would leak for some reason)?

 

If you want the benefits of water cooling but less risk, there are self contained cpu coolers that you can get that just pop on like a regular heat sink and have their own radiator/fans. I've had one of the antec 920's for about a year now and never had any issues with it. It keeps my system pretty cool as well.

If you take it a step further as well, you can actually attach one of those to a graphic card as well like this Using Antec's Kuhler 620 on a GTX 560 - YouTube

Granted, the size of your case will determine how easily this type of thing fits of course, but if you're doing gaming with a smaller case it's going to need a lot more cooling probably.

 

Huh, that look pretty easy to use.

Also, for anyone that plays PCs games away from the usual desk setup, what do you use? Just a wireless keyboard and mouse on a tray, or do things like the G13 Advanced Gameboard actually work?