Thanks to both of you for the info! I'll definitely start working through the mining subforum.

I'm reasonably experienced with Ubuntu, so I was thinking that it or another flavor of Linux would be best from a stability and possibly power consumption standpoint, but I wasn't sure how the drivers and utilities compared with Windows. I was hoping to run the OS off of a USB stick, to avoid running an HDD or CD drive and save on power, so I think that might limit me to Linux also (or can Windows 8 do that now?).

Also, is the general advice that it's best to use an open/no case with a box fan or similar, or to use a well-ventilated but closed case?

Thanks!