Antec Aria

[mdeloose]

Regarding your article on the Antec Aria "Cube"-case: putting in more than one 3,5"-device is an largely theoretical possibility, not a practical one. It should be noted that the Antec Aria is a good casing solution if you stick to these rules:
-no discrete graphics card, use on-board graphics (check the information on the power supply: max 220Watt!)
-you can use P4 or Celeron (haven't tried AMD-CPU's yet)
-with the Asus P4P800-MX or P4P800-VM mainboards I did not have to remove the Power Supply in order to install the mainboard, contrary to what you state in your article on µATX-cases
-using the asus P4P800-VM a Zalman Cu7000-cooler could be installed!(just enough space; make sure you keep the wires away from the ventilator)
-not for people seeking a high-performance PC
-good solution for people looking for a PC that doesn't take up a lot of space and only want to use everyday-applications (word-processor, e-mail, i-net,...)

Using an Asus P4P800-VM I built 4 systems: 2 with a 3,2Ghz P4 (using the "card-fan") and 2 using a 2,8Ghz P4 (without using the card-fan)
I hope these comments might be of use to others interested in using the Aria-case

Marc De Loose

 

[nukemaster]

Nice Post I had one in too about the drives...lol

 

[Crashman]

It has a larger footprint than a micro ATX slim tower, so it has no size advantages.

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<font color=red>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to an ego as large as Crashman's!</font color=red>

 

[Pacifist_Farmer]

I'm not completely certian I agree with your post.

For starters, can you point me to where the power supply is rated at only 220 watts and not the 300 watts used in labeling and advertising?

I am running a ATI 9800 Pro, 1.5 GB Ram and a 1.9 GHz AMD XP chip on an Epox motherboard, I have had zero performance issues, and the only stumbling block I am dealing with is heat related.

I'm not saying you are wrong, the Aria definitely has some limitations and would be perfect if some one was following your rules. But it can also be a better performing PC given a little time and effort, and hopefully fore-thought.

 

[OnionBoy]

Hi.
This is my first post on any Forum ( So be gentle with me)
I read the write up on the Aria and I couldn`t believe how
out it was! I can only tell you that my wife is more than pleased with the one I built her for Christmas.
She uses it for photography.Music.The web and X stitch
design ( Dont ask ).
Antec Aria
MSI K8TM-ILSR
AMD Athlon 64 3000 Newcastle
Corsair VS1GBKIT400
2x WD Caviar SE 120GB
Sapphire Radeon 9600XT 128MB
LG GSA-4120B
XP Home
Firefox ( Recommended )

It went together O.K. I used the optional slot cooler,
which seems to work best in the last position.The PSU has only one SATA connector,so I used a converter plug on a spare molex.By the way the SATA lead is Short,but it will
stretch!
So far NO overheating,and yes,its very quite.
Hope this helps.
Onion Boy

 

[mdeloose]

Actually I was wrong about the rating for the power supply. On the left side of the power supply's label, you can see the model with a mention above it that it has a 300Watt output. But on the right side of the label is mentioned: "max. output : 195W" (not 220W, my mistake)

I am not saying that you cannot successfully build a high-end PC system using the ARIA-case, but I would use a more appropriate case for that purpose, just to be on the safe side of things (=longer term perspective)

<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by mdeloose on 01/08/05 10:23 AM.</EM></FONT></P>