Antec Aluminum MicroATX Cube

Will it all fit? Good question. The three hard disks and DVD/RW will fit, but the water cooler would depend on which one you went with, size of hoses, size of Radiator, etc...

Wish I could help on board recommendations, but one thing I've run into building Aria boxes (the AMD64 will be my third box) is that finding m-ATX motherboards that have a full feature set (SATA/1394/1GB NIC) is tough. Even the MSI has only a 10/100, and most don't come with 1394 or 1Gb NIC for the A64 platform. You have to make some consessions besides only 3 PCI slots and two ram slots. This board looks good: GIGABYTE GA-8IG1000MK

-E
 
okay so I am not relagated to one of those uber small MoBos with only one agp and one pci. That helps alot thanks :) as for the one GigE and the SATA I could careless all it needs is the space for all my parts if I remember right I got an older waterchill setup. SO I'll most likely be putting the rad outsiode the case no biggie.
 
OK, new update: Transplant complete. Wow, what a friggen mess. Turns out the MSI board doesn't like my memory (Mushkin Blue Pack 2-3-3-7) and fubar'd my Windows Install (no way to repair and it deleted my Windows directory :mad: ). I kept getting "cannot copy file from CD" during the WinXP install. Removed one of the modules and then the problems went away. Seems if I run one module that I could get it to run. The SPD for BIOS pinned it at CAS3 (3-3-3-8) and even uping the voltage to 2.8 didn't help. Arg... So 6 hours later, its got a new install of XP running with the following:

Antec Aria SFF Case
AMD Athlon64 3400+ w/ Zalman CNPS7000A-Cu
MSI K8TM-ILSR w/ 1Gb Mushkin Blue Pack DDR (soon to be replaced)
BFG Tech Nvidia 6800GT OC 256Mb Video
36Gb WD Raptor 10K SATA
250Gb WD 7200RPM SATA
8x NEC 2500A DVD Burner flashed to support Dual Layer Media
Sound Blaster Audigy Gamer

The box runs much cooler (and quieter) than the SN85 that this replaces. Once I get my RAM issues nailed down on this board I will go through all of the overclocking features of the board. Just as a note, you can raise or lower the RAM voltage from 2.55 to 2.85 in the BIOS as well as change the FSB from 200 to 280. There are quite a few things I'd like to play with once the bugs are worked out.

Regards,

-E
 
MrE said:
Antec Aria SFF Case
AMD Athlon64 3400+ w/ Zalman CNPS7000A-Cu
MSI K8TM-ILSR w/ 1Gb Mushkin Blue Pack DDR (soon to be replaced)
BFG Tech Nvidia 6800GT OC 256Mb Video
36Gb WD Raptor 10K SATA
250Gb WD 7200RPM SATA
8x NEC 2500A DVD Burner flashed to support Dual Layer Media
Sound Blaster Audigy Gamer
Click to expand...

Wow, that sounds like a sweet set up. I'll be buying the rest of my parts(3400+, MSI mobo, ram) and building it tomorrow. I am planning on using some Corsair Value Select with it. Have you heard about any compatiblity issues with that ram?
 
I think the Corsair memory will be fine. I'm probably going either Corsair or Kingston this next round in regards to memory. Mushkin used to be very reliable (albiet not the most overclockable) memory around. Now with two motherboards showing similar issues running two sticks, I think its time to move to another brand of memory.

-E
 
Also as another note, the power supply connector on this board is right behind the CPU socket (under the PSU) which is a pain in the ass to hook up if you have sleaved the power connectors. Spent a good 10 minutes trying to re-route this around the Zalman cooler. Overall though I am very pleased with this motherboard. It does have some nice overclock features that I hope to exploit in the near future once the ram has been swapped for another brand.

-E
 
Ok, I got my system set up now too.
Antec Aria SFF Case
AMD Athlon64 3200+ w/ stock HSF
MSI K8TM-ILSR w/ 1Gb Corsair Value Select at CAS 2.5
ATI A-I-W 9700pro
160Gb WD 7200RPM SATA
old DVD drive and SoundBlaster Value card from old machine.

So far I have had no problems with my system. The mobo came with the retention bracket installed and my Corsair memory works fine. The wiring is a bit messy and it will take a while to get it somewhat tidy. So far I've only ran it with the case panels and lid off (just got it up and running last night) and I find it extremely quiet. Even with the blower installed too. :D
 
Good choice on the box. Yes, cable management is all but impossible due to the varying cable lengths. I have some Corsair XMS Pro memory on its way to replace my Mushkin this week. Can't wait to play with the overclocking features of this board.

-E
 
Ya, the OC options seem pretty good.
What is your CPU temp MrE? I was playing around with the BIOS setting last night and I noticed it was displaying the CPU temp at 65 degrees C. That seemed a little high to me. Is there any chance that the BIOS isn't listing the temp accurately?
 
Ok I need some help.
How do you install WindowsXP when it doesn't recognize the SATA drives to install on. There is an included floppy that came with the MSI board but how does that help with an Aria that has no floppy drive?
I'm starting to think that I'm going to have to temporarily use my old floppy and just rest it beside my case for this. I have tried a few bios changes but I can't get it to recognize my SATA drive for installing windows.
Help is much appreciated.
 
PC World had a look at it and then had little good to say...

http://www.pcworld.com/howto/article/0,aid,115635,00.asp

"Look at all that room to move, I thought. Installation will be a snap. Well not quite. In fact, every time I fought through the mess of power cables, realigned the ports and screwed the motherboard back into the chassis, I realized that I would have to take it out again."

Maybe the dude is dumb... Maybe he'll save you a lot of hassle.
 
roc said:
PC World had a look at it and then had little good to say...

http://www.pcworld.com/howto/article/0,aid,115635,00.asp

"Look at all that room to move, I thought. Installation will be a snap. Well not quite. In fact, every time I fought through the mess of power cables, realigned the ports and screwed the motherboard back into the chassis, I realized that I would have to take it out again."

Maybe the dude is dumb... Maybe he'll save you a lot of hassle.
Click to expand...

Ok, true it's not the greatest at installation time. I had a few problems too when I installed mine. But I don't think he can complain because it sounds like he did nothing to prepare for the install. If he read this forum he probably could of cut that 2 hour install down to 1 hour. And no matter how bad the install is, the finished product more than makes up for it. It's a kick ass cass, and a kick ass system with the right components.

As for my problem (I couldn't recognize SATA drive on windows installation), I ended up hanging a floppy drive off the side and using my ATI 9700pro power conection to power it. This way I could insert the provided floppy (came with mobo) and add my SATA storage device to the list of possible install locations. I hope there is a better solution out there because that was a little annoying. Overall though, I am proud of the system, especially with the extra time and effort I put into it.
 
That's pretty much what I had to do as well. I hooked up a 4 pin molex connector to floppy adapter and tack on a floppy for the [F6] install during boot. Once complete, the floppy went bye bye. :) Since the OS won't allow for USB drives as a "source" drive, and trying to setup an OEM directory on the OS CD and slipstream this seemed to be a bit of a waste, this happens to be the only solution at the moment.

-E
 
Also, I fired up Speedfan and I'm seeing 49c for the CPU temps for idle, and running I hit 53c when playing a bit of Doom 3. I believe the Zalman cooler is way more effecient then the stock AMD cooler, and most review sites show a range of 7-10c difference between the pair. I also used AS5 when installing the CPU cooler.

Regards,

-E
 
MrE said:
I also used AS5 when installing the CPU cooler.
Click to expand...

I also used some AS5 thermal paste but I didn't want to add too much seeing as the stock HSF already had a thin film of it on the bottom. Maybe I should take off the HSF and add a little more AS5. Is it bad to mix thermal pastes? And is the temp reading from the BIOS accurate?
 
:) I have an Antec Aria case and purchased all my parts. If you send me a private mesage I can give you my model numbers and configuartion (ie motherboard and the such.) you can build one for less than what you are trying to spend. You will just have to purchase a monitor if you dont' already have one... Let me know and I can help... Just so you know I have build several of these and have been working on computers for the past 11 years I know what I am doing. I can send you part numbers and specs and you can build it yourself.. Best thing is I won't charge you for the advice....... Can someone say this is a FREE Consultation. I can even tell you where I purchased the items




Listen I know how you guys feel I have an old shuttle sn45G and I had the AMD 64 one you are discussing. Its horrible, I even cut 3 blowholes and installed 3 80mm fans it slowed down the fan due to the fact that the temps were okay but now with the 3 extra fans althouh more silent than the cpu fan the system is noisy. Well needless to say I gave that machine to my wife for her home office as she's not really into computers so I don't think she noticess a quiet pc. But I got an Antec Aria setup with the AMD 64 and it runs like a dream. I do alot of gaming so I had to cut one blowhole and then I cut another just to added an LED fan and it still runs quiet even under full load. I ran Far Cry for about 2 hours then I went online with my Star Wars game and it was great checked temps after and they were stable. You can try to take temps with a third party cpu themomert and digital ready works great my temps never went over 67 celcius. If you want my complete configuration let me know send me a private message and I will get it to you. I say everyone needs to ditch that shuttle and get an Antec Aria case build your own. More flexable more upgradeable and you can really put 3 hard drives this baby is grand. SOme people say they get high temps so If you send a private message I will send you the model numbers of all my specs. The noise level of my Antec Aria is only 22dBA I can get it down to about 19Dba
 
Best thing is I won't charge you for the advice....... Can someone say this is a FREE Consultation.
Click to expand...

Um, thats kinda the point to these forums. Nobody asks for money when it comes to fixing/upgrading/modding. We all share this info. with little regard to asking a consulting fee.

BTW, added an 80mm fan to the video card side of the Aria. Dropped my temps another 6F, so it goes to show that the case benifits from the added intake fan.

-E
 
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