Antec Aria

[Nightfall84]

Antec definetly makes great cases. Including the Aria. Excellent modding potential in a little box

 

[BillR]

No new Aria, but there is an addition to that “line” of cases.

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=11-129-142&depa=0

Full desktop with a few twists, and it looks fantastic in person. Like the Aria it’s a tad quirky but well worth it. Built a system on this platform for a customer who is more then happy with the results. Any Mobo will fit.

This one has my interest at the moment too:

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=11-129-139&depa=0

I haven’t seen or used one..kinda like a sideways Aria. And it’s cute.

 

[codeflux]

i have seen these overture cases - they look like crap, and would need extensive modding to get them to look acceptable... antec really messed up on those...

 

[tree_]

I need an Aria =[

edit: Oh, and MrE, what mATX motherboard did you put in your Aria and the ones you biult for others that work so well? Do they have PCI/AGP lock?

 

[MrE]

The other units were all AthlonXP based units. I used Chaintech's Nforce2 Ultra 7NIL1-Summit m-ATX motherboard in two, and an ASUS A7V400 in another.

My personal system is the only one that has an A64 setup. I've tried both the MSI m-ATX board as well as my current Gigabyte. Good luck on finding one with the AGP lock for the A64 platform using m-ATX. I tried but came up empty.

-E

 

[tree_]

Well... How good would a 2400+ Athlon XP 266 fsb with 1 gig of ram and a 9800Pro run battlefeild and desert combat at 1024x768? I may put my secondary gaming rig in an aria and use that for my bf1942 lans....

 

[MrE]

I think on a 2400+ you are looking at a 333Mhz FSB unless you are running PC2100 DDR. It should run quite well with that setup. If you could, make sure you are running a dual channel config. for memory and it will handle most games using the 9800Pro.

-E

 

[tree_]

Another question... How durable and portable is the Aria? Is there a special backpack I could get for it to take to LAN's on airplanes? I need to be able to take it places easily... So f anyone has let me know how it went. Thanks

 

[MrE]

Its as durable as most other SFF cases. I use a gym bag to carry it with my mouse/keyboard/CD's/cables. Works out just fine. No need to drop another $30 for a matching bag. I did that for my previous Shuttle setup and couldn't put jack in it besides the SFF. Maybe some small cables on the outside pockets, but that was it.

-E

 

[Col_Hogan]

Here is what I use to hold my Aria when I goto LANS..it works out very Nicely...

I also have one for my 18 inch LCD.

Way better than a Backpack or Bag of any sort..

 

[sleepeeg3]

No new Aria, but there is an addition to that “line” of cases.

No that would be a PS-2 style case.

Col that looks nice, but the price is very expensive ($35 for some straps?)

ARIA is not without it's problems. If you are planning to run stock, I'm sure you will be okay. But then again, pretty much any case would be.

With overclocking, you are absolutely going to have to do some serious modding, which will include finding a replacement for the POS PSU. The only solutions I have seen in that area are to: mount it externally, 1CU PSU mounted parallel over the last two PCI slots (which is also going to kill any airflow mods you may have, not to mention it's expensive and takes up two slots), or hack up a power supply with smallish dimensions, cram it in there and compromise on the heatsink (the best you could probably use will be something by Swiftech).

I agree that the top cover looks terrible. Why they beveled it is beyond me. The use of plastic was a good idea, because it's used as a sound absorber, but why did they not make it as thick as the side panels, I have no idea. Since the case is probably going to sit below the level of your ears, it makes even less sense when you realize more of the sound will be escaping up through that thin top cover!

The case colors aren't the best, again why didn't they pick one?

Those are the bigger rants I have against the ARIA...

The good news is that the ARIA is quieter than most SFF, because of the heavy duty plastic paneling and 120mm PSU fan, vs other SFFs thin, resonant aluminum walls and high-pitched, whirring 40-60mm PSU fans.

It's also the only case with SFF style dimensions that is fully customizable.

For Athlon XP systems: Epox 8RGMI - full overclocking options, health monitoring on boot, excellent tech support. Downsides, you won't get much above 200fsb, only 2 PCI slots, miserable place for the CMOS jumper, though holding "INS" always seems to work. Unfortunately, no e-tailer I know still has this board.

For Athlon 64 (754) systems: Biostar K8NHA-M Grand??? - nForce3 250. I say this one with much reservation, because it is the only nForce3 250 board that you can purchase if you live in the USA. The only place available that has this is www.computeruniverse.net (Germany). It took much haggling, alot of money and I finally got the board, but it was DOA! Biostar has the worst warranty option available - 1 year through authorized retailers only. $30 charge if not. I finally submitted to their $30 service charge and a week later, they still have not responded to me. I have also gone through 6 of their Biostar M7NCG 400, all of which were DOA or died with 2 weeks. However with SATA and a PCI/AGP lock, this board is probably the only thing worth considering if you overclock.

For Athlon 64 (939) systems: MSI RS480M2-IL - Radeon 200. Okay technically the only thing out is the ASRock "K8 COMBO-Z" ALi M1689 754/939 chipset, but there are so many faults with that option it's not even funny. The MSI is supposedly due out this month, with PCI-E and what looks to be the phenomenal ATi chipset! This board looks like it may be the least faulted OCing boards across the entire range of mATX boards that have come out! ...if it gets released in the USA, is the big question, as they canned their US release of the K8NM...

 

[tree_]

Found a 3200 and a mATX board for an Aria setup... Now I just need an Aria.. No ones willing to sell theirs? =[

 

[tree_]

I'm worried about cooling with my 3200+ and 9800Pro. What are some cooling mods I could add without drilling holes in the sides and such.. Anyway to just add a fan in there or what?

 

[BillR]

I'm worried about cooling with my 3200+ and 9800Pro. What are some cooling mods I could add without drilling holes in the sides and such.. Anyway to just add a fan in there or what?

Before I put the side fans in I used an 80mm fan at the back of the case using the unused PCI slot holes for the exit. It worked pretty well that way.

My end goal was to keep the PSU cool as well, that is what prompted me to go with the side fans. There is room for a front fan if you give up the card reader; I wasn’t willing to do that as it actually works very well.

 

[tree_]

I don't need the card reader so how would I go about adding an 80mm in the front? And for that extra PCI slot did you use the PCI blower that comes with the Antec? What were your specs and temps with just the one fan?

 

[MrE]

By putting an 80mm fan on the graphics side of the case, my overall temps dropped by 6c which proves the Aria (just like any other case) benifits from positive air flow. The side fan intakes and the 120mm on the back pulls out the heat. I used a SilenX fan so its almost noise free. It's worth buying a hole saw and spending the additional 30 minutes and installing the fan.

And, if its any consolation, the Aria stock (without mods) ran cooler than my Shuttle SN85G4 that it replaced on the CPU side by 4c. Course the SN85's suffered from dropped NIC connectivity if the box got too hot...

-E

 

[BillR]

I don't need the card reader so how would I go about adding an 80mm in the front? And for that extra PCI slot did you use the PCI blower that comes with the Antec? What were your specs and temps with just the one fan?

Once you have the case in your hands the “how too” part becomes obvious, the whole front of the chassis is perforated. Once you pull the card reader you have lots of space.

What will you do with the hole the card reader uses? It’s not standard size; it would take some careful work to make a cover for the hole that wasn’t totally ugly. My specs and temps are unimportant because it’s unlikely you will build the same machine I did. I did get about a 5c temp drop with the fan on the backside; it just was not an elegant solution as well as having no effect on PSU temps which is more important then people seem to want to realize.

By putting an 80mm fan on the graphics side of the case, my overall temps dropped by 6c which proves the Aria (just like any other case) benifits from positive air flow. The side fan intakes and the 120mm on the back pulls out the heat. I used a SilenX fan so its almost noise free. It's worth buying a hole saw and spending the additional 30 minutes and installing the fan.

And, if its any consolation, the Aria stock (without mods) ran cooler than my Shuttle SN85G4 that it replaced on the CPU side by 4c. Course the SN85's suffered from dropped NIC connectivity if the box got too hot

I agree totally, the video card side very warm and needs help; all I did was add the second fan to the other side for additional airflow. I also used my exceptional “Duct tape skills” and blocked off as much of the perforated inside front panel as possible, which forces more air back through the PSU and that dropped the PSU temps to where it’s barely warm to the touch. (Unscientific I know, but I never did actually measure at the PSU. I just know it’s much cooler)

This machine is running an MSI MATX 754 board with a 3200 Claw hammer, a gig of ram and a 120 Gig WD hard drive with a Sony 940 Burner. It runs 24/7 doing folding at home as well as being my DVR and general multi-media machine. CPU temps are 49c and case temps are 38c in room where the ambient temps are about 74d F. It’s rock solid.

 

[tree_]

Anyone have an Aria forsale? Will buy asap. Thanks

 

[sleepeeg3]

tree the only thing you can do without modding to seriously lower the temps (other than installing the included PCI slot blower) is to add a VGA Silencer. Not only will it vent all of the hot air from your card, it also vents some of the heat created by the rest of the system. It alone will probably drop your temps 10° in gaming.

Problem is, without intake vents somewhere, your temps are not going to be good if you plan on overclocking. You really should not need to worry about it, if you don't.

 

[tree_]

I do not plan to overclock. I've never really messed with the cores of gpu's as I';ve always just left the stock heatsink/fan on... How hard is it to put some AS5 and an ATi Silencer on my 9800Pro I plan to stick into an Aria or shuttle if I can get one used for cheap..

 

[MrE]

Problem is, without intake vents somewhere, your temps are not going to be good if you plan on overclocking. You really should not need to worry about it, if you don't.

Well, you also benefit from from positive air pressure just like any modern ATX case. My rig runs much cooler with the 80mm intake fan on the side panel without overclocking. So, the overall temps drop (CPU/GPU/Internal) which helps out with stability and of coarse peace of mind when you DO decide to fool around in overclocking.

-E

 

[Bigshot]

My setup seems to work well for me. Please check link--

My Rig

 

[DimSum]

Hi, being the n00b both to modding a case and this forum, I'm hoping to get some info on how you guys modded yours. I'm planning to go with the following set up:

Intel D925XBC
Intel P4 3.2 Prescott
Corsair 1Gb PC5400 ddr2
3x WD SATA 200Gb (b/c i wanna )
XFX nVidia 6600GT

The problem is that all that in an Antec Aria heats up a little too fast for my personal taste. So what I was thinking about doing was cutting holes on the side panels to add intake fans.

What did you guys use to cut the holes? I'm thinking about using a hole saw but I'm not sure how it would go through the panel and the aluminium sheet. Did you have to remove the aluminium sheet on the inside before doing it?

 

[Bigshot]

I used a drill press to make the holes on the sides of my Aria. If you take your time with a hole saw you can achieve the same results.

One other thing you can do help out with the air flow is to remove the rear fan grill one or both of them. I still don't know why Antec did that? Doing so also seemed to help with the noise of the fan.

 

[DimSum]

Thanks for the input. I am planning to remove the PSU grill within the next few days and replace the PSU fan with something more quiet like a SilenX.

Do you think drilling through both the panel and the aluminium sheet at the same time will cause any problems? or would it be better to find a way to remove the sheet before I start drilling?

 

[ALYNCH75]

Hey you can use the dril with a hole attachment. I drilled from the inside out that way if there are any scracthes its not visible from the outside.

 

[DimSum]

Kewl

I'll just need to borrow my buddy's drill and buy the bit.

 

[williamjohansson]

putting a layer of some ordinary paper tape on the area the drill goes through should prevent scratches an also allow you to draw where to drill/saw without any problems.

does removing the honeycomb grill help with noise also?... if so ill do that too and put the grill thats used in the psu from the start back. since having no fan grill isnt always that good.

 

[M3at]

Daridium I've head a lot of people complaining about having to take out the PSU to get the cPU and hs/f in to fit, Was that a problem you had to face or did it all fit into place just fine?

I didn't run into this problem. I installed the cpu/heatsink+fan and ram on the motherboard before inserting it into the case. It slide right under the psu and mounted fine.

 

[ALYNCH75]

What CPU cooler are you using. To tell you the truth I think the Zalaman CNPS7000 AI CU is the the best cpu cooler. It works on all the CPU's the amd 64(754ping), the AMD athlon XP (462 pin socket a) and the Intel pentium 4 variations.

 

[M3at]

What CPU cooler are you using. To tell you the truth I think the Zalaman CNPS7000 AI CU is the the best cpu cooler. It works on all the CPU's the amd 64(754ping), the AMD athlon XP (462 pin socket a) and the Intel pentium 4 variations.

I have 2 A64 systems. Both 3000+. One has the Zalaman CNPS7000 Al CU and the one in the aria case has the retail cooler. My temps in the Aria are a little hotter, but only by 1-3 degrees at most.

 

[DimSum]

What CPU cooler are you using. To tell you the truth I think the Zalaman CNPS7000 AI CU is the the best cpu cooler. It works on all the CPU's the amd 64(754ping), the AMD athlon XP (462 pin socket a) and the Intel pentium 4 variations.

Maybe I'm blind or something but I didn't see any indication on any website that the Zalman CNPS7000 fits with the LGA 775 chip. I was thinking about going with the Thermaltake Silent 775. Anyone have any opinion on this?

Here's the link: http://www.thermaltake.com/coolers/cl-p0092silent775/cl-p0092silent775.htm

 

[williamjohansson]

Maybe I'm blind or something but I didn't see any indication on any website that the Zalman CNPS7000 fits with the LGA 775 chip. I was thinking about going with the Thermaltake Silent 775. Anyone have any opinion on this?

Here's the link: http://www.thermaltake.com/coolers/cl-p0092silent775/cl-p0092silent775.htm

i have an aria case with a lga775 p4 3,0 ghz, and i use the Zalman CNPS7000b-cu cooler, you need to get a little bracket thats sold seperatly, only costs a couple of bucks.

since the lga775 processors runs very hot you have to run the zalman coolers at 2000-2200 for acceptable cooling effect. thats in my case atleast, havent gotten around yet to making holes and adding small fans.
gonna add a papst 60x60x15 mm fan on each side, theyre only 16db when running with 12v, probably make them go on 7v instead.

 

[DimSum]

i have an aria case with a lga775 p4 3,0 ghz, and i use the Zalman CNPS7000b-cu cooler, you need to get a little bracket thats sold seperatly, only costs a couple of bucks.

Thanks for the info. It certainly saves me the trouble of ordering something that i'm not certain would fit. Any ideas if 80mm fans would fit if I have HDs hanging? I unfortunately don't have any spare fans lying around for me to measure with.

 

[williamjohansson]

Thanks for the info. It certainly saves me the trouble of ordering something that i'm not certain would fit. Any ideas if 80mm fans would fit if I have HDs hanging? I unfortunately don't have any spare fans lying around for me to measure with.

i have a sata 200gb hanging on the right and a ide120gb in the middle, you might be able to fit in a 80mm if you have ide disk's on the sides. the sata cables are so much less obstructive.
but it will get veryvery thight. so thight that i wont even bother trying, and i got an extra 80 mm fan :-/
im just waiting for my Papst 60x60x15mm, 16dBa, 18,7 m³/t -fans to get in the store

 

[DimSum]

Unfortunately, being a canuck makes it really difficult to find what I need. It doesn't look like papsts are available here atm. Gonna have to do a little more digging around. If anyone here is from Toronto and knows where I can get them, I would greatly appreciate it if you could direct me to a store that carries them

 

[ALYNCH75]

Look forget about whatever you are thinking. Look for the Zalaman site they have several versions similar to the CNSP7000 that will work with your cpu.

 

[DimSum]

Look forget about whatever you are thinking. Look for the Zalaman site they have several versions similar to the CNSP7000 that will work with your cpu.

I should learn to read the topic of a post reply before making a comment lol... In regards to the CPU fan, since the zalman is considered to be among the best cooling units, i'm probably gonna go with that. I just have to purchase the bracket thingie.

It's gonna have to be in a few days though. My place is being repainted and i don't have access to my toys

 

[ALYNCH75]

Rest in peace Its not dead I sold my Antec Aria rig to somone on ebay for $550 now I find out that it was worth more. Well I needed to start over anyway. But if I had it to do again I would stay away from the ANTEC Aria

 

[Cliff Couser]

One other thing you can do help out with the air flow is to remove the rear fan grill one or both of them. I still don't know why Antec did that? Doing so also seemed to help with the noise of the fan.

was that noise a damned irritating whine?

I can't stand it...though I can't imagine how removing the fan grill would remove the noise....hhhhmmmm...