Small Form Factor Antec Aria Micro ATX Cube Case

Considering getting one of these? I know the cooling is not great but that can be modified to suit my plans depending on the hardware set-up I decide on. Been looking around to see what MATX boards are around and want one for the following hardware I have in mind

1. 9800 pro
2. 3.2Ghz Northwood P4
2. 160Gb SATA Samsung HDD
4. 1Gb Corsair Pc3200 XMS DDR RAM
5. Pioneer DVD writer ( 8 x Speed)

Need to be able to source the mobby in the UK.
Something that is overclockable would be nice?

Some I've short listed.

Asus P4P800-VM "i865G" Micro ATX
AOpen MX4SGI-N
Gigabyte GA-8TRS350MT

All available from Dabs

 

I've got one arriving next week, for an HTPC PC. I'll be using a Celly 2.4, probably underclocked to 1.8 with a slow fan on the heatsink, since I won't be using it for games. The mobo is going to be an Asrock one, for the same reasons: it's cheap and will do the job

The reviews are all pretty positive, it's just that it does seem to get loud if you're planning on taxing it - but then if you're gaming I guess you just turn the speaker volume up and ignore the fan noise. Always worked for me anyhow!

Cheers
Buzzy

 

I've got the Asus P4P800-vm it's basically a P4P800 with 2 PCI slots chopped off the end. Not the most overclockable since there are no options in the bios however using clockgen I'm manged a 600mhz increase with my 2.4c. Solid board otherwise, runs like a dream.

 

I plummed for the Abit IS-10 in the end as I've used many Abit boards in the past without a problem. As for cooling there will be a few mods up my sleeve to keep the temps down and the noise to a minimum. I hoping better ventilation and not extra fans will do the job. Going to bung up a project log for a laugh so it might incourage some ideas and feedback

 

As an early suggestion, I found that having mesh windows on the sides meant that that Aria had plenty of air being drawn through it and didn't sound any noisier than before with the panels uncut .

 

If you don't mind me asking how good a price did you guys get on the aria case,and also where are you buying from as i am after one too, the best price i have seen so far is £70, still looking for cheaper though.

 

Funny you should ask... I got mine from Aria for around £75. Well, I say "got" but although it was ordered last Wednesday, it won't be shipped 'til tomorrow ("Overnight delivery" my bum). This turns out to be because their credit card security checking system is a bit of a mess. They phoned me just now and asked me to fax them my credit card bill to them to prove who I am so they can deliver it to my work. Of course, I don't habitually carry credit card invoices around with me, so I couldn't fax it until tomorrow. A further delay. Joy. In the end they called the HR department to verify I worked here before agreeing to ship it.

All this I wouldn't mind, except that when I phoned them on Friday to chase the order up they said that they needed to do a security check on the card and "all it would take was a quick phone call from Aria to my bank". I even specifically asked whether I needed to provide anything: "No". Honestly, ordering from anyone else has *never* been this much hassle.

Anyway, rant over Conclusion: Cheaper than most, but *really* not worth the hassles. Go elsewhere

 

Kustom PCs - you won't find better service .

 

On this project I wanted to keep shipping costs to a minimum so opted to get mine with the motherboard from dabs although OcUK were a couple £'s cheaper I saved it one less vendor and I have it here now, just under a week for delivery. That's livining on an island for you

Just waiting on the rest of the toy's

 

Thanks for replies, i may go with kustom pc as i have heard lots of good reports. Oh and BTW sorry did'nt mean to kinda hijack the thread.

 

Project LOG!

Just to update you's guys.

I've started a project log for this case, so that you can see it develop good or bad. Enjoy the ride and feel free to ask away or make suggestions. Nothing is set in stone yet. I'm sure inspiration will flow once I get started.

Project can be found here

 

ABit IS-10 Motherboard

I've wasted a whole weekend trying to get this system up and running with no sucess

As the Aria has no speaker in it and it wasn't until I tried the RAM in my test rig did I realise that one of the sticks was DOA.

So that's gone back to Tekheads RMA. So used my RAM out of the test so that I could at least get the most of the build completed. But I loose signal to the GFX and just hangs. I can't get a BIOS update from Abit tried all day to download it. Checked the HDD with the Powermax utility from Maxtor and did a burn test and passed ok. Also did a full scan, still test ok?

I went for a Maxtor 9 SATA 160gig as the Samsung was out of stock.
Also using Patriot RAM as it was cheap option and a good deal.

I'm tempted to bin the Motherboard and go for the Asus one?

 

Well, you won't find a better MATX P4 board than the Asus one. It is awesome .

 

Be warned, the ARIA runs a little hot, 5-10C higher than most desktops, usually this isn't a problem though. I was impressed by the ARIA's quality, better than most other Antec products, IMO.

 

After a terrible hardware install start. Things have got a whole lot better since the change in motherboard. Temps look good, setup and config has been a pleasure up to now. Do I dare say I happy

The P4P800-VM has brought put a cheesy gin back on my face

 

Hey Guys, recieved my antec cube case on Tuesday from planet micro
http://www.planetmicro.co.uk/product_info.asp?stockcode=M003450 i ordred it on saturday night it was despatched on monday and got it on tuesday, It cost £71.56 with delivery and v.a.t, and i have to say what a cracking piece of kit i am well pleased with it, If you don't have one of these get one now. The heat issues don't seem to be a problem i have a pentium4 3.06 gig cpu according to the temp software i am useing while surfing the web my CPU temp is 37 degrees wihich is not much different to when i had the same kit in a larger case. YEEEEHAAAA.