Micro-ATX Cases - Shoebox Showdown
by Joshua Buss on January 2, 2007 12:40 PM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
Antec Aria - Interior Cont'd
As with many SFF cases, the drive cage has to be prepared before being put back into the rest of the system. One hard drive fits underneath the optical cage, and two others can hang vertically from either side, only mounted with three screws on one side of the drive. Acoustic absorbing material is in between the vertical drives and the metal, and soft grommets are provided for the single horizontal 3.5" bay.
We had to remove the custom tray cover of our MSI CD burner, but the drive's bezel had to remain so the stealthy cover on the front of the case operated the eject button properly. Getting an SATA (or IDE) cable into the optical drive was a little tricky, but we managed thanks to the ability to hold the whole cage at a half-way open position.
A few more shots of the completed build give a good idea of how cramped things can get in a miniscule case, even if it is well designed.
The right side looks quite a bit better, giving a glimmer of hope to people hoping to put more elaborate cooling systems inside the Aria, as long as the vertical hard drives are omitted.
Antec includes a variable speed blower fan which we installed in the last open expansion bay to help the computer keep up with the moderately high cooling demands from our test bed.
Finally, with the test bed up and running, we could capture the effects of the power and HDD activity LEDs with a slower shutter speed, and this is what we got.
In many ways, the Antec Aria reminds us a lot of the typical Shuttle SFF systems, only it's a bit wider in order to accommodate a micro-ATX motherboard. The final price plus motherboard is lower than what you would pay for an SFF case, and you will be able to upgrade the motherboard in the future. While the case does offer more in the way of expansion options than most SFFs, we would be very hesitant to max out this particular design with three hard drives and four expansion cards. In a more moderate configuration, however, the case works well overall.
As with many SFF cases, the drive cage has to be prepared before being put back into the rest of the system. One hard drive fits underneath the optical cage, and two others can hang vertically from either side, only mounted with three screws on one side of the drive. Acoustic absorbing material is in between the vertical drives and the metal, and soft grommets are provided for the single horizontal 3.5" bay.
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| Click to enlarge |
We had to remove the custom tray cover of our MSI CD burner, but the drive's bezel had to remain so the stealthy cover on the front of the case operated the eject button properly. Getting an SATA (or IDE) cable into the optical drive was a little tricky, but we managed thanks to the ability to hold the whole cage at a half-way open position.
 |
| Click to enlarge |
A few more shots of the completed build give a good idea of how cramped things can get in a miniscule case, even if it is well designed.
The right side looks quite a bit better, giving a glimmer of hope to people hoping to put more elaborate cooling systems inside the Aria, as long as the vertical hard drives are omitted.
Antec includes a variable speed blower fan which we installed in the last open expansion bay to help the computer keep up with the moderately high cooling demands from our test bed.
Finally, with the test bed up and running, we could capture the effects of the power and HDD activity LEDs with a slower shutter speed, and this is what we got.
In many ways, the Antec Aria reminds us a lot of the typical Shuttle SFF systems, only it's a bit wider in order to accommodate a micro-ATX motherboard. The final price plus motherboard is lower than what you would pay for an SFF case, and you will be able to upgrade the motherboard in the future. While the case does offer more in the way of expansion options than most SFFs, we would be very hesitant to max out this particular design with three hard drives and four expansion cards. In a more moderate configuration, however, the case works well overall.
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shenoyh - Tuesday, January 2, 2007 - link
Just curious..there seems to be enough space and screw-holes for a regular ATX motherboard ...though it would be a tight fit.JarredWalton - Tuesday, January 2, 2007 - link
If it can fit a regular ATX board, it would no longer be a micro-ATX case - at least, that's how I see it.OrSin - Tuesday, January 2, 2007 - link
How can you do a M-ATX review and not have the Sugo in it. Its price is nice and workmanship on par with the Qmicra. With the huge difference in pricing I would think even full systems can be reveiwed.JarredWalton - Tuesday, January 2, 2007 - link
Generally, we review what we get. If Sugo wants to send Josh a case for review, I'm sure he would be happy to include it. Obviously, a look at three cases is not going to be a comprehensive roundup, but it's virtually impossible to include every potential candidate in an article.KingDaPuma - Tuesday, January 2, 2007 - link
Great review. Thanks. I note that the cases were tested with the GeForce 6600GT. Will any of the new DX10 cards (GeForce 8800, ATI R600, etc.) fit within any of these SFF cases?blinkin2000 - Wednesday, January 3, 2007 - link
The 8800GTX Fits but you must cut a hole for power connectors and you loose the lower 5.25" bay, but it fits.blinkin2000 - Wednesday, January 3, 2007 - link
in the microflywilburpan - Tuesday, January 2, 2007 - link
If I read your review correctly, it looks like the main source of noise was from the power supply fan. Would it be possible to replace the fan to try to cut down on the noise? Failing that, are these power supplies proprietary enough so that they can't be swapped out?mpc7488 - Tuesday, January 2, 2007 - link
From the Microfly Final Words: "If you want to use a different full-size ATX PSU, you can get the case only for as little as $50."IMO, accepting a full-size ATX replacement is a huge plus for this case. Everyone I know with a Shuttle cube has had a power supply fail in 1-2 years, they're not that cheap to replace, and output capacities are very limited.
Schmide - Friday, January 5, 2007 - link
Agreed, However I got this case and the funny thing is the X-connect doesn't fit in this case. Aren't these the same brand. Lollerskates...