Antec jumping onto SFF bandwagon

[CityK]

The new aria sff case outlined in this pdf will probably become available fairly soon. I like the fact that you can fit a mATX board in there, as opposed to some proprietary sized one. Don't care for the blue illumination though. It will be interesting to see what the insides look like.

Speaking of Antec, another pic of the forthcoming fanless PSU can be seen in this slightly less recent article... $169 MSRP

 

[CityK]

It will be interesting to see what the insides look like.

Well that didn't take long. Although its not mentioned in the preview, the author mentions in their forums that the MSRP for the Aria is $129US, and one user noted that one store is already doing pre-orders @ $94.

 

[ddrueding]

Holy crap! That SFF Athlon64 board in that chasis for an MSRP of ~$200

That is frikin amazing!

Let's see:

DFI SFF barebones: $200
AMD Athlon64 3000+ Retail: $211
WD 740GD - OEM: $233
SAPPHIRE ATI RADEON 9800PRO: $210
Pioneer DVR-A07 (8X DVD=/-RW): $191

Total: $1045

All I can say is.... :eekers:

 

[ddrueding]

Oh, and $100 in RAM

 

[Pradeep]

Looks like a good HTPC machine. Now where can I get one.

Stop me from getting a cheap Dell for the wife......

 

[ddrueding]

LOL, I'm having to revert my primary PC to a Dell Optiplex GX100 w/512MB of RAM and a 400BB. I've been playing too many games, this should fix it...

All I have to do is hold out for this sucker

 

[CityK]

Holy crap! That SFF Athlon64 board in that chasis for an MSRP of ~$200

That is frikin amazing!

Yep, its a pretty good deal.

The Aria could suit my needs quite nicely. Maybe even two of them and make some book ends

 

[P5-133XL]

It won't happen - It is too good of a deal. There has to have been a mistake made concerning the pricing.

 

[CityK]

It won't happen

Bah, have ye no faith?

Now where can I get one.

One of the stores offereing preordering is apparently listing a Mar10th ETA for the Aria itself....that doesn't say much, and Antec delievery schedules have a history of being a moving target....nonetheless, if true, then hopefully it will gain widespread availability by the end of the month/early April.

Some more pics of the case can be seen half way down this page.

Some casual observations from the pics I've seen so far:
- messy wiring. They should have included/stuck a couple of those plastic twisting things that they place in their other cases to hold case wires
- The wiring from the PSU seems to originate on the side adjacent to the PCI slots. Wouldn't it have made more sense to run the cables on the other side, along the right case panel and out of the way?
- The cyclone thingy automatically eats one of the PCI slots. However, depending upon the orientation of its intake, it might help beside toasty GPUs
- PSU has intake vent slot right against right side of case. Is there any room between case panel and PSU?
- the PSU's black connecters almost look like they could be SATA, but some of them are plugging straight into white molex
- most recent pics make black bezel face look more similar to the finish of Sonota cases, unlike earilier pics which made it look like a completely matt finish
- those square buttons got to go.

In regards to the DFI board (if you wanted to go with the bundled route)
- they included a a CMR/AMR riser slot. Don't they realize that the riser slot must die? DIE RISER DIE!

 

[CityK]

SPCR took a look at a demo model. Personally I'm dissapointed with what I saw. Alot of potential, but ....

I somehow doubt that a production model will address a number of the design shortcomings. Actually, I kind of wonder now if this thing is just going to turn out just like last years stillborn Fusion.

 

[CityK]

... I really need a proofreader to proofread my proofreads.

 

[Pradeep]

OK, I've given up waiting for the Antec, which is apparently a noisy beast.

I'm looking at the Shuttle SN85G4, going for $297 from newegg.

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/mobile/display/shuttle-sn85g4.html

Prob go with the Athlon 64 3000+ for $223. Recycle my AIW 7500, and move my FW 800 card into it.

I'll take this for myself, and give my wife the Dell 400SC

 

[P5-133XL]

Antec's are noisey because of the unneeded case fans. I just don't power them or, as needed, replace them with much better and quieter fans.

I actually like the 400SC. A very quiet machine at a good price (Dell commonly gives very good deals on these). My only real complaint is that the top bay will not fit a standard CD-Rom because of clearance issues.

 

[blakerwry]

It's not just the fans, you can remove them completely and it can still be noisy because of the huge 12CM hole in the front and rear of your case that lets noise escape directly out of the computer.

For this reason i prefer 80mm case fans... 92mm proabbly being good as well.. but 12CM is just bad.. there aren't enough fans in that size anyway. The selection, price, and performance of 80 and 92mm fans just makes them much more attractive to me.

 

[ddrueding]

It's not just the fans, you can remove them completely and it can still be noisy because of the huge 12CM hole in the front and rear of your case that lets noise escape directly out of the computer.

For this reason i prefer 80mm case fans... 92mm proabbly being good as well.. but 12CM is just bad.. there aren't enough fans in that size anyway. The selection, price, and performance of 80 and 92mm fans just makes them much more attractive to me.

Panaflo makes a 120mm fan that is very nice @ 7v. I use acoutstic paneling to cover the vents I don't want.

 

[blakerwry]

yeah, I have used a piece of a cardboard box to cover some of the holes... But in my p160 I'm using 2 of the antec 120MM fans, running them at 5v.


video is cooled by a 60mm fam from a retail AMD heatsink which has been 5 volted and has an inline resistor.. no idea how fast it's actually spinning... inaudible over the other noise.

CPU cooled by my whisperRock III attached to a fanmate turned nearly to the slowest speed setting (~1600rpms)... inaudible over the other noise except for a slight ticking if you get really close.



now I just need to get rid of this 1200BB (which is where almost all of the noise comes from)


oh and fix my gf's Shuttle which has leays been kinda noisey.