Antec Aria with performance mods

[mnpctech]

Customer's Antec Aria arrives
http://mnpctechcom.temp.powweb.com/images/AntecAria/Aria1b.jpg


After performing proper cabling
http://mnpctechcom.temp.powweb.com/images/AntecAria/AriaWiringAFT2.jpg

Antec's Aria relies on it's PSU fan for cooling. Swapping out Antec's anemic 120 PSU fan will make significant change in temps.

Aria is a good candiate for positive pressure cooling. This means cramming as much cool air as possible into case and forcing hot air out of all the vents/cracks. Doing this also eliminates dust build up that can hinder performance.

I started by installing 2, 80mm Panaflo L1A (low speed 24.0 cfm. 21.0 dBA ) from Coolcases (http://www.coolcases.com/cart/p80_1a_2_u.html) with Jim's plastic fan filters (http://www.coolcases.com/cart/fanaccess.php) to both left (http://mnpctechcom.temp.powweb.com/images/AntecAria/AriaLF.jpg) and right (http://mnpctechcom.temp.powweb.com/images/AntecAria/AriaRightPflo.jpg) panels as near to front of case as possible.

A minor modification must be made to bottom of Optical cage (http://mnpctechcom.temp.powweb.com/images/AntecAria/AriaCage.jpg) with rotary tool w/ cutting disc attachment and file so it clears side intake fans when lifting it upwards.


Swap 120x20 Antec fan (http://mnpctechcom.temp.powweb.com/images/AntecAria/AriaAntec120.jpg) (38.94 cfm. dBA 25) to Enermax UC-12FAB-B
(http://mnpctechcom.temp.powweb.com/images/AntecAria/AriaEnermax120.jpg) w/ adj speed (63.05 cfm. dBA 24.60 <--adj--> 94.92 cfm. 30.10dBA)

Enermax 120 UC-12FAB-B
installed in PSU (http://mnpctechcom.temp.powweb.com/images/AntecAria/AriaPSUfan2.jpg) .......w/o finger guard

PSU fan swap took me 1.5hrs. I bypassed Antec's thermo control circuit (http://mnpctechcom.temp.powweb.com/images/AntecAria/AriaAntec120thermo.jpg) and drilled small hole for Enermax fan speed control (http://mnpctechcom.temp.powweb.com/images/AntecAria/AriaFanAdj.jpg) and power molex. User has full control of fan speed. Note Intel's MB monitor will notify @ Win start up System Zone 1 fan has stopped.

Reference photos of Aria PSU @ pimprig (http://reviews.pimprig.com/cases/antec_aria_micro_atx_cube_case.php?page=3)

Aria cable/wiring layout is crucial for airflow

tack Cable Ties w/ adhesive bases to the PSU to keep wires out of airstream
Tack & Tidy wires (http://mnpctechcom.temp.powweb.com/images/AntecAria/AriaWiringAFT.jpg)

PSU MB Connection suspended above MB (http://mnpctechcom.temp.powweb.com/images/AntecAria/AriaRightAFT.jpg)

Use shorter 12" Round IDE Cable (http://mnpctechcom.temp.powweb.com/images/AntecAria/AriaCables.jpg)


Contrary to what you may have heard, Aria's intake vents are not horrible. I'd like to see more cases have this many vents, but they won't do you any good if theyre blocked. Clear the intake grill of wires/cables :judge: Behind the Aria front bezel (http://mnpctechcom.temp.powweb.com/images/AntecAria/AriaBezelVent.jpg).


System board: Intel D925XBC
CPU: P4 3.2GHz
Intel OEM HSF
Shin-Etsu G675 Thermal Paste
1GB Corsair
WD Raptor 74GB SATA
Radeon 300X 128MB VGA
DVD optical

System Temps before Modifying Antec Aria here (http://mnpctechcom.temp.powweb.com/images/AntecAria/AriaTemps.jpg)

System Temps after Modifying Antec Aria here (http://mnpctechcom.temp.powweb.com/images/AntecAria/AriaTempsIntel2.jpg) (Ambient room temp @ 21.6C (Enermax 120 fan swap in PSU @ low speed)

Temperature reading during 6th consecutive run of PCMark04 (http://mnpctechcom.temp.powweb.com/images/AntecAria/AriaTempsPCMARK04.jpg)


Hope you found these tips useful!

[fivecheebs]

Fugly aint the word man! ;)

Im undecided about this case. I know nothing about sff but have heard people talk about this case. Tidy wires are important in any case, more so in smaller cases but i imagine its so much harder to hide the excess in a case like this so you just have to make as neat as possible, not easy...

I have a habbit of taking the front bezel off every computer i build, whether thats for a customer, a mate or myself, so that i can tidy those things up. Have even been known to braid them in the past lol. Sometimes they are so messy they take a few mins to untangle lol, how is it possible for them to get that bad just in the manufacturing process!

[BuffaloBoy]

I have a habit of braiding my 3-wire fan tails. Makes the wires a bit easier to manage, at least.

I think thats a cool looking case. I'm not a big fan of mini-cubes myself, at least not for my own machines. Working with anything smaller than a midtower pisses me off, there's no room to work :blink:

[FastRedPonyCar]

Ok, so if I were to build one of these aria boxes and I wanted to install say one of those aluminum fans in the PSU, what steps would I need to take to get it installed properly?

Would it be as easy as splicing the 3 wires from the new fan to the 3 wires that were used by the antec fan?

Or is it not that easy?

[newyorkjets00]

i wana know how to do that psu fan mod...

[jaguarking11]

Love the work bill. Very clean work as always. Watching your worklogs is always a pleasure.

[Marquee]

Yeah way better cable manament.

[Crunch]

Thats alot of degrees lost just by cable management. Excellent work. I guess it make sense to spend a half hour cleaning my set-up.