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PostPosted: Mon Sep 13, 2004 8:24 am 
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Joined: Thu Sep 09, 2004 10:55 pm
Posts: 3
Here's my hardware rundown. Everything worked "out of the box". pretty much.

Antec Aria Case
Chaintech 7nif2 mobo (has onboard audio/lan/geforce mx400 vid)
Athlon 2800+ proc
512 ddr ram
200gb hdd
memorex 8x dvd burner
2 x PVR-250s

I did the auto-install. The only glitch during install was I had to change my Western Digital Harddrive from Master to cable select in order to get it to boot right after install.

The install correctly installed myth, configured my nic card and audio. My PVR-250s were recognized right away by the OS. I had to run the nvidia-install script to install my video card properly. I actually then later upgraded to the latest nvidia drivers (xsecrets has a post about this) and that greatly improved my tv-out display. I now have an interlaced option and it has removed all interlacing from the output. Let me know if you want to see my XF86Config-4 file.

So far i couldn't be more pleased. I am a convert from replaytv and my experience thus far has been superior to replay...and thats saying a lot. :)

Let me know if you have any questions about the hardware or config...I'd be glad to help out.

--Justin


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PostPosted: Mon Sep 13, 2004 5:58 pm 
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Joined: Thu Sep 02, 2004 6:44 pm
Posts: 5
Thanks for sharing your config!

I am considering the Antec Aria and have a few questions:

1) Is it as quiet as they claim?
2) Do you think it provides enough cooling?
3) Did you choose a silent CPU cooler, if so, which one?

Thanks,

-LeeMan-


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PostPosted: Mon Sep 13, 2004 6:48 pm 
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Joined: Fri Apr 02, 2004 10:08 am
Posts: 1637
Location: Virginia, USA
Also, how hard was it to install things into the case? (I almost went with an Aria but chickened out and got a CoolerMaster instead)

I would love to see your XF86Config-4 file, so I can try it and see what you're seeing.


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 Post subject: Answers...
PostPosted: Thu Sep 16, 2004 1:11 pm 
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Joined: Thu Sep 09, 2004 10:55 pm
Posts: 3
1. It is as quiet as all the claims I've read. Its hard to quantify something like audible noise in text but its damn quiet. I have it in my stereo cabinet and can't hear a thing from it. I was building it on my desk and could just barely hear a whisper.

2. It seems to provide plenty of cooling. I know athlon procs run hot and it seems to keep mine plenty cool. I am using the supplemental PCI-slot fan they provide in the box with the case. I don't know if that is helping much but I'm using it until I need the 3rd pci slot.

3. I'm just using a generic compusa heatsink/fan combo. I needed to get something fairly short so it would fit properly in the case. The power supply sits right over the top of where my processor is...so you don't have a tremendous amount of clearance.


About installing things in the case...it was definitely more of a pain than a regular size case but that really should be expected with micro-atx mothoerboards. That being said, it really only took me maybe an extra 10% of my time to get it built compared to the time it takes me to build a fullsize case box.

I'm certainly not claiming that this is perfection...but combine this with turning OFF xvmc and turning ON de-interlace filter and jitter correction filter in the GUI settings...I get a damn good picture.

Here is the relevant section in XF86Config-4 file:

Section "Device"
Identifier "Videocard0"
Driver "nvidia"
VendorName "Chaintech"
BoardName "nVidia GeForce 4 MX 440"
Option "TVStandard" "HD480i"
Option "TVOutFormat" "SVIDEO"
Option "TVOverScan" "0.7"
Option "TVOverScan" "0.7"
Option "NvAGP" "1"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen0"
Device "Videocard0"
Monitor "Monitor0"
DefaultDepth 24

SubSection "Display"
Depth 24
Modes "640x480"
EndSubSection
EndSection


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PostPosted: Sun Sep 19, 2004 6:14 am 
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Joined: Fri Mar 12, 2004 4:02 pm
Posts: 134
is there any chance that you can post your entire XF86Config-4 file? I'm having some trouble getting this to work.

Adrian


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 Post subject: 2c antec aria
PostPosted: Mon Sep 27, 2004 7:32 pm 
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Joined: Sat Sep 11, 2004 8:37 pm
Posts: 56
Location: Ohio, US
Just wanted to add my 2 cents on the Antec Aira, which I am using along with a DFI KM400 motherboard and Athlon XP 2400 + 120G WD. I don't think the case is nearly as quiet as many people suggest. When the room is relatively quiet, it is clearly audible. It seems that most of this noise is coming from the powe supply fan itself, which is pretty big compared to the size of the case, but then it is a 300W power supply. My plan is to build a cabinet above my TV and put a glass door in front of it to muffle the sound.

On the plus side, the case is very nicely put together. The sides and top easily come off without any screwdriver required. The allowance for up to 3 internal hard drives (in addition to the 5 1/2 bay for DVD drive) iis very clever. Finally, the slot fan that Antec includes in the box is very good, and it is pretty quiet itself. I haven't tried using any of the media reader slots or front USB ports but I am glad they are there (for someday...)

One thing to be aware of when picking out your cpu cooler - depending on the motherboard you get the CPU may be partially "beneath" the power supply. In my case, this meant I could only use a heatsink+fan that was less than about 57mm, which is far less than many of them. I ended up with an all-copper unit that fits with a little room to spare.

Temperature is not bad inside the case (haven't actually measured it) but it seems like the hard drive runs pretty warm, which may be an issue later.

Good luck!


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