From the outside
It's supposed to be what's inside that counts, but for PC enclosures, looks matter.

Fortunately, the Aria looks pretty good. The case's two-tone plastic exterior doesn't have the same visual impact as Antec's high-gloss Sonata or aluminum and faux-chrome P160, but it gives the Aria a more understated look that helps the case blend into its surroundings rather than stand out. At least Antec didn't go with the clinical all-white look that makes Shuttle's most recent XPCs resemble iMac clones.

The Aria's understated aesthetic carries over to the case's blue LEDs, which face up rather than out. Recently, we've seen enclosure manufacturers go a little nuts with blinding blue LEDs that cut through the darkness with all the subtlety of a death ray. Antec's own Sonata is a perfect example of the ultra-bright blue LED trend, but the Aria's approach to lighting is much more subtle. The case's blue LEDs produce two muted columns of light that, at least in my opinion, look far better than high beams. The Aria's lighting won't vaporize small children or household pets, either.

If you prefer the shroud of total darkness, the Aria's blue glow can easily be disabled by unplugging the LEDs' Molex power connector.

In addition to tasteful blue lighting, the Aria's front panel comes equipped with a complete array of peripheral ports and an integrated memory card reader. The case doesn't have an external 3.5" drive bay, so floppy users will be out of luck. However, there are a couple of front panel USB ports, a Firewire port, and a pair of audio jacks.

The internal headers for the Aria's front USB ports and memory card reader are keyed, which makes hooking them up a snap. Unfortunately, there's no keyed standard for audio or Firewire ports, so those pin connectors must be plugged in individually. To Antec's credit, the individual pin plugs are clearly labeled, so hooking up the Firewire and audio ports is as easy as following the pin diagrams found in most motherboard manuals.

To ensure that the Aria's classy exterior isn't marred by an ugly beige 5.25" optical drive, the Aria comes with a spring-loaded drive bay cover. The bay cover neatly masks optical drives of any color, but the eject button won't necessarily line up properly with every drive. Unlike the eject buttons on drive bay covers found on Shuttle's SB75S and Antec's own P160, the Aria's eject button can't be moved from side to side to line up with different optical drive button placements.

To be fair, all of the optical drives I have in the Benchmarking Sweatshop work just fine with the Aria's eject button, but keep in mind that some configurations might not line up properly. The drive bay cover also doesn't work with slot- or cartridge-loading optical drives.

Around the rear, the Aria is dominated by a massive 120mm exhaust fan. This variable speed fan is attached to the system's power supply, but it's also tasked with venting warm air from inside the case. At idle, the fan's low speed setting is all but inaudible. However, as the case's internals heat up, the fan ramps up the RPMs and reminds you it's there.

The Aria has the same honeycomb fan grill as Antec's Sonata case, which is open enough not to impede air flow. However, the honeycomb grill seems a little redundant considering that the 120mm is also protected by a standard circular fan grill. Neither grill is particularly restrictive, but the fact that there are two has to impede air flow more than a single grill would.

While I'm griping, I should point out that the Aria's PCI and AGP retention brackets could use a little work. The all-thumbscrew design of Antec's P160 PCI retention bracket raised the bar, and it would be nice to the same convenience on the Aria. While we're on the subject of PCI brackets, take note that the Aria can accommodate a total of four expansion cards. There's enough room for double-wide cards like the GeForce FX 5950 Ultra, too.

A standard IO port shield rounds out the Aria's booty and highlights the case's compatibility with multiple motherboard configurations. While traditional small form factor systems use proprietary port shields, the Aria can accommodate the standard port shields that ship with nearly all Micro ATX motherboards.