Last month I built my first small-form-factor PC, and it was a smashing success. Unwilling to rest on that momentous achievement, and buoyed by the strong response to the column, I decided I'd do the logical thing and build another one.

What is wrong with me?

Okay, build number two wasn't that bad. In fact, the end result is quite pleasing. But with my second build behind me, I must say I have an even greater appreciation for the engineering wizardry that went into the Shuttle XPC bare-bones system I used the first time around. It turns out, not everything that's small is created equal.

Antec Gets Small

I mentioned Antec's Aria case a few months back, after the company previewed it at the Consumer Electronics Show, promoting it as an alternative to bare-bones small-form-factor systems.

While Shuttle XPCs require you to use their own proprietary motherboards and limit you to just one PCI card slot, the $129 Aria accommodates any industry-standard Micro ATX motherboard and has room for up to four PCI cards. Other amenities include a built-in eight-in-one card reader, a near-silent 300-watt power supply, removable noise-absorbing side panels, and a megasize 120-millimeter chassis/power-supply fan for quiet cooling.

At 7.9 inches tall by 10.6 inches wide and 13.2 inches long, the Aria is notably smaller than most desktop PC cases. But when I placed it next to the Shuttle, which measures 7.2 by 7.8 by 11.8 inches, it looked a bit chunky. I slid off the lid, lifted out the cleverly designed drive cage, and looked inside the surprisingly cavernous case. "Look at all that room to move," I thought. "Installation will be a snap."

Well, not quite.

After replacing the rear connector plate with the one that came with my $60 Soyo SY-K7VME motherboard and installing my Advanced Micro Devices Athlon XP 2500+ CPU, I was ready to go. As I lowered the motherboard into the case, I realized there was a good 3 or 4 inches of space between the edge of the motherboard and the front of the case. Unfortunately, Antec's placement of the power supply at the top rear of the case meant I had to jam the motherboard down and under. I struggled for more than 5 minutes to get the power supply cables out of the way, line up all the ports in the back, and hook the motherboard onto the chassis's metal clip-on standoffs.

Finally, I lined up the motherboard over the two brass standoffs that required screws--and realized that I could use only one screw, since the motherboard's memory slot lever prevented me from reaching the second screw with my screwdriver. However, the combination of several metal standoffs and one screw convinced me the motherboard was solid in the case, so I prepared to install the rest of my components.

More Small Problems

On every PC build I can remember, I've installed the processor on the motherboard, then installed the motherboard in the case before plugging in anything else. The Antec case, and the power supply in particular, wouldn't permit me to do that. Too many spots on the motherboard were simply out of reach.

For example, I quickly realized that there was no way I could install the stock processor fan with the motherboard in the case, because the CPU was too close to the case wall. So I unscrewed the motherboard and removed it from the case. It was a process I would repeat many times.

In fact, every time I fought through the mess of power cables, realigned the ports, and screwed the motherboard back into the chassis, I realized that I would have to take it out again. This happened when it came time to plug in the power supply; and it happened again when it came time to connect the cable from the front-panel media header to the motherboard.

That same media cable caused additional problems when I needed to install my AGP graphics card, since the connector was directly in the path that the card needed to reach the back of the chassis. Geez, what were you Soyo folks thinking?

At this point, I would like to point out that I had zero problems installing both of my memory DIMMS. And plugging in the remainder of the front-panel wiring was painless.

Final Small Steps

Installing my hard disk and optical drive proved fairly straightforward. But after screwing both drives into Aria's removable drop-down cage, I realized that my TDK DVD drive wouldn't work with the drive-door mechanism. So I had to remove the door from the chassis and slide the drive forward in the cage.

With both drives connected to the motherboard, and to their power cables, there wasn't much clearance behind the optical drive and the chassis when it was time to reinstall the cage. I carefully slid it back into its spot, careful not to damage the connectors themselves.

Finally, I slid the lid back on and looked at my watch. The whole build had taken just under 2 hours, about twice as long as the Shuttle. Then I fired up my new system, and it booted without a hitch the very first time. My Microsoft Windows XP installation went well, too.

And now that it's up and running, I'm starting to fall for the Aria, too. It's not as small as the Shuttle (that wasted space inside does so vex me), and it's not nearly as cleverly engineered. But it does offer expansion room: There's enough space to vertically install two more hard drives, and there's room for several PCI cards. The eight-in-one card reader is a nice touch, and the blue LEDs up front make me smile. Finally, the Soyo motherboard and Aria case combined will run you about $190. That's not exactly cheap, but it's less than the Shuttle's $250 starting point.

With this build behind me, I've put my minor obsession with small PCs to rest. At least until I get home, and I'm faced with that giant tower I thought was so cool a year ago.

Ever built a small-form-factor PC of your own? How did it go? Are you pleased with its performance? Drop me a line and tell me your story.