Computing on Demand PC News & Reviews
The case also uses 120mm fans (1 included as an exhaust) to move lots of air at low rpm’s to help quiet your computing experience. There is a place to mount an additional 120mm fan to the hard drive cage if you want more airflow. This is a somewhat odd place for it but it looks like it should work well enough. (I will test this in a future article) This front intake also directs air across the hard drive cage to aid in cooling the drives. With the speeds of hard drives increasing these days (10,000 rpm SATA) this is a nice feature. Antec also mounts the fans with rubber pins instead of screws to aid in lessening vibration. It also has an easily removable air filter mounted in the front of the case.
The removable hard drive trays are fitted with rubber grommets where the drives mount to help eliminate vibration noises. I will cover more of this in my next article, coming soon.
Conclusion
This is an extremely well put together case, the fit is perfect everywhere that I could see. The paint job is near perfect with a slight hint of orange peel and the packaging was great. The added amenities make this a superb Mid Tower case. I’m not to sure how the sideways drive enclosures are going to work out but we will see. The way they are situated looks like the routing of cables will be much easier than with the regular type of mounts. I couldn’t find any sharp edges anywhere. The manual is one of the most extensive I’ve ever seen for a case.
The only thing I really didn’t like was the Antec Logo on the sides made with many holes. I suppose this will help with heat removal as they are near the top of the case, but it just looks weird to me. Also at just under $100.00 excluding shipping this case is rather expensive compared to other Mid Tower’s.
But you get an Antec TruePower PSU included in the deal. So figure $50 for the PSU and $50 for the case and it is a pretty good deal.
I will be putting all these theories and assumptions to the test in a few weeks when I transfer my current workstation to this case. At present I have a Full Tower and it will be interesting to see if everything will fit and still maintain a reasonable temperature.
Watch for my next article “The Quest for Quiet with Air Cooling”.
