Antec Overture Case

To truly appreciate design of the Overture, we opted to install it in our home theater system; no on the desktop yeah this is great but we live in our parent’s basement review here. We wanted this system to serve as a complete home entertainment system, with high end graphics, DVD drive, full audio support, network and internet access. Oh, and it has to be quiet enough to use in the living room while watching a movie or television. Our system was based on the Abit NF7-S mainboard, paired with a Radeon 9700 for video. This mainboard included onboard NIC and nForce2 sound, rounding out the system. A Logitech wireless MX Duo was used for the input, and matched the black theme of the case perfectly. With the components installed, the Radeon’s S-Video out was connected to our HDTV, and nForce2’s sound card was connected to our home stereo system. After configuring the video settings and sound options, the system powered up, and we were staring at a 65” Windows 2000 display. The sound worked as advertised, and we were able to pipe all of our MP3’s from a media server in the other room through the home stereo system. The Overture blended well into the equipment rack, and other than the off colored DVD drive (which will be painted black to match), most visitors don’t initially recognize the case as being a computer. The case fans are quiet, hardly noticeable over the sounds of television or music. The CPU fan was not up to the silent PC task, and opting for something less than a Delta fan would be advisable. Replacing this with a larger, slower fan would eliminate the noise of the CPU fan.

The Overture case is not for everyone. The internal design, while living up to the Antec build quality, is smaller than the average tower case most builders are accustomed to. The cooling is limited but sufficient, sacrificing massive fans to silent PC operation. But, this case was not designed to be lugged to LAN parties or serve as a high end gaming rig overclocked to the limit. The Overture is designed to not look like a PC, and this it does very well. The look of the case is excellent, and the finish on the paint is outstanding. When placed on an entertainment center, the Overture blends seamlessly, looking very much the part of home theater equipment. When combined with the right components, the Overture successfully takes the PC out of the office and into the living room, without the ugly beige box. Combined with Antec’s superb build quality and attention to detail, the Overture is nothing less than the perfect case for a simple home theater project, without the need to paint and Dremel custom parts.

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Richard
All-
Yeah the Antec case looks great, but the Power supply is a custom deal, with the cords, coming out the same side as the power plug inside the case. Because of this, replacing it is annoying, as you have to get the replacements from Antec. Having now gone through two power supplies I can attest that this is the big draw back from this case.
Steve
I second Richard’s comments. I’m waiting for my third PSU replacement from Antec – 10 days after warranty ended. Not sure if they will. PSU design is obviously bad. No alternates will fit mechanically. Don’t buy Antec!
Rob
The PSU on my Antec Overture died, so I ordered a generic replacement only to discover that the original PSU was customized for the case. From the sounds of the comments above, I’m not sure it’s worth ordering a replacement from Antec.
Richard D
Anyone ever find a replacement PSU for this case? I have had two power supplies go bad on me, and now need a replacement. I would say buyer beware for this case! It looks great, but the odd ball Power supply makes it a bad selection.

Tom
I had a dead PS in the Overture from the get go. While waiting for Antec to replace the bad supply, I cut up another make and made it fit. This was not an easy job and required sheet metal modification of the PS case, kwik-nuts, soldering and other exotic work arounds. I now have a spare supply (the replacement from Antec), and a prototype custom supply that still works after two years of constant use! — (Picked a good one to mod, and have been real lucky!) It took quite a few hours for my not so nimble fingers and brain to figure out how to make it work without blocking the vents or the fan. I had to relocate the power cord input and put a plate over the original standard power supply cutouts for the power input and the switch on that supply.
I love the case, but the “Special” power supply from Antec was probably the worst one they ever designed, and a web search on this case will verify a lot of folks had problems with it. Look around for a “garbage” Overture case and you will at least have the “blown” supply to swap good guts into. Then you will at least have all the connectors for the latest motherboards. Oh yeah, don’t bother to swap out a “cheapo” supply if you bother to do this. Might as well spend some bucks and get a good reliable “heavy duty” supply from a known manufacturer. My experience would indicate that any supply will fit into the antec power supply case, and you’re effort would be soldering some wires etc, and you wouldn’t have to do sheet metal work. I used Enermax for my project.
Tom