Antec Nine Hundred

[hitchface]

Well, I've had this case for about 2 months now, and after giving a few pointers, decided I'd re-write it into a full blown review. Here she be!

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811129021

Use the photos here to understand my poor explanations...

Looks:
With cases having windows being very popular with today's crowd, you are sure to run into some that are way overdone. Fortunately, the Antec Nine Hundred keeps it relatively simple.
The whole side panel "viewing area" is basically a rectangle, but divided into 2 chevron-esque parts. One part is just your standard window, and the smaller part is grilled, but a bit more on that later. The front is entirely perforated in order to accomodate the 2 120mm blue LED Antec TriCool fans that pull in air for this beast. Of course there is the Big Boy fan on top, which is Antec's new 200mm TriCool fan that adds a look that says "I mean business." There is a little tray on the top, and normally I might put this in the "functionality" section, but realistically it isn't a selling point. You can hold a digital camera as it is plugged in, or something similar, seeing as the I/O is right in front of that tray.

Building:
For some, this case might seem a little smaller than they thought. There are some relatively non-mainstram features here, so if you go and build in it, you may find a little bit of adjustment is needed. First off, your power supply will be bottom-mounted. Some find this to be a curse, others a stroke of genius. The plus side to that bottom mount is that is improves your airflow situation dramatically provided you have a power supply with an intake fan on it, and it doesn't create that common hotspot that many top-mounted builds do. The downside is that, for most motherboard configurations, it makes wire management a little trickier, especially if your cables aren't all that long.



The HDD cages (there are 2, with capacity for 3 HDDs each) have those blue LED fans I mentioned earlier in the front for HDD cooling, and coincidentally feed air to your power supply and VGA solution. If you want to change out the fans or put in the HDDs, the cages do come out, but you'll need to take both side panels off to get at the thumbscrews. Attached to the top HDD cage is an empty 120mm fan mount. This mount is removeable (obviously at the expense of cooling expansion), but if you decide to keep it in, there are 2 immediate things that you may need to contend with. Placing a fan in there will negate the use of that cage for additional HDDs, limiting you to the bottom cage only. The other limitation is for those of you with long video cards. It can get very tight in there unless that fan mount is removed, so consider that before building...you may find yourself balancing between cooling options and huge video cards/additional HDDs. My last word on these cages: they are not tool-less. It isn't really a big deal, since tool-less designs have the possibilty of being flimsy anways, but be prepared to break out the 'ol screwdriver.

Cooling:
We have already seen some of the cooling options in the last sections, but let's be honest. This case was built for cooling. We have our 2 120mm fans in front, the rear 120mm for exhaust, the 200mm on top for exhaust, with the option of a 120mm in the side (this is that grilled part...it has a fan mount on it for extra VGA cooling goodness) and you can add another 120mm fan to the back end of that top HDD cage, making the famous wind tunnel. Including the power supply exhaust fan, that makes for 7 fans total, all well placed in good locations to optimize airflow. All of the included fans, as mentioned above, are TriCool, but the fan controls are all inside the case, meaning you need to take the side panel off in order to get at them. Some people have converted the case for water cooling, so we know it is possible, but expect it to be tight.

Funtionality:
The I/O section is loaded with your standard stuff, with a nice little FireWire port for you video camera toting folk. In all, it includes 2xUSB, 1xFireWire, Power, Reset, HDD act. light, speaker/headphone jack and a mic jack. It is all top mounted, so it's nice and handy for you folk who leave your prized computer on the floor (not reccomended, considering the amount of air this thing will pull in), but at the same time, it isn't really a pain for me, and I have it sitting on a desk. The case as a whole isn't all that difficult to work with. Earlier versions had a clearance issue with a VGA adapter being placed in the top slot, but that has since been rectified. It is a big case, but it won't dominate an entire desk, if thats what you're looking for.

Final thoughts:
I really like this case. It doesn't really dish out any punishment as far as build time and difficulty, but it might make you work a little harder than some others depending on your parts. The looks aren't very tacky, yet they retain a high cool-factor. It is a fairly sturdy case, with the exception of the side panel (pretty thin...but you shouldn't be throwing that around anyways lest you scratch your pretty window). But most of all...it is cold in there.

Feel free to PM me if I missed something or if you have any questions! First real review.

[Jimmy0]

Great review hitch, but your link is broken

[TwoRails]

Try this one...

[hitchface]

Bummer...I get that all the time from newegg links too.... Either way, glad the review was alright.

[chrash]

I'm thinking about getting one of these... just wondered how noisy they are given the multitude of fans in there?

[hitchface]

That depends what you consider noisy. I have the thing loaded to the top with Aerocool Xtreme Turbines on and one of the TriCool fans, and I don't mind it at all. Stock, I found the case to be very quiet. If you turn all of the fans to medium or low, you'd be amazed.

[chrash]

Sold! Thanks for the response, I'm going to get one of these.

[NinjaBachelorParty]

One tiny thing i would point out, be careful with the fan controller for the rear exhaust fan. The position means that it can slip out and obstruct the CPU fan, this happened to me once, with a Core 2 Duo stock fan, luckily i spotted it quickly and fixed it out of the way more carefully.

[hitchface]

I changed the position of all of my fan controllers because of that...just tucked that one between the fan and the window side of the case.

[doubledragon5]

I've been looking to put my wife rig (sig) into something with a bit more cooling ability. This is it. I have seen this one at Best Buy and now I'm convinced it will to the job... thanks for the review hitchface..

[hitchface]

Not a problem bro. Just make sure the PSU cables will be long enough. If the mobo power supply cables are close to a foot and a half long, they should give you room to breathe and tie them back some. Hope it works out!

[doubledragon5]

When I get home (hopefully) tue, I will see if the wife will let me go ahead and purchase it now if not later... She already has said ok, once cross my fingers...

[Fibre Optix]

I just bought this case yesterday. I love the look.

But I have one question, I was planning to pun in a fan controller in one of the drive bays. BUT! the fans have their own control switches. LOW MED HIGH.

Can I still install a Fan Control Panel?

[hitchface]

Not recommended. You need to have a non variable speed fan installed to a fan controller for it to properly work. I just got new fans for that purpose.

[Fibre Optix]

Originally Posted by hitchface Not recommended. You need to have a non variable speed fan installed to a fan controller for it to properly work. I just got new fans for that purpose.

thanks for the heads up.

[hitchface]

Not a problem. Stick with the fans you have in there now and see how you like it and how comfortable you are with your temps. If you feel the need to upgrade the whole setup and fill it with fans, like I did, then go with a fan controller.

http://www.sunbeamtech.com/PRODUCTS/RHEOBUS.HTML

I have the black one in my box. Fantastic.

[Zelpo]

Nice link on the fan controller ... just what I was after! I want to yank the led fans & put something more 'conservative' in there place.

Not sure if it is still on sale, but I picked up this case at CompUSA for less than $100 on sale a week or so ago. Newegg is listing it for quite a bit more.

I was concerned about wiring, here is a thread that goes into detail w/pics from several 900 owners.

This will be my first time building a pc from the ground up. Can anyone suggest a PSU that is actually designed to be bottom mounted? I'm not seeing that designation listed in product descriptions.

[hitchface]

Most times they won't be designated as such. If your PSU has 2 fans on it, you'll be set. When you install it, you should have an intake fan inside the case that faces upward and the exhaust shooting out the back.

[sgtspector]

I believe the mounting template on the back panel where the psu goes is reversed so that any power supply will mount with the fan facing the inside of the case as opposed to the bottom panel. I just finished my son's build with that case and was concerned at first with getting it in with the fan working correctly.

[Zelpo]

Yeah I knew that most any recent quality PSU would probably fit, but since there is a window I was going to make an effort to keep possible labeling right side up. I figured that some manufacturers would market PSUs specifically for bottom mounting, but I guess the demand isn't big enough yet. I'll keep looking

[sgtspector]

He has an antec psu that is recommend by them for this case I forget the name right now. But there is no label on the side visible through the window.

[hitchface]

Is that he me? I have the TruePower 2.0 550. Now they have the TruePower Trio...but try something from PC Power and Cooling. They have quality units. Antec has been flaking out a little, hopefully to recover soon.

[sgtspector]

No my son just finished his build with that case.

[hitchface]

Right. Missed that detail.

[Zelpo]

I must be under a rock ... what's the deal with Antecs quality, or lack there of. All I ever remember is reading good things about them.

[kram 2.0]

Folks, just a general reminder. Please follow the guidelines for the hardware review section found in the sticky thread of this forum. All replies should add some level of informative value of the product being reviewed.

Thanks.

[spartan015]

i was planning on building a pc with this, but i read that it's not really a great option if you're planning on having 8800 GTX's in them (sli) or GTS...

is that true? i mean that and including the 1220mm fan...

on a side note, antec has been getting a lot better, i like my tru power 550w psu, it's stable and it feeds all the needs on an AGP comp... prolly keep it for the next simple upgrade... lol.

and i always dreamed of building a comp with the Antec P180 (black) case...

[hitchface]

The issue with an SLI rig in this system is that the bottom card gets mighty close to the PSU, and could partially starve it of airflow. Either way, SLI isn't really seeming like it is worth the money that its proponents would like you to think. The performance boost doesn't usually warrant the cost of the additional card.

But to answer your question, you CAN fit an 8800 in there with that extra 120mm fan. Tight, but it will fit.

[bd1886]

Just purchased an Antec EarthWatt 550w and the thing runs quiet and smooth. Put it in a build I did for a friend's kid and I'll sure use it again.

[doubledragon5]

Ok I bought the case, but I'm having a hard time understanding how to install the floopy with that so called face plate.. Any iteas...