Antec 900 thoughts

[drew and not u]

Well my 900 came yesterday, and I got it all set up last night. This is just a mini review. I moved my system into this case from a Thermaltake Armor Full-tower. I really did love the Armor, but in the end it was simply too massive for me. I tend to bring my computer with me when I go on trips and such (I know, I really should get a laptop). Plus, even when I would move it from my desk to a work bench to do something to it, it was just a pain. Cable management wasn't bad, and cooling was pretty good as well.


So far, the 900 has been somewhat of a mixed bag. Though overall I'm very pleased with it, I do have a few gripes.



Compared to the armor, it's a fair chunk smaller in all three dimensions, and significantly lighter. The design is modern and tasteful, with just enough edge to convey an image of power. The finish looks good, though you can see the over-spray from where they only painted the surfaces visible from the outside. Additionally, a bit of gray interior is visible through the gap between the side panels and front clip.

Inside, the case is well laid-out, In it's default configuration it has 3 available 5.25" bays, which is one more than I need, and 6 internal 3.5" bays, which is good as I tend to fill up hard drives quickly. The fans move plenty of air even at their lowest setting (there are three selectable speeds controlled by a switch on each fan). 2 120mm intake fans, a 120mm and 200mm exhaust fan, as well as the bottom-mounted PSU all contribute to an excellent cooling setup, easily matching the much larger Armor.

I was slightly disappointed with the side-panels, as they are somewhat flimsy. This does, however, contribute to the light weight of the case, and as the chassis itself is quite rigid, I don't see it as great disadvantage. Fully assembled, the case is sufficiently sturdy.

Motherboard and PSU installation was a breeze, and even though neither the drive bays, nor the PCI slots were tooless, I was pleased. I've never encountered a tooless PCI solution with which I was satisfied, and have always ended up removing whatever plastic contraption the manufacturer implemented, instead simply using screws. Due to the modular nature of the HD cages, it is understandable that they weren't able to use a tooless mechanism for the bays.

Cable routing in the 900 was somewhat of a chore. The two large openings for routing cables behind the motherboard tray are very handy, however, the space between the motherboard tray and side panel limits the number of cables which can be routed out of sight. I was unable to route the sleeved primary ATX connector behind the mobo-tray at all. Also, while the bottom-mounted PSU is advantageous from a cooling perspective, it created a couple of problems during cable routing.

The Antec Truepower Trio I use has large number of very long cables, which in a normal case is great for reaching those far away HDs and GPUs. In the 900 however, where the PSU sits very near most of the components, this creates a lot of slack to deal with. Combined with the 3 SATA cablesm IDE cable, and case-motherboard connectors, the lower right-hand corner of the case becomes quite a mess of cabling, even with the preinstalled zip-ties. Furthermore, due to the up-side-down nature of the PSU mount, I had to purchase a 6" EPS extension cable (another $12 shipped from newegg) to allow the CPU power cable to reach without simply running it over the motherboard.


Lastly, the close proximity of the front drive bays to the cable-routing openings created a slight problem with the fitment of one of my DVD drives. Anyone using a longer optical drive will be forced to mount it in the uppermost slot.

Obviously when moving from a full-tower to a mid tower cable routing will become more difficult, however with a couple of minor alterations this case could stand with full-towers in this aspect as well.



Overall I really am pleased with this case. It performs as well as my old full-tower, while maintaining a smaller footprint and weighing less. It looks great from most angles, though the fit and finish does leave a little something to be desired. The cooling is excellent, on par even with full-tower cases, despite the slight difficulties with cable routing. The large fans are quiet at their low and mid settings, while moving plenty of air. When set to high, they were audible, but didn't improve temperatures any over the lower settings.

If they would release a second version of this case, with an additional inch of depth, and another 1/8" of space between the motherboard tray and side-panel (and maybe improve the overall finish a bit), this case would be perfect. As it stands, I'm satisfied with the move.

[polobunny]

Welcome to the club, haha. You're lucky to even have opening in the back. I have the revision A of the Antec 900 and I had to dremel those myself. Other fixes include spacing for video card fixed (Problem with Antec 900. :S - Page 2 - Overclock.net - Overclocking.net) which was implemented in rev B and water ports in rev C. It's a case that already had a few revisions as you can see, and though it's not without it's flaws, I think it's an amazing case. The cooling is super for a mid-tower, it's near silent at low (I've been trying to find fans to replace the stock ones by even less noisy ones!).
From my experience, the best place to put the HDD's are in the bottom cage, normally your PSU fan will suck the air out and the middle duct fan will help bring cool air to your video card and CPU.

[oldman_gamer]

Pats drew on back, good job man! When it comes time sometime this week for me to wire my mobo(dongles),I know who to bug the dung out of....
I keep hearing about this extension being needed for the power supply.Is that kind of extension something a local Radio Shack would carry?

[polobunny]

Originally Posted by oldman_gamer

Pats drew on back, good job man! When it comes time sometime this week for me to wire my mobo(dongles),I know who to bug the dung out of....
I keep hearing about this extension being needed for the power supply.Is that kind of extension something a local Radio Shack would carry?

I don't think so. Most of the time you will be able to pass the power supply 12V connector over your graphics card and whatnot, but for a clean layout behind the mobo or something like it, it won't be long enough.

[oldman_gamer]

Originally Posted by polobunny

I don't think so. Most of the time you will be able to pass the power supply 12V connector over your graphics card and whatnot, but for a clean layout behind the mobo or something like it, it won't be long enough.

Im not too worried about running a wire over the mobo....and looking pretty.Function outweighs pretty. But I wonder if retail stores will carry the extension?

[frostybrad]

great review... give it another week or so and let me know what the 'dust" intake mounts too..... either my place is really dirty (which I think its not) or this case draws in all the dust it can find :(. Easy enough to take to the shop and blaster with the air gun though.....

any chance you can send me the Armour case?? $$$$$??


: Gallery

[oldman_gamer]

Originally Posted by frostybrad

great review... give it another week or so and let me know what the 'dust" intake mounts too..... either my place is really dirty (which I think its not) or this case draws in all the dust it can find :(. Easy enough to take to the shop and blaster with the air gun though.....

any chance you can send me the Armour case?? $$$$$??


: Gallery

I would not use an engine driven compressor for that. Even with a water seperator it still sends moisture and oil through the lines.Canned air is all I would highly suggest.If you have a dust problem,you can purchase,for a nominal fee,filter material that does a super job in collecting dust.You can place it where you want,and even wash it,dry it and reuse it virtually forever.

[frostybrad]

the cans of air didnt do the trick and this was the last resort.... yes there are water separators thats run through the systems at work. I can understand your thoughts but the little cans didnt cut it at all.... :(

[polobunny]

Originally Posted by frostybrad

the cans of air didnt do the trick and this was the last resort.... yes there are water separators thats run through the systems at work. I can understand your thoughts but the little cans didnt cut it at all.... :(

Didn't cut it at all? I need half a can at best to clean my 900. Whip the woman, she isn't doing her job.

[frostybrad]

ill take pictures next time as to how bad it was..... Looked like someone layed a piece of Kleenex behind the Zalman fan on the shrowds