A Positive Look at the Antec Nine Hundred (900) Case

[bjp999]

Nice job Sharpy! The difference between before and after is huge!!

GaryD - did you see the second set of pictures I posted. I used some felt pads to line the holes and protect the wires. Next time I think I'll use some of this stuff Uchannel.

FYI, if anyone is interested, I did a quick search and found that SilverStone makes power extension cables that would probably give enough slack to go to the back of the case with most power supplies if the cables are a little short.

BTw, the Antec 900 is on sale at CompUSA again this week for $79AR.

[T1Cybernetic]

This has to be one of the best looking cases out there at the moment, im considering retiring my pc70
for one of these but theres something nagging at me when i think of how much this case cost originaly

Plus whats the temperatures like with that antec 900 case? i've not found anything
anywhere comparing "before & after" temps with this case?

[_TheMaster_]

great case good look!

[GaryD]

[QUOTE=bjp999]GaryD - did you see the second set of pictures I posted. I used some felt pads to line the holes and protect the wires. Next time I think I'll use some of this stuff Uchannel.

FYI, if anyone is interested, I did a quick search and found that SilverStone makes power extension cables that would probably give enough slack to go to the back of the case with most power supplies if the cables are a little short.
QUOTE]

Thanks bjp999. I obviously missed the close up pictures showing the felt pads. Finally saw them. Gee, I wish I had a milling machine.

[Sharpy]

I used a roraty drill with a file attachment to take the rough edges off my cut outs, then i used black electrical tape to cover the edges (with a nice craft knife i cut them very even.

Temps wise i think realistically its knocked 3-6c from my temps but for me it was more avisual mod than any real temp benefits. For instance today pc has been on for 5hrs + doing a range of tasks from some gaming to image editing, burning etc

Mobo temps 24c, Cpu 30c, Raptor 23c, Graphics 52c

[johnanderson]

Im wondering if this is good for watercooling like the p180. Looks like you can fit a 2x120 rad in the front so maybe this will become a popular case for people on water.

[Leeghoofd]

I debarbed my cuts and placed some PATEX powertape over them so they don't cut at all. , It's anice case well ventialted but needs some tinkering (liek all medium sized cases do to get a good job done !!!)

[afireinside]

Im wondering if this is good for watercooling like the p180. Looks like you can fit a 2x120 rad in the front so maybe this will become a popular case for people on water.

The HDD cages/fans are all put together, rad won't fit in the front. I'll be running a 50z>mcr220>fuzion>mcres next week with a radbox and I will be cutting for cables and stuff so I'll post my mods when I get it done. I moved my HDD cages to be flush with the front of the case and just used 2 screws a side as the bottom holes didn't line up. Looks kinda crappy since it's uneven with the DVD drive and bottom bay covers but it makes the case so much easier to work with, I'm really starting to like it. Now if only it had 2 side fans

[gr8golf]

I wondered if you would ever warm up to this case AFI.

[afireinside]

Pfft warm up I think it runs quite cool! I was just pissed off at first because of the HDD cages and wiring. Didn't even think about cutting the case to hide wires. Performance>looks anyways. Also figured out how to fit a water setup so I'm all set.

[bjp999]

Im wondering if this is good for watercooling like the p180. Looks like you can fit a 2x120 rad in the front so maybe this will become a popular case for people on water.

I'm not sure if you could get watercooling to work on the front. If you could, you'd give up most of your drive bays. My first thought is that this isn't a particularly good case for water, but looking forward to afireinside's project which may change my mind.

[bjp999]

Pfft warm up I think it runs quite cool! I was just pissed off at first because of the HDD cages and wiring. Didn't even think about cutting the case to hide wires. Performance>looks anyways. Also figured out how to fit a water setup so I'm all set.

Just realized you were the guy that hated the case in the other review thread. Glad you've come around. Looking forward to seeing your modded watercooled Antec 900 rig. Should be awesome!

If I read you right, the HD cages are mounted so that they stick out of the case front by a few inches to give more room inside? Sounds a little funky but looking forward to seeing it in action.

[afireinside]

Yeah I hated it at first but I'm learning how it works now

Not sticking out, just flush with the front instead of recessed a bit. Doesn't look as good but the extra bit of space inside really helps!

[Blknoel]

Nice mods, very clean and tidy.

If I were you, I would also dremel a semi large rectangular/square hole on the mobo tray where the position of the CPU socket is, doing this kind of helped me removing some certain heatsinks without removing the Mobo from the case. (especially HSFs using screws and nuts)

Of course mobos are not born equal and would not work all the time if you change your mobo brand or platform (say from DFI to Asus or Intel chipset mobo to a Nvidia/Ati chipset mobo), but if you don't it certainly helps.

[gundamit]

BTw, the Antec 900 is on sale at CompUSA again this week for $79AR.

Just 2 days left to pick it up for $105-$25 rebate

[afireinside]

Well I modded mine. 2 cuts for wiring and 2 for watercoooling.



Made them a bit small. I put my sata/front usb/sata power through first and didn't have room for most of the molexes. Also I can't get the back panel on because everything iss bunched up



Holesaw was way to big but I got 2 holes cut in the back for tubes to mcr220 (rad box mounting) and wiring for fans.







Threw in some noise dampening stuff to, doubt it helps much but black looks nice.



All done. floppy cable was there for RAID drivers.



Wiring is still really messy. sata cable was there because the marvell controller wouldn't detect my dvd drive to install windows

Hopefully I can rewire it better when I go water.

[bjp999]

Pretty substantial improvement over this ...



Get some of the black cable wrap stuff (cheap at Home Depot). It will make the very colorful power cable bundles almost disappear with very little effort.

Good luck with the water!

bjp999

[Mankz_91]

you people have mad an ugly case look slightly bareable.

[Madmonkee]

Well I like the way the Tuniq Tower sits the other way on the Intel Chip!! AMD you have to have it facing the other way!!!! I will mod my case the same TBH, i had a well sorted ANTEC before, but this case I was unhappy about the untidyness, Mission objective, Case mod!!

[Madmonkee]

mission complete, took 4 hrs! still needs revising but its so much better, I covered the fans on the front with tights too, try to filter the dust. Mobo went from 32 to 38!

[bjp999]

mission complete, took 4 hrs! still needs revising but its so much better, I covered the fans on the front with tights too, try to filter the dust. Mobo went from 32 to 38!

Are you going to post some pictures? I'm be more interested to the delta core temp under load. Do the blue fans look funky through the tights?

[Madmonkee]

Lol, yeah you can still see them, just not as bright! The core temps havent been effected tbh. Cpu on idle 31, mobo 35 degrees. Rises to about 41degrees on the core, 38ish on mobo. One thing, with the tuniq tower 120 on an AMD mobo, you cannot fit the side fan on, as the tower has to be sat on the piss to clear the retainers of the side fan. I'll post pics when its lighter in my room lol. Not got to carried away as its all coming out soon to make way for the Xeon quad core and Striker Mobo 8800gtx, so will have to make it all "just so" then.

[chancemax]

Here's my 900









[IMG][/IMG]
[IMG][/IMG]
http://img291.imageshack.us/img291/2...oto0031ue0.jpg


Cable management in this case could certainly have been made a bit easier admitidley but for air cooling i beleive the Antec 900 is second to none. I have changed all the fans in mine to high powered ones except the top 200mm exhaust fan which does an amazing job. If you want a cool system even with the stock fans this case is a very good choice. It also looks pretty good too imo. Great thread btw. bjp999.....Great Job!!

[bjp999]

Wow!

Outstanding job, and great first post! (Welcome aboard)

If you have a chance, post a picture from the other side of the MB tray. I'd love so see what you did!

[deees]

Wow!

Outstanding job, and great first post! (Welcome aboard)

If you have a chance, post a picture from the other side of the MB tray. I'd love so see what you did!

Bpj99,

Well, if Chancemax won’t show you his power cable hairball, I will.



I used a ¾”, (hole size, not conduit size), knockout punch to create the holes and then connected them with nibblers.




Fortunately, I also made my wire-tie holes oversized, so I could re-tie all the wires after I discovered I forgot to disconnect the floppy cable after the OS install.



The interior is mostly free of wires, (I wish I’d seen you thread before I finished drilling the holes. I’m not sure I want to as far as reversing the harddrives as you did, but I certainly want to explore routing more cable out the back of the drive bays.)



P.S. Are you running the Scythe Infinity? I’m looking for an after-market cooler that’s compatible with the 900 and aw9d. I know the Infinity is AW9D-MAX compatible, (with some fan orientations), but wasn’t sure about the 900.