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

[outbreak42]

Ok, so here's the deal. I'm planning on doing the slimline optical drive mod pretty soon, and I have a couple questions.
1) Does the Antec drive cage replacement part (found at http://www.antec.com/Detail.bok?no=503 ) come with the black plastic fan mount on the backside?
1b) If it doesn't, does anybody know where I can get that fan mounting clip?
2) As far as I know, everyone I have seen has used a slot loading disk drive. Is there some painfully obvious reason why a tray loading drive should not be used?
3) Finally, does anybody who has done the mod have a drive they would recommend? I'd like to keep costs low, but am looking for CD/DVD RW capabilities. Lightscribe would be nice too, but I really don't want to pay more than $70 for a drive.

Thanks!

Maybe this post will help you:
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...&postcount=937

I bought mine from this store, I'm pretty happy with it... when I got it the price was $64. If you plan on doing that mod don't expect a good dvd burner to be lower than that.
http://store.ourstorespecials.com/uj875.html

I contacted Antec regarding the black fan frame for the drive cages. Unfortunately, they don't provide it separately. However, drilling 4 holes in the back of the cage to mount the fans, it should hold just fine.

[sailrabbit]

...still has ugly feet :P

Loooooooooooooooooooooool..

Mine are lit

[Bubbaxm2]

Sturdius why are you so hung up on the fan cage for the drive bays? I think it looks etter without it..Just my opinion though..

[sailrabbit]

+1, here, be a nice pinned subject since I'm sure other ppl want to do something like this.

This is the original slimline DVDRW DIY by Ch3ck5um that I followed: http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...91#post2321491

If you have any questions after following the link fire away. There are a bunch here who can fill in any details. The only hard part is cutting the slot.

Sturdius - I bought an extra 900 and used it for spare parts. You can get one on sale for <$70 shipped. We all used the slot loader because it looks cool. The tray will work too.


Will you should just paint those feet black.. it will look the same as the rubber ones. Kickass rig you built!

[Sturdius]

I found someone selling the fan bracket on ebay for $4.95 or best offer. If anyone is interested, here is the url http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=320251783008 (the auction ends in a few hours though, so act fast). And Sailrabbit, I figured that people were using slot loading drives because they were the most aesthetically pleasing. That is what I will end up going with too, most likely. Thanks for posting a link to the DIY from earlier on. I knew there was one, but I forgot to bookmark it. Despite the fact that it is pretty straightforward, it's always good to have some sort of guide.

PS. Thanks for the links, outbreak.

[=>WiLL<=]

A slot loading drive has a much larger "wow" factor. An ejecting tray is just something that can break or cause a problem after the mod.

The overall slim dvd mod was a bit pricey, but I knew that I had to do it once I saw Ch3ck5um's idea in motion. An ATAPI to SATA converter will have the fastest pipeline for data transfer, but I went with ATAPI to USB2.0 to save a SATA port because I have a ton of USB headers on my motherboard, and I want to use all SATA port's for HDDs. I do not burn/read CDs/DVDs often, but I wanted to keep it in the box rather than the use of an external drive.

@Metal Rush - these new feet from mnpctech are nice, but expensive compared to the basic ones I ordered.

[=>WiLL<=]

@Sturdius

The guide I used was by Ch3ck5um (DeadMan) on another forum: Antec 900 Slimline DVD mod

sailrabbit has the best quality and detailed pictures so far to my knowledge.

[Kornowski]

Worked on my case a little today, here's what I came up with!

[FilluX]

Kornowski

Wow, looks really nice, good job!

Are those blue fans fasten with zip ties?

[Kornowski]

Kornowski

Wow, looks really nice, good job!

Are those blue fans fasten with zip ties?

Thanks!

Yeah, Just Zip Ties.

[FilluX]

Thanks!

Yeah, Just Zip Ties.

Cool, i might try that since a have a lot of zipties and a couple of 120 mm fans just laying around

[outbreak42]

Sturdius: The only downside to the slimdrive vs. a traydrive is the fact that you can't load a small form factor CD (mini-CD) because it will get stuck inside. If something like that ever happens ( happens), you can get it out with a business or credit card. Also you can point the drive downward and hit it gently so the mini-cd slides out.

Other than that, slimdrives have some unique advantages over traydrives besides its size. Since most slimdrives have a dust protector at the cd slot, it cleans the cd you are sliding in from dust and other particles. This keeps the lens inside the drive clean. Which means, no worrying about cd skipping or cleaning the lens. Drives with trays must be cleansed constantly because the tray itself collects dust.

[XtremeTiramisu]

Hello fellow A900 owners:

After a whole morning reading through this awsome thread from pg1 - 44, I've one simple question to ask:
(Hughyhunter: If you see my question, please let me know your response)


I want to make sure if I can fit the 120mm side fan as an intake with my Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme installed horizontally, and the 120mm fan placed on the TRUE is pushing warm air out through the top 200mm exhuast as pull. I currently have the TRUE installed vertically so I know for certain that the side fan can't be installed unless modified one the angle, however, the side panel can be fitted in just fine w/o the fan.

Edit: Just a clarication for any possible misundertanding, my definition of horizontally installed TRUE = warm air out of the TOP 200mm exhuast fan, which is the heatsink is parallel with the floor. By vertically, I mean the warm air gets pulled out through the back of the 120mm fan.


The reason I want to install the side fan is to further cool the NB/Video card compartment, and I don't really care if there an increase/decrease in temp for CPU from going vertically to horizontally for the TRUE. The TRUE is more than enough to help my Q6600 G0 to acheive its max possible OC under 65c full load.

Hughyhunter's reference images:

[Hughyhunter]

Installing the TRUE in a horizontal fashion is IMHO the best way to go. Not only does warm air rise, the 200mm fan set to high (really doesn't make much noise) can really pull out a lot of hot air from your TRUE.
I did have an ambition to mount the rear exhaust fan on top of my TRUE to sandwich the HSF and have two 120mm fans and a 200mm fan all pushing air out the top.
I have to brag!!! I lapped my E8400, and my TRUE and at 4.05ghz with room temperature at 24C my idle temp is sitting nicely at 35C... that's better than any other review I've seen of the TRUE in combination with the A900. Also I used a very modest amount of arctic silver 5 thermalgrease. Just enough to cover the CPU. I think that the TRUE and CPU need to be lapped properly so that you get the max amount of surface to surface contact. I just wonder now what the temps would be with that rear fan mounted on top of the TRUE sandwiching it the only reason I didn't do it is because I didn't have nor know how to make another metal clip that holds the fan onto the TRUE. I suppose I could have strapped it to it somehow... Maybe I'll make that my next project.
K... END rant!
Here are some shots of how I cut the side intake fan so that I could use it as well as the TRUE. Also the side intake fan really only helped my top 8800GT. The top one maintains 44c while the bottom one next to the PSU maintains 47c. I think this is due to the added airflow of the side intake fan only blowing cool air onto the top card and the bottom card being so dang close to the PSU.

[XtremeTiramisu]

Hughyhunter:

Thanks for the thorough explanation, but part of my question was did you had to modify piece of your 120mm side fan to make it fit with the TRUE installed horizontally with 120mm attached to it as push like you've shown in the pic. From the pic, it looks like the 120mm fan is just about clear with the other 120mm that's pushing the warm air out from the TRUE to the top 200mm exhuast.

XT

[Hughyhunter]

OH yeah... sorry... forgot to explain that. Take a look at the picture again on my previous post. The red circle is where I had to cut off a corner of the 120mm side intake fan in order for it to be clear of the TRUE bottom fan. I just used a small metal cutting saw that I had laying around. Just took off a big piece. You should be clear if you do just that.

[=>WiLL<=]

Here's another pic of the somewhat hidden HDD setup. I still only have 1 drive, in 2 partitions, one for XP, the other for storage. I plan for another 3. I made a SATA power cable with the DIY connectors, and I use 24" black SATA data cables, straight on one end, 90 degrees on the other.

When it comes to SATA cables, make your own

[Goreg]

Here's another pic of the somewhat hidden HDD setup. I still only have 1 drive, in 2 partitions, one for XP, the other for storage. I plan for another 3. I made a SATA power cable with the DIY connectors, and I use 24" black SATA data cables, straight on one end, 90 degrees on the other.

When it comes to SATA cables, make your own

Where did you get the power connectors? or what are they called?

[Bubbaxm2]

I used the ones that came on my Power supply but I turned the drives around so that you couldn't see any of it.

[=>WiLL<=]

FrozenCPU - $0.89

[Goreg]

FrozenCPU - $0.89

Thx, now to just find them in the UK...

[Got_Vtec?]

cool im gonna have to give this a shot as well because my sata cables are long and they are red so they stand out quite a bit

[=>WiLL<=]

For the SATA data cables, I use 24" black ones from here.

[Got_Vtec?]

For the SATA data cables, I use 24" black ones from here.

cool thanks bro ill order those probably tonight, one question.....when you make your own sata power cables how do you connect to the power supply??

[=>WiLL<=]

One end of the cable has to have the modular or 4-pin connector. The other has the SATA connectors.

You can modify an existing modular cable for your PSU, or you can make a custom cable: 4-pin to SATA power.