Antec Nine Hundred "Advanced Gaming Case" Review by afireinside

[AAmeeting]

I just got my P180 and this case wasn't even on the radar, the P180 with the sandwich of steel and plastic is a real quiet case! this is just a big air bubble. I don't mind the PSU at the bottom of my case, I just wish I had a modular PSU.


also the math doesnt add up

120x5 = 600
+ 200
__________
800mm

hmm, false advertisement.

[IvanAndreevich]

That's one crappy case Didn't expect this kind of quality from Antec, who has done many great cases before this like P150, P160 and P180.

Wait.. are you calling P180 great? POS cooling performance. Pathetic!

[gr8golf]

I've rebuilt my rig with the Nine Hundred and am trying to decide if it's a keeper or to return it.

Pros:
Temps are A LOT lower with this case - even with fans set to low speed
Fans set to low - case is very quiet
Mid Tower size is good

Cons:
The 3.5" drive adapter is WORSE than described earlier
Blue LED's in the fans - will have to replace
Fans are controlled by switch (in case) - should be temp driven
Has a side window - I'm not a fan
No HD or Power LED
Top mounted front panel connectors - should be on the front
I prefer aluminum

I may just have to take this thing back and get the new Silverstone TJ-09. I just wish the damn thing was a little smaller.

[syne_24]

Conclusion: This case sucks. Easily the WORST CASE I HAVE EVER WORKED WITH. Between the nightmare drive bays, the cable routing hell, 3hr+ build time, and all the other annoyances I can safely say I'd never buy, use, or recommend this case under any circumstances even though the cooling IS AMAZING. As far as a FRUSTRATION FACTOR I'd give this a 10/10 in that category.

haha..i freaking love that part

damn i knew this case just look sucks from the beginning already and this really confirm it. Sorry you had to take one for the team bro, but damn atleast you gave an honest review about. Props

[Poodle]

Wait.. are you calling P180 great? POS cooling performance. Pathetic!

P180 is like Churchill said about democracy. It's crap but it's the best one we've got.

Many don't agree 100% with all the design of the p180. I'm one of them and over at spcr I've posted many things that could be different. This stuff you always gonna get though, when you want to satisfy a broader field of costumers (Mike Chin and Antec had both overclockers and silent seakers in mind when the drew it). It's easy to mod to your liking though and this was much of the idea with it and mine is nothing like a normal p180.

It's one of the most popular high end cases ever. You are the first on that I've seen calling it "pathetic!".


This 900 case looks like something Thermaltake could have done... With these silly windows and "extras". I don't like the look of the top of the case either.

The p180 makes Antec loads of money for a reason. IMHO, this case won't come near in sales.


But I respect those who like it and hope that it will perform great.

[DavidBanana]

The build quality of this case sucks. It seems to be made in a different factory from where the P180 is made.

II recommend waiting for the P190 guys, this thing could have ROCKED, but just falls short.


.

ETA of the 190...?

[Killnine]

Wait.. are you calling P180 great? POS cooling performance. Pathetic!

Wow, thats a relatively ignorant comment. Yes, this is XS and most of you guys want the highest performance possible. Yet, extreme cooling was never a headline of the P180. Silence was.

Now yes, they did try and make the P180 as thermally efficient as possible, and I think that Antec did a great job. You can look at almost any review on the net. But to call it pathetic is just way overshooting it.

You are entitled to your opinion, yes, but dont make this case appear to be the worst thing ever. It may be one of the most successful and well-accepted cases Antec has ever made.

[[cTx]Philosophy]

Way to give dis case da hatchet :P

I rememebr when the Thermaltake Tsunami Dream was best crossflow case, and I always thought mine blowed :P

[jebo_4jc]

Thanks for the informative review. I think the front of the case looks great. It's a case that I want to like, but I just can't, not with those wiring issues. I'm interested to see pics from the other guy who said he got his wiring clean.
LED fans = "teh l337 look at my gam3r case d00d it rawks!". I hate them. Young teenagers might like them though.
Antec was close with this one, but I will definitely be sticking with my p180

[GAR]

Everyone has a right to their own opinion, i own this case and i love this case, just because the cooling is the best i have ever seen any case with all sides closed, i mean this thing is a cooling monster, and i love the way it looks, cable management isnt bad at all, i will post pictures soon. please dont put down a product to that extreme just because you got impatient..........this is a great case with minor flaws that can be overlooked........there is no perfect case, wich ever works, if looks and cooling is your desire than this is the best air cooling case, the 200mm fan moves about 134cfm of air, thats incredible amount of air being pushed out of my tuniq tower wich results in great temps, i give this case a 9/10.

[Vengure]

Great review its sad to see the honest truth sometimes but gotta find out if their good or bad

[Madmonkee]

i too have this case, the floppy dirve carrier works well if you use the floppy drive, No problems there. The noise factor, ok its not silent, i have my 200mm fan on low, the two front intake fans, one is on medium other is low. I have put an extra 120 akaska fan in there, that seems to be the noisest fan tbh! The rear exhaust is on medium also. Compared with my AMG viewplus 1000 with x3 80mm fans x2 120mm fans, the case is lovely and quite.
You could easily replace the standard antec 120mm if you desire ultra quite fans. The build quality is not to bad, probably not as good as my amg1000, but ok. I followed the instructions on how to setup the case but soon threw them away. Dvd-rw went in first, then the DVD rom, followed by the floppy cradle, which if you use the supplied screws was no problem to fit. Next I popped the HD's in one of the wind tunnels again no problems there. Psu..... mmmmm a modular one would be good in this case me thinks, I have the enermax noisetaker 600w which did prove to be a sod to sort out cable management. Motherboard install was easy enough, I had to install an extra 3 brass mounting pins again in the pack. Motherboard installation is a pain if you have allready installed the ROM drives (normally mobo would be first on my list but booklet said otherwise) very tight but it will go. CPU cooler I used was the Tuniq tower which is very tight!! It has to be installed on a slight angle, you cannot set it to have the fan exhausting towards the 200mm case fan, more of a design flaw with the Tuniq, not the case. I then sorted out all the cables as best I could, again there isnt anywhere to put them out of the way, you cannot tuck them behind the cdroms or hd cradles which is a pain. But they do give you large Zip tie like things down the side of the cradles to put all of you cables in, to try to keep things tidy (imagine the cables running from top to bottom of the case on the edge of the motherboard). What you will need to do is have the cradles half in when you are sorting out the cables, otherwise its a real pain. What I decided on doing was to leave the tunnel with the extra 120mm fan in the middle of the tower, so it will fire air at my tuniq, my tuniq will draw that air and expell towards the final 120mm exhausting, good flow setup me thinks, and it is!!! The HDDS were put at the bottom, this is where i found a handy hole to slip all other cables into!! Basically there is anough room to get rid of unwanted power cables etc underneath the cradle, about 15mm gap. I decided not to use the usb and firewire slots on the top, so those wires were fired back into the top of the case. Managed to slot my x2 BFG7800GTX OC's in and sound card in between, and lovely jubbly!

Fired her up, the LEDS on the fans are static, they just throw light onto the fan blades, mine are a slight different shade of blue lol the top one is a greenish blue an the bottom dark blue. Fancy replacing them with white, the HDD Led is the same blue on the top of the case, which is good as i like to see whats going on with the HD's. Noise levels i find are very acceptable, if i turn up the tuniq it will drown out all the other fans on top speed. Air flow is just great, cannot grumble with that. I managed to install everything without any cable ties, i think i could use 2 or 3 but apart from that its all good.

Bad points IMO
No room at all for Watercooling, forget it.
Cannot use the side vent on the window because it will foul my tuniq tower. Very tight fit, im sure this will be the case for any other tower coolers.
Cables are untidy, but can be sorted out i think.
Large amount of plastic, but it doesnt look to bad.
No filters on the Fans, perhaps a pair of tights might do the job!
So overall
Cooling 10/10 Remebering its on air.
Ease of Install 7/10
Cable tidyness 6/10
Build Quality 6/10
Noise levels (IMO) 7/10 (with reguards to all other systems i have built over 20 1 being a jet plane, 10 being silent)

so 36/50.
For me it matches my setup, alot of my leds for example power led on my speakers are blue, so is the LEDs in this case, Its black as the rest of my kit. I Like it, it has a handy slot on the top for usb devices.

[Madmonkee]

if you were to remove the fans from the HD cradles you could get a water cooling micro system in there.

[Madmonkee]

already had to clean the front of the case, plenty of dust on there!

[LudLud]

Does anyone know what the weight of the case is ? i can't find it anywhere, its not listed in the specs on antec's site either :/

[Polizei]

I agree with you 100%, the case does look bad ass... not enough for me to get one though. Im happy with my Tsunami.

[oshox]

Antec's been dropping the ball lately, with shoddy cases and crappy PSU's. With other companies like Thermaltake, Cooler Master, Corsair, and Seasonic continually kicking their asses in reviews, enthusiasts are going to pay the extra few bucks for higher quality. ESPECIALLY when it's with something as essential as Case & Power Supply.

For your average Retail shopper, though, Antec has one of the most recognizable names in this category, so their sales won't suffer for a while yet. Hopefully they can use this time to fire some of the idiots in their design staff.

P180 is still a nice case, but I'd still rather have a Stacker.

[LudLud]

well i got mine and i gotta say its pretty good, ill report back when i receive the rest of my components and i put my new pc together. It should fit just fine.

[dinos22]

that big ass fan on top how loud is that mother and was it the main noise contributor

[gr8golf]

that big ass fan on top how loud is that mother and was it the main noise contributor

I have mine running on Medium and it is barely audible. On low it isn't audible and it moves A LOT of air out of the case. This case has it's faults, but airflow and awesome cooling isn't one of them.

[irev210]

I have mine running on Medium and it is barely audible. On low it isn't audible and it moves A LOT of air out of the case. This case has it's faults, but airflow and awesome cooling isn't one of them.

yah, the 200mm fan on top is awesome, VERY quiet on low and MOVES the air. I have a scythe infinity on this computer and it really takes advantage of the 200mm fan.

I also love the top tray with the rubber pad, and where the USB/power buttons are located.

This case could be the best case ever if it had the same build quality of the P180.

[irev210]

Does anyone know what the weight of the case is ? i can't find it anywhere, its not listed in the specs on antec's site either :/

not much, maybe 8lbs?

I would say 1/2 the weight of the P180. Thinner steel, cheaper everything.


You guys should all go to antec.com and express your anger toward the crappy quality of the nine-hundred case.

[big poppa pump]

I have this case and its extremely easy to work with. It took me about an hour to put everything in there and get going including taking some smoking breaks and a quick snack in between. Coming to the wiring management, TBH, I can do a better job with my eyes closed. All you need is some patience and some ingenuinity.

BTW...this houses an ultra-D with an opty 165 (naked) @ 3Ghz idle/load 26C/35C. I love the cooling in this case and I have all the fans controlled by the sunbeam fan controller and its hardly audible.

[ANP !!!]

Nice review..

I want this case ..

[dinos22]

I have mine running on Medium and it is barely audible. On low it isn't audible and it moves A LOT of air out of the case. This case has it's faults, but airflow and awesome cooling isn't one of them.

what about high

has anyone bothered to have a temp sensor to check the case temp and outside temps to compare how effective all these fans really are