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

[deees]

That is a great post helped me alot making my 900 looks better, ill post some pics soon


but i did order Thermalright Ultra-120 eXtreme yesterday, and i was wondering can you use the side fan along with the extreme ?

It depends on the location of your CPU and whether you mount the TRU-120 horizontal or vertical.

I think most people can fit it with some modification to the fan. I replaced the triangular window with a piece of plexiglas when I was using my Infinity.


The TRU-120 was not a problem to mount.

[cappy]

Specs
Intel E6750, Zalman 9500, Arctic Silver 5
4GB Patriot DDR3 1333
Asus Maximus Extreme
Asus 20x DVD+- x2
XFX 8800GT 512MB
WD Raptor 150GB 10,000
WD 320GB 7,200 x2 Raid1
Mitsumi FDD w/ digital card reader
ABS Tagan BZ 800W
Windows Vista x64

Insides
Managed to hide most of the cables/wires etc ...


Backsides
Wallah all the hidden cables...


Cooling


Inside Detail View


With Side Panel On
Damn all the finger prints...


In the dark

[The0men]

I just put one of these together for a mate... Nice looking case, but I do have a few gripes.

-The case is quite small, its a bit tricky to get around in there.
-NO room for watercooling.
-Hard to fit a TRUE, though I could do it, I can't have the side fan due to my orientation (Vertical to keep all flow in the same direction)
-Fan LED's are pretty dull, and they're not extremely fast even on the high setting, though they do seem to move enough air.
-Front panel 5 1/2" drive bay covers just fit, dont have clips and either don't sit flush or slid in.
-No power LED indicator?? I dont know what that's about, guess they take it for granted that your leaving the LED fans in there.

That aside, the case looks nice, but doesn't have alot of room for cable managment, or expansion.

The huge fan on the top is wicked. Installation is a little finicky in the tight space, but easy, with easy motherboard layout, no need to line up holes and install standoff's yourself when using standard ATX. Bottem mounting PSU is a nice change though.

[VooDooRoo]

PPL

see cappie`s "cooler picture" is that fan removable of the CPU cooler?

I have a Scythe "MINE" 3 Heat Pipes CPU Cooler

see here and have removed the CPU fan and no real noticable temp difference

http://www.scythe-usa.com/product/cp...00_detail.html


Now with the amount of air being blown around inside the case a CPU cooler isn`t necceray?

what you think?

I prefer quieter myself


Oh nice job BTW Cappy.

I think the cable above ur vid card spoils it about?


V D R

[DoNER90]

@ The0men

This case is not 100% pefect for water cooling but it does work

here is my rig ( which died on Thursday )

[The0men]

Yer I've seen it, and you have actually done an excellent job, but not enough room for me lol. And I hate T-Lines lol.

It is just a bit difficult, and no room for 360 rads, or even dual 240's. Although my armor did take some modding to accomadate a 240+360 rads.

[Power5]

I would love to see a mid tower case that can accomodate a 360 or Dual 240s.

Cappy: What is the thing on the window of your case? Themometer?

[DoNER90]

I managed to fit a 240 Radiator with ease , It took alot of modding to fit it their but it turned out great and its well finished with this A.C Ryan Grill , this case is not perfect for water cooling but it does the job beautifully , I am trying to get my hands on a 2nd 900 for my BTX mod

[Brian MP5T]

^^ That actually looks good...

[EagleRock]

Any 1 can post some pic of the case v2.0 with no mods from inside ?

[javaman]

Very nice systems in this thread! Thanks for all the help!

This is my first watercooled system.




Q6600
Asus P5N-T
eVGA 8800GT x2 SLI w EK blocks
4GB gskill PC2 8000
2TB HD (x2 stripe)
Lachesis mouse
G15 keyboard
Win Vista64Ult
Swiftech H20-220 Apex kit

[Degenerate83]

wow so many awsome mods on this thread....so have started moddin mine new to this but more to be done when have the time.. am also plannin to install watercooling system when i get a new motherboard, does any1 think its poss to mount rad on the bottom of case where i removed one of the hard disk caddies?

[iceveiled]

Hey guys! This is my first post. I've been reading this thread over the last couple days and it has inspired me to work on my own 900. I have the old version (no holes in the back panel) and a non-modular PSU so right now it's a mess in there. I plan on buying a new 900 and working on it, while my components stay nice and safe in my current one. I have a couple questions:

1. Once I've cut a couple holes, what's the best way to cover up that rough edge? I see some of you have put some kind of material around your holes. What's that called and where can I buy some?

2. What's the best way to bundle/bind some cables together? I have some generic zip ties but I don't like how you can't undo them once they have been tightened.

...on to the before pics! (I'll post after pics once I have them!)








Note: I just purchased some round IDE cables to help clean up the clutter. Ribbon cables = bad and I have to have my old IDE HDD in there. So yeah...that's my setup as it is today. Very cluttered and sore on the eyes, I know. Comments, suggestions, tips, etc. are welcome!

Thanks in advance and keep up the good work! There's some really awesome setups in this thread!

[Kolapso]

Very good written review, and it's a nice case too ( and cheap)

[Power5]

wow so many awsome mods on this thread....so have started moddin mine new to this but more to be done when have the time.. am also plannin to install watercooling system when i get a new motherboard, does any1 think its poss to mount rad on the bottom of case where i removed one of the hard disk caddies?

Looks like there should be room for a 240 rad.

Hey guys! This is my first post. I've been reading this thread over the last couple days and it has inspired me to work on my own 900. I have the old version (no holes in the back panel) and a non-modular PSU so right now it's a mess in there. I plan on buying a new 900 and working on it, while my components stay nice and safe in my current one. I have a couple questions:

1. Once I've cut a couple holes, what's the best way to cover up that rough edge? I see some of you have put some kind of material around your holes. What's that called and where can I buy some?

2. What's the best way to bundle/bind some cables together? I have some generic zip ties but I don't like how you can't undo them once they have been tightened.

...on to the before pics! (I'll post after pics once I have them!)


Note: I just purchased some round IDE cables to help clean up the clutter. Ribbon cables = bad and I have to have my old IDE HDD in there. So yeah...that's my setup as it is today. Very cluttered and sore on the eyes, I know. Comments, suggestions, tips, etc. are welcome!

Thanks in advance and keep up the good work! There's some really awesome setups in this thread!

I used some 7/32" vac hose from my local Auto Parts store. Just slit it down the middle and pressed it over the cut edge. Works great.

[iceveiled]

Yeah I was thinking of using some sort of clear rubber tubing since I won't be painting the inside black.

[Power5]

Cant help you on tidying up the wires. My case does not have the other side on. I cant figure how people get their wires flat on the back side. Maybe I just need to get a modular PSU.

[iceveiled]

Yeah I was wondering the same thing. Seems like there's very little space between the motherboard surface and the back panel. Anybody here have any struggles with this?

[Degenerate83]

yeah took 1 hell of alot of black gaffa tape to hold down wires still only just managed to get it on tho....

mod planning......

1) paint case pearl white
2) get replacement back panel and place on window side, with dragon cut out
3) blue cathode lighting

and plan complete internal watercoolin setup. maybe drive bay reservoir

also does any1 know if it poss to get front panel header extension cables???? mine seem short!

[BTK]

do you really need to cut holes in the case to get nice wires (like the 1st Post)?

and my gigabyte-ga-p35-ds3r is a bit smaller than standard atx case so im worried front panel connectors wont reach

[Power5]

The newest version has 2 large oval holes in front of the mobo tray. If you dont want to cut, you still have a way to get wires out the back. I would still cut one hole for PSU wires to pass through, unless you have a modular.

[iceveiled]

BTK I have that mobo (see pics above on this page) and the wires reach just fine. no worries.

Here's my planned chop job. Green rectangles represent the pre-cut holes in the newer 900's.

And to the 900 painters...what's the best way to paint the interior black? Just go crazy with a rattle can or what? Did any of you do a more thorough job with sanding, primer, paint, clear coat?

[The0men]

BTK I have that mobo (see pics above on this page) and the wires reach just fine. no worries.

Here's my planned chop job. Green rectangles represent the pre-cut holes in the newer 900's.

And to the 900 painters...what's the best way to paint the interior black? Just go crazy with a rattle can or what? Did any of you do a more thorough job with sanding, primer, paint, clear coat?

Does that fan have a shroud around it?

[DoNER90]

@ iceveiled. the more time you spend in repairing the Case ( sanding , priming ) the better the finish will be. I sanded the entire case down to the bare metal then painted 1 layer of Primer on and then 4 layers of black. I was thinking of Clear Co. but I dont like the Gloss finish so I kept the Matt Black.

[pustbunker]

After browsing this thread (really nice mods everyone!) I saw that some of you mount the CPU cooler to blow upwards, and others mount it so it blows to the back. I've made a paint pic of 'my' nine hundred and I was wondering what the best airflow for it would be with a scythe infinity/muugen cooler on a Q6600.



Which do you think is best?