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

[stangracin2]

here are some teaser pics

as a follow up we start painting the main chassis which was looking good then it started blushing

[=>WiLL<=]

Placement of the front Audio panel plugs on the Mobo.

Sneaky bastard. Nice work.

[chiman2]

my baby

Here is my antec 900 that i just built 2 days ago and just finished wiring today. hope you all like it.

o yea sorry for the horrible camera



too much glare!!




i still have to figure out where i want to put that 8 pin wire. (the one cable on the side of the psu




9800gtx +



money shot

[apachegank]

@chiman2: nice wire management dude

[kraifect]

Wow really good job on that cable managment , even with that one wire you still havent fixed it looks excellent. What type of zalman is that?

[chiman2]

thanks its a zalman cnps9700

[Chase023]

Sneaky bastard. Nice work.

LOL thanks, Yeah I was going to sleeve that cable but then they would in no way fit thru there, hehe.

Chiman2, your rig looks great. Good cable management.

Are you having any heat issues with that 9800 GTX??
Mine after like a few days started to glitch like crazy so I cooled it down for a day then it was fine and it went back on the fritz so I put many fans on it but still no avail so I just upgraded it.

[Moe_Szyslak]

Where did you get that cable?

[chiman2]

LOL thanks, Yeah I was going to sleeve that cable but then they would in no way fit thru there, hehe.

Chiman2, your rig looks great. Good cable management.

Are you having any heat issues with that 9800 GTX??
Mine after like a few days started to glitch like crazy so I cooled it down for a day then it was fine and it went back on the fritz so I put many fans on it but still no avail so I just upgraded it.

overheating...um according to everest my temperatures are pretty much normal. 50 or so idle. what are your temperatures?

[=>WiLL<=]

Where did you get that cable?

Same place I got mine. *Custom-Made*


(picture is several months old)

[Goreg]

Anyone know where you can get those right angle Sata power connectors in the UK?

[Chase023]

Same place I got mine. *Custom-Made*


(picture is several months old)

Hehe... Yep custom made.. but you can get the base cables from FrozenCPU.

And I never got to measure my temps because I thought I had to go out and buy a infrared temp gauge or something. Do motherboards come native with temp sensors for Vid Cards?? Do you just need a program to read them?

[hiroman_77]

Yes, I'm a newbie, but I've been a lurker for over 6 months now, and this is my first modded case. Thought I'd post in appreciation for all the help this thread has given me.

Case: Antec 900
Power Supply: Thermaltake Toughpower 750w With Modular Cables
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3R
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 2.4Ghz
Heat Sink: Artic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro
Thermal Compound: Artic Silver Ceramique Thermal Compound
Memory: 4 X 1GB Patriot Extreme Performance DDR2 800
Memory Cooler: OCZ OCZTXTCC Memory Cooler
Video Card: BFG Tech GeForce 7950GT 256MB
VGA Cooler: Zalman VF900 (non-LED)
NIC Card(s): Intel PCI-E Gigabit Desktop Adapter, Intel PCI-E Gigabit Server Adapter
Tuner Card: Hauppauge WinTV HVR 1600 PCI
Hard Drive(s): 2 x Western Digital 1TB GP WDEACS, 2 X Seagate 250GB 7200.10 ST3250410AS
Drive Bay Converter: 2 X Silverstone Aluminum 5.25" to 3.5" bay converter
DVD-RW: Samsung IDE 18X DVD Burner with LightScribe
Card Reader/Floppy Disk: Scythe Black Floppy Drive/USB 2.0 Card Reader
Controller Panel: Silverstone USB/Firewire/Audio Black Panel
Case Fan(s): 6 x Yate Loon Blue LED D12SL-12 (From coolerguys.com), 1 x Antec Big Boy 200
Fan Controller: SilenX IXA-FCEX External 4 Channel Fan Controller

Modded DVD cover plate using left over drive bay cover. Covered original port and switch area with foam, and moved ports and switches to one of the drive bays. Cut out holes for HD & Power LEDs and power switch. Moved because the machine is sitting on a 4 ft high file cabinet.


Covered most of the visible parts of the case with sound deadening material. More for looks than performance. No experience painting yet and I'm still afraid.


Better shot of motherboard area. All possible cables were routed to the back of the case, even ones covered by the hard drive cages.


Cut out the back fan grill and replaced with black wire grill, replaced stock pci slot cover plates with Silverstone vented plates.


All the wires hidden behind the rear of the motherboard tray. The panel barely slides on because of some of the thick cables.


Cut PSU hole and mounted 140 mm fan grill. Feet made out of rubber feet found at a local hardware store and home depot. 4 pads stacked together with the bottom one a rounded hard rubber pad. Needed the height for the PSU fan.


All blue leds from the 6 Yate Loon Fans, Memory Cooler, Fan Controller, and Power & HDD LEDs


Another night shot the with windowed panel installed.



This is my home "server" computer that will eventually hold a total 8 hard drives by adding 4 more 1 TB WD GP drives when space is needed. Most of the ideas for this machine came from the bright and creative individuals on this thread. Thanks to all of you for the great work and informative posts.

I don't like the color of some of the LEDs on the yate loon fans (some lightish blue, some close to green). I would like to replace them with the darker blue 5 mm leds. Anyone had any experience buying them off of ebay? Any specific manufacturer you've had luck with?

Please let me know what you think and if you have any suggestions for improvements.

BTW I actually know the guy who designed the outside of this case for Antec as well as all the recent Antec cases. I told him/showed him this thread and he was really impressed. He's a really nice guy.

[Janno]

BTW I actually know the guy who designed the outside of this case for Antec as well as all the recent Antec cases. I told him/showed him this thread and he was really impressed. He's a really nice guy.

welcome, and tell him to keep them coming

(they probably "borrowed" all the bling (black interior, pre-cut holes for wiring etc.) for the 1200 from the 900 users here )
excellent use of customer feedback if u ask me

[stangracin2]

welcome, and tell him to keep them coming

(they probably "borrowed" all the bling (black interior, pre-cut holes for wiring etc.) for the 1200 from the 900 users here )
excellent use of customer feedback if u ask me

ur prolly right

[kraifect]

Ok this is my FIRST build haha if you couldnt tell, yes I know my wire managment sucks!!, you don't have to tell me that lolol unless you suggest something that can help it without cutting holes. It took me from 4pm-10pm to finish putting everything together ( lmao yes I know FAILURE but in the end it seemed alot easier than I expected it to be O_O )
Sorry the pics are so big!






While putting this together , I had some time in tropical storm fay ( This was in the beggining of it, by the time it ended my street looked like a ocean and they closed all roads because cars wouldnt be able to operate in them, me and my friend took are inner tubes and floated on a main road, I dont have a pic. of that though )

[DaIceMan]

Need more molex connectors in 1 spot. Looks like a giant lego. . It doesn't appear you even tried to use the holes that Antec provided. I have a version 1 900 that doesn't have those holes. I would CERTAINLY put those to use if I had them.

[kraifect]

Nope I didnt, to complicated :P

[dalosiman]

The Thermalright Extreme 120Ultra heat sink is just too big and gets in the way of putting the fan on the side. I need someone to help me create a new plexi panel so I can actually mount a 120mm fan on the side.

My 9800 GTX was having glitching issues which would not go away after even giving it a long rest and having more fans on it so it went away and came a Evga 280 GTX.

I will have to post new pics later.

Anyhow I hope you guys like it. I did go thru an ordeal to finish but I am happy other than the video issues.

I have the TW Extreme 120 as well with same issue so I took the entire plexi out of hte side panel and shimmed it with small washers and it stays extremely cool after adding another 120mm fan to the inside on one of the empty hdd cages using one of the adapters that came with the case.

[Janno]

Need more molex connectors in 1 spot. Looks like a giant lego. . It doesn't appear you even tried to use the holes that Antec provided. I have a version 1 900 that doesn't have those holes. I would CERTAINLY put those to use if I had them.

wow, antec learns quick
i had no idea they made a version of the 900 with pre-cut wiring holes

[sailrabbit]

My kids need a new PC for doing their homework. I decided to build one with mostly leftover parts from my last 900 build. This will be a minimalist build.. (still fast though!) as clean as possible. I love that look!

The few parts I had to pick up are a lot cheaper now:
Q6600 $150
2 500GB SATA HDDs @ $65 ea.

The 1st is a MBRocketry inspired PS mod:



Here are shots of the steps:









Finished:






Next up is the MetalRush USB Mod. I am moving the ports to the top of the case.

MetalRush USB Mod:
Relocated my extra USB ports.
Which results in the following (with PSU installed):

Here is the pattern.. off to start cutting:



I'll post more as this build progresses. Waiting on parts from the egg and I need to finish cutting access holes and start painting!

[Hughyhunter]

lookin good everyone... cant wait 4 next proj!

[jimmyxxx]

@sailrabbit; clever idea, looking good

[sailrabbit]

Finished the USB mod. Painting with it 100° / 16% humidity was a major PIA. The outside was easy, the interior paint would fog and build up on the bottom like sand lol. Looked like I painted in a running clothes dryer. Sanded it out and held the can much closer and moved faster. I like the result.. much more of a flat matte finish that absorbs light. Moving on to final assembly. Here are some progress shots:





Added the Zalman HSF controller.





By sailrabbit, shot with Canon EOS 30D

[MetalRush]

@ Chiman: I would try to manage the cabling of your PSU. Is so much nicer when done (wait till Sailrabbit is done and compare that to your own... you will know what I mean in 1 blink of the eye ).

@ Hiroman: very nice clean setup! But what is that unit in your top-drive-bay?

@ Kraifect: you really should do something about your cabling... not today or tomorrow (I understand you want to enjoy your new rig first...) but pls do. Your airflow is f*cked now and that is totally unnecessary with this case

@ Sailrabbit: Oooh, my little sailing friend, you make it a feast for the eye... again (and pls, don't blame me for the USB-port mod... I stole that idea somewhere else :P)