Top positive review
5.0 out of 5 starsHigh quality, good size.
Reviewed in the United States on August 7, 2012
I shopped around a lot for a Small Form Factor (SFF) case. I kept coming back to Antec cases because I know and trust Antec quality. I read a lot of reviews and decided this was the best cost/benefit for my use as a Home Entertainment PC (HTPC).
Installing the micro-AT motherboard was a snap, the hardest part was installing a couple of additional standoffs to support my motherboard, nothing with the design, just fat fingers. The motherboard is in its own section of this case, there is a pass through from the power supply bay to pass through power to the motherboard. The two 120MM fans draw air out of the motherboard bay.
The 5.25" carrier is very cleverly designed. Once the top cover is removed the carrier lifts up and out so you can mount a 2.5" drive in the bottom. WARNING: There were no standoffs for mounting the 2.5" drive in the bottom of the case. I needed a molex to SATA power adapter to attach power to my SSD because the SATA plugs on the power supply were in the middle of the cable run, I couldn't fold the cable enough to attach it to the SSD on the floor of the case.
This case is the size of a full size stereo receiver. It sits in my enclosed home entertainment center, the computer is running Windows 7 with XBMC for an HTPC front end, temperatures on the CPU hover around 45C. The fans are nearly silent, with the door closed on my entertainment center I cannot hear any noise from the case. The only problem I had was when my son put CD cases next to the case and blocked the two fan outlets, temperatures in the case were at 50C and the fans were running at high speed (using SpeedFan to control fan speed)and I could hear them very clearly. Once the cases were removed and temperatures dropped the fans throttled back and the case was silent again.
I highly recommend this case. It is worth every penny!
