| Antec Nine Hundred Two Gaming Case |
| Reviews - Featured Reviews: Cases | |
| Written by Alex Hanson | |
| Saturday, 25 April 2009 | |
Antec Nine Hundred Two Gaming CaseThe Ultimate Gaming Case, Evolved. That's the theme Antec is using to sell it's new and improved version of the Nine Hundred, now simply called Nine Hundred Two. The best-selling Antec Nine Hundred offers gamers an unbeatable enclosure, one that delivers a combination of cooling, performance and convenience that stands head and shoulders above the competition. Now, the Nine Hundred Two builds on this design with improved airflow and dominating style. Benchmark Reviews is now going to put this statement to the test and see just how much the Antec Nine Hundred Two has Evolved. Considering the original Nine Hundred was released in January 2006, you could say that it's design was due for a little re-freshening, although a lot of people might disagree with that. To say that the Antec Nine Hundred was huge success for the company is an understatement. The Nine Hundred was by far the most successful computer case ever sold. One just has to take a look at Newegg.com to see just how popular it is. It has more than double the number of customer reviews than any other case they sell. It also has garnered more than 60 customer reviews just in the first half of April alone which only speaks to the continued popularity of the Antec Nine Hundred despite it's age. What shocked me was why the new Nine Hundred Two has only received 9 such reviews on Newegg in the same time frame. I'm betting that people either just aren't aware yet that Antec has released the new and improved Nine Hundred Two or the more likely scenario, the price difference. It's no secret that Antec builds high quality cases that combine conveinence, performance, and value. Despite the continued rapid pace of sales of it's Nine Hundred case, Antec listened to customer feedback and went ahead and improved upon the original Nine Hundred without first waiting for sales to drop off like some other companies do. Now let's just see how noteworthy these improvements really are and whether or not the price premium is worth paying extra for.
Antec Nine Hundred Two Features
Nine Hundred Two Specifications
About the company: Antec
Antec, Inc. is the global leader in high-performance computer components and accessories for the gaming, PC upgrade and Do-It-Yourself markets. Founded in 1986, Antec is recognized as a pioneer in the industry and has maintained its position as a worldwide market leader and international provider of quiet, efficient and innovative products. Antec has also achieved great success in the distribution channel, meeting the demands of quality-conscious system builders, VARs and integrators. Antec's offering of enclosures includes a wide range of cases, such as its advanced Performance One Series, economical New Solution Series and VERIS family of media components designed for the home theater PC market. Antec's products also include front line power supplies, such as its premium Signature Series, powerful TruePower Quattro Series and EarthWatts, one of the most environmentally friendly power supplies available. PC gamers are an increasingly significant consumer of performance components, and many Antec products are designed for the gaming demographic, like the premier gamer enclosure: the Nine Hundred. Antec also offers a line of computer accessories comprising many original products, including its patented LED fans and notebook cooling solutions. Antec is headquartered in Fremont, California, with additional offices in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, as well as in the UK, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, China and Taiwan. The company's products are sold in more than 40 countries throughout the world. Please visit www.antec.com for more information. Closer Look: ExteriorThe Antec Nine Hundred Two was not just shipped in it's retail box like most other cases are. It was actually packaged inside of another unmarked box for shipping purposes along with additional packing material to further protect it. That just goes to tell you how much Antec cares about their product being received in perfect condition. The design of the retail package itself shows how they care as well with it's large clear pictures and overall uncluttered look.
Without even opening the package you can spot some differences between the original Nine Hundred and this case such as the front IO Panel which has been moved forward to allow for more room in the top tray area for things like mp3 players and external drives. After opening the package I had to laugh at a warning from Antec that advises it's customers not to use the tray as a cup holder. Oh jeez, I can't imagine why. I suppose it's partially to protect the company from lawsuits because you know someone will claim that they weren't aware that liquids could spill into the case through it's top mounted 200mm Bigboy fan.
The Bigboy fan itself takes on a more rounded shape now and looks like it sits up higher than the rest of the case versus being octagonal shaped and more flush with the lines of the case. I like all the little cubby holes they've created on the top as well. It gives me a place to put all my screws when I'm opening up the case for something.
The windowed side panel appears to be nearly identical to the original Nine Hundred with the exception of the mesh material which appears to have slightly larger openings. It also has a place to mount an additional fan just like the original. The case has a total of four fans included with the option of adding two additional ones. Two on the front as intake fans, one on the back as an exhaust and of course the Bigboy on top. All except the Bigboy are 120mm while the Bigboy is a whopping 200mm.
Looking at the bottom of the case reveals the soft textured rubber feet that are similar to what was on the original Nine Hundred as well but there are an additional two rubber pads on the bottom of the two columns that adorn the front of the case along with the inverted stamped image of ANTEC Design in the middle just in case you forgot who designed it. Detailed Exterior FeaturesThe front top mounted IO Panel has been relocated to be closer to the front than before. To me it's more accessible than before considering my case sits in a desk cubby hole. None of the ports on the front panel are marked but then again your typical user is an enthusiast and already knows what each port shape looks like. If you're not using HD audio with it's jack sensing capabilities then figuring which jack is for the microphone and which is for the headphone is not that hard. It certainly has a nice clean appearance without the cluttered look.
I do however miss the old Firewire port which seems to be just about phased out of most new products anymore. I still do a lot of video editing and since Firewire is so prevalent on camcorders I've had to resort to adding in my own Firewire port. I can understand why it was eliminated here just because it's intended audience is for gamers and not multimedia professionals. Besides, they had to make room for the e-SATA port which is quickly becoming the de facto standard in external drives.
Moving to the back of the case, you'll still find the same large cutouts for routing water tubes but if you look carefully next to it you will not see the standard seven but eight expansion card slots. This is a good thing for those considering a triple SLI video card configuration as you'll still have a couple spare slots leftover for anything else. There is no power supply included but you do have the option of mounting your power supply upside down or upside up but of course if you have a bottom mount fan on yours you'll probably want to install it upside down.
Just above the rear exhaust fan, you'll find the fan controller switches for the rear and Bigboy fans. The Bigboy fan also gets a switch to turn off and on the LED's and since those LED's are rather bright at night, this is a welcome feature. The fan controller switch panel has an extra spot for another switch and at first I wondered why but now I know it's because it came straight from the parts bin of the Antec Twelve Hundred case. The Twelve Hundred has two rear exhaust fans hence the reason for two switch cutouts. In fact, the whole case looks identical to the Twelve Hundred with the exception of it being a few inches shorter.
The front intake case fans each have their own fan controller knob located on the bottom right of each fan. I personally don't like having three different places to reach for to control all the case fans but then again it's certainly an improvement over the original Nine Hundred which required you to take off the side panel to access each individual fan's speed selector switch. Maybe if and when a Nine Hundred Three is released it'll have a centralized fan control panel at or near the front IO panel. Closer Look: InteriorI just love the all black interior. It just has a certain stealthy like appearance to it. All black interiors are becoming quite popular with many other cases too so I'm glad to see Antec included it here.
Standing in contrast to the all black interior is an all white box that houses all the hardware needed for your next build. The box was also fastened to one of the motherboard standoff screws for additional security. Inside it you'll find HDD screws, optical drive screws, and motherboard screws and standoffs as well. The inside of the case actually already had a few of the standoffs already installed so as to shave off thirty seconds or so from your next build I suppose.
Also included is a 3.5 adapter plate and bay cover for you legacy floppy drive users or if you're like me, a 3.5 inch card reader fits fine too.
Attached to the top hard drive cage is a mount for an optional fan to assist in bringing in even more air to your video card. However, don't plan on being able to install any hard drives in conjunction with it because it's not going to work. Neither will using the fan with most higher end video cards that are 10.5 inches long. Personally, I don't see the reason for it. The front intake fan already pushes in a lot of air and that air is already being channeled in via the removable hard drive cage and blowing directly onto the video card.
As for fan noise, it's a subjective topic but the noise levels with all the fans on low produces an acceptable level of noise. It does get noisy on high but you're probably gaming anyways when you need them on high and games are best with music and sound effects turned up high as well so you'll probably won't be bothered by it anyways.
One of the best ways to achieve maximum airflow in a case is get rid of anything that blocks the flow of air and what better way to do it than to tuck away all your power supply cables behind the motherboard. There is plenty of room for the longest power supply cables out there. I was surprised by the amount of depth between the side panel and the motherboard but you still need to flatten them out a bit so that the side panel fits securely. The included reusable and adjustable zip ties are great and holes for routing cables into and out from behind the motherboard are strategically placed.
There is even a space on the top of the motherboard tray to route a CPU power cable. Mine was a bit of a stretch and I almost had to remove my heat sink to do it but I eventually prevailed. Even the front IO Panel wiring was long enough to stretch behind the motherboard tray and reach the headers at the bottom of my motherboard. Detailed Interior FeaturesThis is the cleanest wiring install job I've ever done and it's all in thanks to the wonderful design of the motherboard tray cut outs. I have 3 hard drives and 2 optical drives installed and two of those are IDE and I had no issues tucking all that wiring behind the motherboard tray.
If you look closely at the image above you'll see why you can't have the optional middle fan installed or even hard drives directly behind a 10.5 inch video card. There is just not enough clearance. Maybe if Antec had added just an extra half inch to the length of the case it would work but not as it is right now. I placed one hard drive at the top of the top hard drive cage and two at the bottom of the bottom hard drive cage because eventually I plan on a triple SLI configuration and this is the only way to do it if you're planning on this as well.
Having an all black interior does have one negative aspect. It shows dust easily. So it's good to see Antec included filters on all the intake fans. Even the side window fan mount has a filter. However, removing the filters to clean them is not all that easy. The side window fan is the easiest by just removing the side panel with the two thumbscrews on the back and popping the filter off but the front intake fan filters involve removing both side panels, then removing the eight thumbscrews holding each hard drive cage and then sliding the cage forward. It might be a good idea to leave a little slack in your HDD cables too unless you don't mind disconnecting and reconnecting those as well. Needless to say, it's not that convenient.
I can understand why Antec decided to go with the thumbscrews versus a tool less design to secure the HDD cages to the case. Antec strives for quality and most tool less designs are cheap and flimsy pieces that break easily and don't secure your drives all that well anyways. Technically speaking, thumbscrews are a form of tool less design and I personally prefer the thumbscrews even if it does add an extra minute or so to remove a hard drive.
Now installing the hard drives into the cage is pretty straight forward and offers nothing unusual about it. However, you will need a screwdriver for this part though. They're held into the cage with four long screws and offer plenty of room around them to maximize cooling.
Gaming Case Final ThoughtsWhen Antec chose the catch phrase The Ultimate Gaming Case, Evolved to advertise the Nine Hundred Two, I'd say they hit the nail on the head. It's not a revolution but it's certainly an evolution. The original Nine Hundred was such a huge success for Antec that it didn't make sense to completely revamp it but instead to just tweak it and improve upon the original design while retaining it's most positive aspects such as cooling performance and great looks. Improve they did with the most valued improvements being external fan controllers and intake fan filters and my personal favorite, the motherboard cutouts for routing all those bulky power supply cables. I suppose the extra space on top is worth mentioning as well since you can now store twice as many things on it all the while having easier access to the front top IO panel. Inside and out the Nine Hundred Two is aesthetically pleasing with it's stealth like all black interior and exterior and legendary Antec build quality which is evident throughout. Despite the addition of external fan controllers, I feel Antec could improve upon this design even further by consolidating the fan controllers in a centralized location such as the front top IO panel. I would like to see the front intake fan filters become a little easier to take out and clean also. Other than that, the Antec Nine Hundred Two is just about perfect in every way. It's my new personal favorite case and will be home to my main PC for a long time. Nine Hundred Two ConclusionThe way the Nine Hundred Two arrived at my doorstep was unlike any other case I've had delivered. Most are shipped in the original retail box and nothing else which usually means it's been beaten up by the time I get it. This one arrived with the retail box packaged inside of another box for shipping and it was stuffed with extra insulation so needless to say, it arrived in perfect condition. The retail box itself is plain, simple, and highly effective with no over the top graphics or advertisements plastered all over it. For this reason I give some high marks in the presentation category. The Nine Hundred Two certainly has a lot of visual appeal going for it with it's all black stealth looking exterior and interior and of course it wouldn't be a gaming case without LED fans. The fit and finish is like that of a brand new luxury car with no gaps or loose fitting components anywhere. Construction is solid with Antec quality showing throughout the case. I did knock a point off in the functionality category for the fan controllers and fan filters because they are not that easy to access and improvements could be made in that regard. Relatively speaking, the Antec Nine Hundred Two is a good value as it currently sells for $159.99 at Newegg.com; but I think Antec is under-cutting their sales by pricing the original Nine Hundred $40 less. This explains the continued strong popularity of the original Nine Hundred especially in today's economy where everyone seems to be pinching pennies and looking for the best deals. Personally I would definitely pony up the extra $40 for all the improvements Antec has made to the case and therefore I highly recommend the new Antec Nine Hundred Two. Pros:
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