Antec 900 2 Gaming Case

Antec has recently revised the ever so popular gaming chassis, the Antec 900. Let’s see what all they did to improve the older model.

When companies are making cases designed for gamers they tend to generally stick to three main ideas. These three things are lights, airflow, and versatility. Gamers often times have massive graphics cards that they need to fit into cases and even sometimes have up to three of these 10.5″ long cards crammed into their case. Lights are there to look pretty and keep the owner happy in the sense that they can say, “Woo, pretty lights”. Along with those pretty lights, airflow is extremely important because of the amount of hardware and the amount of heat that hardware makes. That hot air needs to be moved out of the case in order to keep the temperatures within reasonable operating limits.

The Antec 900 gaming case is one of the most used cases on the market, and Antec realized this and decided to make a few changes to try and improve on an already, seemingly, perfect design. Antec really wanted to make the case more appealing and gathered the ideas of the those who were already owners of the case and expanded upon them to come out with the Antec 900 2.

About 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.

As part of its commitment to the gaming industry, Antec is a member of the non-profit organization PC Gaming Alliance, with Senior Vice President Scott Richards sitting on the board of directors.

PACKAGING

This case is looking pretty awesome just looking at the picture on the front of the box.

This is one side of the box, listing all the details about Antec.

This is the back of the case. As you can see, it lists out all the details and specifications of the case.

And finally we have the last side of the case, listing a bit more about Antec.

Here you can see it tightly protected as usual to prevent it from receiving damage during shipping.

The Case

 

Here’s the first glimpse of the entire front of the case.

Now this, as you may know, is the famous Big Boy! This is a 200mm fan located at the top rear of the case. What’s new about this one is that they added some nice looking blue LED’s which can be turned off via the built in fan controller on the back of the case.

This is the front panel. Starting at the left and moving to the right we have the reset switch, 2 USB 2.0 ports, an eSATA port, audio and mic ports, then finally, the power button.

Here you are seeing through the side panel window to the motherboard tray. The first thing I noticed that was different from the first Antec 900 is the new all black interior. This simple step has taken the older case down to its knees in my opinion.

This is the back of the case. At the top is that fan controller that I mentioned earlier. The case has eight expansions slots, which is nice, and they are all “open” so that hot air can escape through them. To the right of the expansion slots are the holes that can be used to run water cooling tubing through. Above that is the 120mm exhaust fan, and at the very bottom is where the power supply will be installed.

Sorry about the blur on this one, but I am no pro photographer. This is the fan controller. As you can see there is an extra spot for if you were to add an extra 120mm fan to the side panel of the case, which by the way, was not included with the case.

This is the back of the side panel. As you can see, here we have the window and also the spot where you would install a 120mm fan to either bring cold air in or take hot air off the GPU through the side of the case. Too bad that extra fan doesn’t come with the case.

One of the things that surprised me when I first peered into the case was that the standoff are already installed. It’s not that big of a deal, but I think it is definitely worth recognizing.

These are all the connectors for the front panel. You have the eSATA on the left, then audio, power button, HDD LED, reset switch, and don’t forget the USB.

This shot is take from the inside of the case aimed out the front. You can see the two 120mm Antec Tri-Cool fans which intake air and put it throughout the case. Also at the very front of the case is a shroud type device for which you can install an optional additional fan.

In this picture I wanted to give you better idea of the added cable management features. In the previous case, there were absolutely no cable management features to be found. In the refreshed version, we see a plethora of cable management options. At the bottom left, the bottom right, then going on up and around the motherboard tray are all the holes with which you can run cables through to get better airflow and have a better looking inside.

The back of the motherboard tray shows more signs of cable management with the undoable zip ties. One thing that I’m not seeing is a CPU bracket hole in the motherboard tray. I’ll touch up a little about this later on along with installing a v10 CPU cooler.

BUNDLED ITEMS

Here we have the 3.5″ bay adapters, screws for installation, and the installation manual.

CONCLUSION

Antec has yet another extremely sturdy, good looking, and versatile product with the Antec 900 2 Gaming Case. Since their debut of the original Antec 900, they have released one revision and one completely different model. Both times that Antec revisited the case, they really improved on the original, but this brand new model has improved a ton.

The added black paint, cable management features, fan controller, and fan filters that are all great improvements and additions. Based on sound, the cases generate the same amount of noise, which isn’t loud to me because I’m used to the constant blowing of a HAF full tower, but to some it could be a bit too much.

Pros:

+  Looks good
+  Excellent cable management features
+  Solid Construction & Extremely Sturdy
+  Black interior
+  Plenty of room for larger graphics cards such as the GTX280, and even workstation cards
+  Air filters on intake fans
+  LED fans
+  You get what you pay for
+  Airflow

Cons:

–  A bit loud
–  No hole in motherboard tray
–  Extra fans not included
 

Overall, the Antec 900 2 Gaming Case has been improved significantly over its previous model. The black paint, cable management features, and fan controller are all excellent additions to this case and the overall appeal has gone up, in my opinion, quite a bit. Since this case is aimed at gamers, I would say that Antec did an outstanding job improving the case and making it live up to the name.

Final Score of 8.5 out of 10 and the Bjorn3D.com Seal of Approval.