Antec Nine Hundred Steel ATX Ultimate Gamer PC Case (Black)
by Antec
List Price:
Our Price: $99.99
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Availability: Usually ships in 2 to 4 weeks
Category: CE
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Digital Photo Product Details
Manufacturer: AntecAudio: English (Original Language)
Format: CD
Platform: Windows
Model: Nine Hundred
Product features:
- Unique Top mounted 200mm TriCool exhaust fan to cool the hottest system
- Perforated front bezel for maximum air intake
- Two front loaded HDD cages for up to 6 hard disk drives
- The HDD cages act as air ducts to take air in more efficiently. Optional middle 120mm fan bracket to cool the hottest graphic cards or CPU
- Two 120mm TriCool blue LED front fans to cool hard disk drives
- Windows Live OneCare 2.0 (Up to 3 Users)
- Nero 8 Ultra Edition [OLD VERSION]
- Roxio Creator 2010 [OLD VERSION]
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Antec Nine Hundred Steel ATX Ultimate Gamer PC Case (Black)
Customer Review: The best case under $150
Summary: 5 Stars
This case is the closest to being perfect among the numerous cases I've looked at. It has near perfect airflow consideration. Antec has put lots of very careful thoughts in it. The topmounted 200mm fan and the bottom mounted power supply is a great design to increase the airflow efficiency. This is because this unique design results in a combination that forms a complete airflow path from the bottom to top, and goes out from the top to the outside. Besides, having the weight of the power supply at the bottom of the case increases the stability of the case. This is a true innovative breakthrough in case design. I believe the reason why the original computer case design went for top PSU mounting was because it intuitively went for a more convenient location for the power switch. The upper back of the computer can be reached by a user more easily. There was really no consideration of airflow in relation to the position of the PSU until more recently. The convenience of the better power switch placement of top PSU mounting still holds true today, but compared to the significant advantage of airflow of the bottom mounting design, it is a very minor trade-off. To me, about the only time I need to physically switch off the power on the PSU is when I am doing some kind of fixing on the computer and really don't mind reaching the bottom side of the computer in that circumstance. In normal use, I seldom even turn off my computer in the operating system, much less physically power off the PSU.
Unlike most other cases, the two front fans are included. And they are pretty quiet (not silent however). If you use a hot CPU, these front fans are necessary. All fans have their own three-way manual control of speed.
For those who are not familiar with the computer cooling, the airflow of the case has a substantial impact on the cooling efficiency, this being in addition to the CPU cooling itself. Speaking of the CPU cooling, I strongly suggest that you use a CPU cooler (such as Zalman CNP9500) that laterally blows the air outward to the rear of the case (instead of vertically blowing the air down to the CPU or away from the CPU). For a given size and amount of material used, the former is a vastly more efficient than the latter.
For your reference, the system I built recently uses the Antec 900 case; Intel QX9770 Quad Extreme, and Zalman CNP 9500 CPU cooler. Without using any additional case fan, the system runs 32° idle. This is when all fans are turned to low speed setting to make the system as quiet as possible. This is unbelievably good. QX9770 is one of the hottest CPUs. If you have an average case and an average CPU cooler, you'd be lucky if it idles below 65°. The case design and the CPU cooler makes that much of a difference, essentially a usable system and an unusable system.
This case has a lot more to offer in addition to its outstanding airflow design. The case is a lot better looking than the picture would suggest. Unconventional yet absolutely non-gimmicky, a very rare combination. The all-black look is solid and striking. I never liked those strange looking so-called gamers' cases. I was a bit concerned about the use of several blue LED lights, and thought that they may be distracting and "superficial", but ended up liking even these. They are beautifully rendered with a low-key appearance, nicely blended in with the all-black design of the case. The LED light in the back actually gives some necessary illumination for the case inspection.
The external communication ports (such as USB connectors) are on the top face of the case. I always believed that this is the only place that these external connectors should go. The word "desktop" in desktop computers is really a misnomer. Desktop computers are mostly standing on the floor. Placing the external connectors on the front face as most computers do today requires you to crouch down to plug in a device. Because sometimes you need to look at the orientation of the connector, it is not uncommon that one needs to get into a position that is even more difficult than crouching down. I once had a Dell computer that had a front USB port not only near the bottom of the computer, but also pointing 45° downward, requiring you to literally lift up and turn over the computer in order to reach the USB port. With the Antec 900, all that awkwardness is gone.
Another advantage of placing the external connectors on the top side is that it is much less prone to damages. This is an improvement over the common front USB access, which makes it quite easy to bump over a connected USB and damage the port.
However, I found that placing the power switch buttons on top together with the USB connectors causes a bit of inconvenience. I have a habit of resting my leg on the top of the computer. Well, with Antec 900, I better change that habit to avoid accidentally restarting the computer.
I tried hard to find any flaws of this case. I'll list several things below which I think could be improved.
(1) The audio jacks on a top panel of the case are poorly designed and have noticeable static. I believe it is caused by improper grounding and/or shielding from interference. Sadly, all four Antec cases I've used in the past have the same problem. I don't think they are doing any rigorous test of the quality of the font audio. It is not terrible and is certainly usable, but for high quality listening experience, this is not acceptable. I would not mind making a phone call or something like that using the headphone connected to the the headphone jack on the top panel, but to listen to music would be a different story. But this problem doesn't matter that much to me personally because I don't use headphones that much at all, and even when I do, I never listen to music over the headphones on my computer. I've got a pair of fairly good speakers for my computer to take care of that. Also, I'm not sure how much blame Antec deserves in this aspect, because based on what I heard, this is a very common problem among cases using a front (or top) panel for audio, and also among those add-on audio panels.
(2) Without any modification, this case is not among the quietest cases, and certainly not a "silent PC" type of case. Even if you don't add extra fans, the four case fans are quite audible in a quiet room even when all fans are set to the low speed level. For reference, Antec 900 is noticeably (although not annoyingly) noisier than Antec Solo, which by the way is a very quiet case. However, unless you are a silent PC freak, it's unlikely you will be bothered by the noise of this computer. Most ready-made computers you can buy in stores are noisier. Also, unless you are a crazy overclocker, it is hard to imagine that you will need to turn the fan speed higher than low. I use one of the hottest CPUs you can buy on the market today, and I have a cool computer when all fans are set to low. But that is partly because I use an excellent CPU cooler.
(3) It doesn't have a removable motherboard tray, so installing the components can be slightly more challenging than those cases that have this feature, because you have to put the board in first before you install any components. But unless you modify your system frequently, this is a one-time trouble, and really is not that big a problem.
(4) The case uses small-sized thumbscrews, which are very difficult to unscrew without a tool. In fact, the first time I needed to open the case, I simply could not unscrew all of the thumbscrews in the back and had to go find a screwdriver, defeating the purpose of using thumbscrews. With such a stingy size, these thumbscrews cannot be tightened firmly without causing difficulties to unscrew. This is a marked downgrade from the excellent generously-sized thumbscrews in the previous Antec cases. But interestingly, the thumbscrews for the driver bays are more generously sized than the four exterior ones on the two case side plates. If anything, it should be the opposite because the four exterior thumbscrews are the most frequently screwed and unscrewed.
An update:
I made some modification to make the computer even quieter. I went ahead to further reduce the speed of all case fans using a fan speed controller. The computer is now as quiet as Antec Solo. It is still not a silent PC, but good enough for me. In a very quiet room, you can hear its soothing whispering of the fans, but nothing disturbing. You can't hear it even sitting close if the AC is on in the room. I used a simple Zalman Fan Mate 2 fan controller plus a 3-pin to 4-pin Y splitter to make connections to the fans. However, I'm considering to use a more dedicated controller such as Silverstone SST-FP32-B to have access to the controller from outside of the case.
It should be noted that there is always a "heat cost" you have to pay when you reduce the fan speed (otherwise, those case fans would be completely superfluous, which they're not). But thanks to the excellent air flow, this case has a lot of room to reduce the fan speed. In my modification, it only raised the idle temperature from 32° to 35-37°, still excellent. This again speaks well for the excellent overall air flow of this case.
Description of Antec Nine Hundred Steel ATX Ultimate Gamer PC Case (Black)
Introducing the Antec Nine Hundred hardcore gaming case. Now you can own any noob ever spawned with this ultra-mean case in classic black finish. We know your gaming hardware produces a lot of heat, that's why the case is built for maximum cool with a perforated front bezel, three 120mm fans with mounts for even more fans, and a monster top-mounted 200mm fan that's right, we said 200mm! The versatile Nine Hundred is maximally customizable to fit your needs. The modular design lets you modify the placement of the front fans and hard drive cages. There's even a tray on top for your mp3 player, digital camera, or that spare illudium Q-42 explosive space modulator that you have lying around. Be the envy of everyone at your next LAN party, impress your friends, and just generally show everyone that you are the ultimate master of all time with the Antec Nine Hundred!The Antec Nine Hundred Steel ATX Ultimate Gamer PC Case is the ultimate case for hardcore gamers. Built for maximum cool, this PC case features a perforated front bezel, three 120-millimeter fans with mounts for even more fans, and a monster top-mounted 200-millimeter fan.
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