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CES 2005 - Antec's New Lineup

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Kurtis Kronk
Brian

Jan. 11, 2005

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Introduction

Antec is one of the top case and power supply manufacturers in the world, and on Friday we were able to meet some of the great minds behind Antec in person inside one of the Bellagio's Executive Hospitality Suites. For a long time now Antec has been a trend-setter in the industry. Shortly after the release of the Sonata we started seeing a lot of cases utilizing side-facing hard drive cages and stock 120mm fans. This is a testament to the ingenuity and quality of Antec's products.

Going into the meeting we knew that they would be showing us a revision of their extremely popular Sonata, aptly named the Sonata II. The idea of seeing a pre-production Sonata II alone excited us. However, after entering the suite, we quickly realized that there was much, much more to see than just a new Sonata. When we stepped through the door, we caught a glimpse of a table full of cases and power supplies. After shaking hands and exchanging introductions, we were told that not a single case or power supply in the room was an existing product. Every case, every power supply, was brand new. Actually, they were newer than new; they were pre-production models.

Power Supplies

The first thing we looked at was Antec's new power supply lineup. The first few were pretty ordinary looking, except for the fact that they have a PCI-E graphics card connector, etc... But when I asked for them to turn one of them on so I could hear the noise level, I was informed that they were ALL on already. These things are totally silent. In the past, Antec's power supplies have been pretty quiet, but now they have made silence a top priority. All of these power supplies use fans which run at very low speeds under normal conditions, and if needed they will crank up to improve cooling when under heavy load.

The most interesting power supply they were showing off was the 500W Phantom. The Phantom is basically a fanless PSU, except that it has a fan. The way it works is that the fan is actually off until the internal temperature reaches a user selected temperature. Even when the fan comes on it spins at a very low speed, making it silent. The Phantom also comes equipped with a 24-pin main connector, PCI-E graphics card connector, and four SATA connections.

VCOOL

I have seen PCI slot blowers before, but I thought this one seemed a little better. Unlike your average blower fan, this cooler takes up two PCI slots, which means more fresh air is coming into the case to cool your GPU. It is also has three speed settings, the lowest of which is whisper quiet.

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Page 1: Introduction / Power Supplies / VCOOL
Page 2: Silent Rackmount / TITAN 500
Page 3: Performance TX Series / BK640 MicroBTX
Page 4: Sonata II
Page 5: Performance One P180 / Conclusion

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20 User Comments

1 - Posted by PennyManDeux on February 8, 2005 - 6:47 pm

Those are some sweet looking cases. Can't wait for them to come out.

Will you guys be reviewing them?

2 - Posted by Kurtis on February 8, 2005 - 7:47 pm

what do you think? :D

3 - Posted by J2T on February 9, 2005 - 7:59 am

Man, I like that P180..thats more my style. Can't wait for the review ;)

4 - Posted by PennyManDeux on February 9, 2005 - 10:38 am

Yeah the P180 looks aweeesome. It's got so many features although I'm sure it will weigh a ton. Oh well, I don't go to LAN parties.

Any idea when you will be reviewing them?

5 - Posted by Kurtis on February 9, 2005 - 10:40 am

As soon as I can get my hands on them they will get reviewed. I would imagine we'll be one of the first to review their new stuff. We'll see :) I need to start talking with them and find out what the release schedule is going to be and get something lined up

6 - Posted by Brian on February 9, 2005 - 10:44 am

Right. The cases they were displaying in Vegas were pre-production cases. When they have the final models we will definitely get our hands on them. Should be in the next few months if I remember correctly but I don't have my notes here.

7 - Posted by Kurtis on February 9, 2005 - 10:49 am

yeah they said late feb, maybe march for most of them if memory serves correctly

8 - Posted by SAMSAMHA on February 10, 2005 - 3:33 am

very nice, love antec's stuff.

9 - Posted by Thaw_Out on February 10, 2005 - 9:13 pm

I just think the top exhaust on that case looks ugly. And overall I don't think it looks as nice as the P-160. But I really admire the air flow of the new P-180. I wish my P-160 case, had as good air flow in it. It gets very hot inside of my case.

In other words, I envy the P-180's air flow, but not it looks.

10 - Posted by Kurtis on February 10, 2005 - 10:02 pm

Hm, I disagree. I think it looks great. The thing on the top of the case is removable too, I think...

11 - Posted by J2T on February 11, 2005 - 8:03 am

I disagree as well, the main turnoff for me about the P160 was the plastic looking front bezel and this seems to fix that issue tenfold.

12 - Posted by Brian on February 11, 2005 - 8:55 am

It's removable, but not for looks. It has holes and a large indentation which makes it look like something is missing, because it is.

13 - Posted by Kurtis on February 11, 2005 - 8:58 am

lol... nothin' a lil bondo couldn't fix :P

14 - Posted by Brian on February 11, 2005 - 8:59 am

Unless you're the one doing it ;-)

15 - Posted by Kurtis on February 11, 2005 - 9:00 am

i'm going to go sit in a corner and cry now... :(

16 - Posted by Thaw_Out on February 11, 2005 - 10:33 am

I prefer cases where the top of the case is designed to be flat. Where if there is an exhaust vent on top, then it is flat and level with the top of the case.

By the way, I think that I would also miss the temperature display on my P-160 if I upgraded to the P-180. I gotten use to looking at the display on my P-160 for my temperatures. I'm surprised they didn't add some sort of LCD or LED temperature display on the new P-180, if they truly wanted it to be a successor to the P-160.

17 - Posted by Brian on February 11, 2005 - 10:35 am

There is an indention in the shape of the vent along with several long holes used to secure the vent in place. Plus I think there is a weird hole for the fan in the middle of it all.

18 - Posted by Brian on February 11, 2005 - 10:36 am

Thaw_Out, I see you got your account up and running. Everything good?

19 - Posted by Thaw_Out on February 11, 2005 - 10:38 am

Yes, everything seemed fine. Thank you for taking the time to fix it for me.

It was appreciated.

20 - Posted by Guest on March 9, 2005 - 11:56 am

I built a Aria system, loaded -- with 3 large drives, ATI's AIW video, and HDTV card. Love the form factor, but not the noise and the occational(too hot?) restarts. I will add a Vcool which I hope will slow the power supply fan. If not, next will be dampeners, then big holes in the factory-finish case.

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