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Antec Nine Hundred Mid-Tower Case
First Impressions
The case arrived in a plain brown box without any labeling or anything else remarkable. Inside, it was wrapped in a strong plastic bag, and sandwiched between Styrofoam end pieces. Inside the case was another box with all the screws, spare parts and documentation. So far, nothing special! The top and front of the Nine Hundred are all plastic except for the fan grills and drive bay blanks, but it doesn't look cheap; it looks Spartan. It's all nick- and scratch-resistant black ABS (probably) plastic that flanks the drive bays and literally stands out from the front of the case, and does a good job of protecting the vented bay grilles. Crowning the case is an audacious 200mm TriCool fan. It's a matte black impeller, so it pulls air from inside the case and shoots it out the top. It is protected by a wide-gapped hex mesh to keep big things from falling straight into the case. Although it's stable, it's not inflexible. Don't use it to support a beverage. In fact, the manual goes out of its way to state that the Nine Hundred is not intended to hold any drinks, handfuls of beach sand, vials of mercury, or perfume. Well, perfume is listed, anyway. The top of the case is all plastic, and has a very handy tray. The tray might seem like a gimmick, but even before all the hardware gets installed it'll prove itself indispensable by holding loose screws and tools.         What really sells the tray is the included mat, granting the double advantage of padding and gripping, say, an iPod, and being removable, so the tray is easy to clean. Also built into the top of the case are the power and reset buttons, the HDD activity LED, audio, and USB and Firewire jacks. Of course, it needs no power LED since three blue-LED case fans are included; two in the front and one for exhaust. The case window deserves some merit, too, because Antec could have just riveted or even glued it to the inside of the door. Instead, it's on the outside of the cut-out and has a polished, beveled edge, giving it a touch of minimalist class. The window has a meshed cut-out and an additional 120mm fan mount.
Page 1: Introduction
Page 2: First Impressions Page 3: The Inside Page 4: Quality Check Page 5: Conclusion 
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12 User Comments 1 - Posted by
PsychoSnowMan
on February 11, 2007 - 4:51 pm Beautiful case, great article. But could we get some shots of the case running with everything installed and the lights on? Not a complaint, just a suggestion. 2 - Posted by
Max Slowik
on February 11, 2007 - 6:25 pm I can get a hold of a camera this weekend, toss some parts back into it, and shoot it. Right, tomorrow's Monday. Oh Hell, it's all the same. The photos won't be great, because unlike Kurtis, I lack |=0+0 S|<1||Z. Also, thanks. 3 - Posted by
Kurtis
on February 11, 2007 - 9:33 pm Normally we do that, and I suppose I should have put a disclaimer in the article somewhere, but here's why we didn't: I personally take all product photos here in my photo studio before I forward products onto the respective reviewer. I've installed hardware just for photos in cases myself, but I decided to stop doing that because it takes me FAR too long to finish taking photos when I actually install hardware in the case. With that said, in our case reviews, we always install hardware and actually use the case before we review it. We're sending Max a camera and a photo backdrop, so in the future we should have photos of all the hardware installed in case reviews again. 4 - Posted by
daytroxative
on February 13, 2007 - 1:58 am I work as a tech. I've built quite a few of these cases with decent gaming setups, and we always try to roll in 10 or so of them in stock. Great selling item. People really like it's utility, and not looks, although i personally like it. It's true, it's one of the coolest (temperature-wise) cases you can get. We have like 5 other 200mm cases, this one by far has the best design. Looks pretty cool to me with the blue LEDS on the front through the perforated grill. Right now i own a Cooler Master Centurion case, with the same kind of grill, I have blue LEDS everywhere, (cpu/vid/front/back (maybe i'll modify the PSU or buy the crap ocz gamexstream :S) it's still not as clean as the antec fully setup with the whole LED scheme. This is also a very deep case, for it's relatively mid-size it can fit most things under that side panel. Keep in mind about the power supply position when choosing your power supply, it's absolutely imperative you check the length to the cpu header on your motherboard before choosing one. I've fit an Enermax Galaxy Power supply 1000watt like a breeze (This is a fairly long one). My favorites are Silverstone(with 120mm)/Seasonic. I've seen the same problem on the hard drive cage, the stripped screw. something about the metal, they are all easy to strip. I think even the motherboard/chassis standoffs tend to strip. Now when i build them i use a set of pliers and try to clamp the metal around the screw (with screw in place) while tightening it in. making sure they're nice and snug. Not really stripped i guess i could stay, Maybe the holes are made oddly, or just bad luck with the metal. The tray and upwards facing front-panel is awesome for my needs (Computer on the floor), and it's worth using the 120mm add-on for the side panel. Lights look cool in there, The front comes to you looking cool. I don't even have one of these, but i would consider buying one just from experience. 5 - Posted by
Kurtis
on February 13, 2007 - 9:10 am thanks for the input daytroxative. welcome to the forums, by the way. :)
6 - Posted by
Max Slowik
on February 14, 2007 - 3:51 am I didn't, by the way, get my camera back from my dad's. . . For a tech guy, I'm sort of analog. I suppose I can shoot it with my FILM camera and use my NEGATIVE SCANNER to post the photos ;) 7 - Posted by
daytroxative
on February 14, 2007 - 3:26 pm I will have one built sometime this week. I have a camera i can take some shots with, it will be a decent system, high-end parts - e6400, enermax liberty + asus p5w DH mobo + more. It will even have raid, my camera should be decent enough for some good shots. Pentax E10 - or should i say prunetax. I'll post them on the forums and link it here in comments.
8 - Posted by
Kurtis
on February 14, 2007 - 10:32 pm Cool, thanks daytroxative. :)
9 - Posted by
Kurtis
on February 15, 2007 - 5:07 pm Note: I'm posting this on daytroxative's behalf: The parts inside include: - WinTV NOVA-S-Plus digital satellite TV card. - Antec Nine Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Ultimate Gamer Tower Computer Case.. - Bytecc (BT-618) USB 2.0 Internal 5.25" Memory Reader/Writer w/ USB, IEEE1394 and SATA. - Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 2.13GHz (1066MHz) 2MB L2 Cache socket-775 - Pioneer DVR-112D 18X DVD-writer, black - OEM - 2 x Western Digital (WD3200KS) Caviar 320gb SATAII 7200RPM 16MB Buffer (OEM) - in raid 0 (stripe) - ASUS PW DH Deluxe Socket 775 Intel 975X + ICH7R Chipset 1066 FSB DDR2 800/667/533 Dual Gigabit Lan 8-Channel Audio Firewire Dual Design Support Intel Core 2 Duo Processor - OCZ (OCZ2P8002GK) DDR2-800 PC2-6400 Platinuk XTC 2GB (2x1024MB) Dual Channel Kit - Foxconn nVidia 7950GT 256MB GDDR3 PCI-Express Graphic Card. I have included before & after cable management, different angle views + i show the case while powered on. some immediate comments i have about it, is this MOBO + the front panel = alot inside a mid tower. idle CPU temperature is 30 degrees on the stock intel cooler. This is a pretty insane computer for a customer. Although this mobo isn't the most impressive to me. It is however the only mobo you can use to power on your pc via remote! Sorry for the hastle, i'm just at work and probly wouldn't get around to it myself very quickly. 20 mb worth in pictures :O i hope you have big inbox and can accept large attachments, it's split across 5mb x4. http://www.thetechlounge.com/random/kurtis/daytrox... http://www.thetechlounge.com/random/kurtis/daytrox... http://www.thetechlounge.com/random/kurtis/daytrox... http://www.thetechlounge.com/random/kurtis/daytrox... http://www.thetechlounge.com/random/kurtis/daytrox... http://www.thetechlounge.com/random/kurtis/daytrox... http://www.thetechlounge.com/random/kurtis/daytrox... http://www.thetechlounge.com/random/kurtis/daytrox... 10 - Posted by
Max Slowik
on February 16, 2007 - 4:19 am You get a new 'puter, Kurtis?
11 - Posted by
Kurtis
on February 16, 2007 - 11:43 am ^^^
12 - Posted by
Max Slowik
on February 16, 2007 - 11:56 am Good thing I have an eye for detail. I should do news writing. And shit.
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