Review: 4 months with an Antec 300
Last response: in Systems
So I built my system around X-mas time. Got alot of great advice from the folks around here.
I have spent many hours with it now, dang I love it.... I just think it's time for a review of my shiney new Antec 300 case.
Pros, cons... well, more cons than pros really.
Con: It's a "desktop" case which means the headphone/mic jack should NOT be at the top of the case... plug in a pair of headphones, and you have to move the cord to open a DVD drive. Granted, if the case was on the floor, this would be a great setup. All the 'goodies' should be mid case... just my $0.02.
Con: The 2 stupid internal fans have the 1:2:3 speed setup. That's it. Can't turn them off. Can't have them run by a program ie: speedfan... they are on or off. Not that big a deal, they are pretty quiet.
Con: I use an Asus P5Q-E MB and without rerouting the wires, the built in audio port wire won't reach anywhere for the most part.
Con: The built in audio port is the most staticy (word?) thing I've ever come across. Audio from the MB can shake the chrome off a trailer hitch, the headphone jack... sucks to be honest.
Pro: Very very nice looking case. Sturdy, well built.
Pro: Can fit numerous drives and a Mini/Smart car in it. Love the size. It is a tower (mid) afterall.
Pro: Could it have more space for fans? My goodness. It comes with the 120&140 and can have 3 more 120's. That's alot of air.
Pro: It is just soooooooo sexy sitting on my desktop. Really. Matte black... mmmm.... No funky bells or whistles or LED's.. just, black.
Okay, so as is, the pros and cons are tied. Four a piece. What's the deciding factor here?
The PS is mounted on the bottom of the case. Pro or con? Lets see. How did Antec think the really short audio cable would reach anywhere - even with the MB raised up above the PS. Don't care. I've always been a fan of lower centre of gravity. PS on top; TIP, BANG, CRASH. PS on bottom; Not so much.
All in all i'd give a thumbs up to Antec for the 300 case... just a few issues I have with it. I would buy one again in a heart beat.
I have spent many hours with it now, dang I love it.... I just think it's time for a review of my shiney new Antec 300 case.
Pros, cons... well, more cons than pros really.
Con: It's a "desktop" case which means the headphone/mic jack should NOT be at the top of the case... plug in a pair of headphones, and you have to move the cord to open a DVD drive. Granted, if the case was on the floor, this would be a great setup. All the 'goodies' should be mid case... just my $0.02.
Con: The 2 stupid internal fans have the 1:2:3 speed setup. That's it. Can't turn them off. Can't have them run by a program ie: speedfan... they are on or off. Not that big a deal, they are pretty quiet.
Con: I use an Asus P5Q-E MB and without rerouting the wires, the built in audio port wire won't reach anywhere for the most part.
Con: The built in audio port is the most staticy (word?) thing I've ever come across. Audio from the MB can shake the chrome off a trailer hitch, the headphone jack... sucks to be honest.
Pro: Very very nice looking case. Sturdy, well built.
Pro: Can fit numerous drives and a Mini/Smart car in it. Love the size. It is a tower (mid) afterall.
Pro: Could it have more space for fans? My goodness. It comes with the 120&140 and can have 3 more 120's. That's alot of air.
Pro: It is just soooooooo sexy sitting on my desktop. Really. Matte black... mmmm.... No funky bells or whistles or LED's.. just, black.
Okay, so as is, the pros and cons are tied. Four a piece. What's the deciding factor here?
The PS is mounted on the bottom of the case. Pro or con? Lets see. How did Antec think the really short audio cable would reach anywhere - even with the MB raised up above the PS. Don't care. I've always been a fan of lower centre of gravity. PS on top; TIP, BANG, CRASH. PS on bottom; Not so much.
All in all i'd give a thumbs up to Antec for the 300 case... just a few issues I have with it. I would buy one again in a heart beat.
More about : review months antec 300
Thanks! Always good to see a reasoned out review.
Here are a few items that might upgrade your build:
Audio Hub
http://www.amazon.com/General-Electric-Audio-Hub-HO9795...
great little device, but they may not be available anywhere now. There are similar ones however.
Some quiet fans
Yate Loon or Scythe are good
http://www.xoxide.com/yate-loon-120mm-clearbled.html
A fan controller
You can go for flash or knobs or maybe both:
http://www.xoxide.com/scythe-kaze525-fancontroller.html
Here are a few items that might upgrade your build:
Audio Hub
http://www.amazon.com/General-Electric-Audio-Hub-HO9795...
great little device, but they may not be available anywhere now. There are similar ones however.
Some quiet fans
Yate Loon or Scythe are good
http://www.xoxide.com/yate-loon-120mm-clearbled.html
A fan controller
You can go for flash or knobs or maybe both:
http://www.xoxide.com/scythe-kaze525-fancontroller.html
I have an Antec 300 at work and another one at home. Both of them set on the floor and the headphone outlets on top work great for me.
At work I added 1 fan to the front to blow right on both hard drives.
At home I added 2 fans to the front just because I could, don't know if they help anything or not. I added an internal card reader at the top of the case, and put the optical drive underneath it. The cables from the card reader and from the top case connectors fit, but there isn't enough slack to allow for more refined cable routing.
Another alternative to the headphone issue, and what I did with my old computer, was to plug a headphone extension cord into the back of the computer then I could route the wires to anywhere I wanted.
At work I added 1 fan to the front to blow right on both hard drives.
At home I added 2 fans to the front just because I could, don't know if they help anything or not. I added an internal card reader at the top of the case, and put the optical drive underneath it. The cables from the card reader and from the top case connectors fit, but there isn't enough slack to allow for more refined cable routing.
Another alternative to the headphone issue, and what I did with my old computer, was to plug a headphone extension cord into the back of the computer then I could route the wires to anywhere I wanted.
I just got this case yesterday and transplanted the guts from my old PC to this one. There was no major issues, only thing is if you have a long video card, it will block one of the hdd slots (3rd from the top).
My system consists of Q6600 with TRUE cooling (mounted horizontally)
2x 8800gt
4 HDDs
1 HDD fan, 1 side fan, and both top and rear exhaust fans.
The temp on my CPU was 28 when the ambient is 30... go figure!
The final build was very clean, I was able to tuck all the cables away between the back panel and the HDD cage.
Great buy!
My system consists of Q6600 with TRUE cooling (mounted horizontally)
2x 8800gt
4 HDDs
1 HDD fan, 1 side fan, and both top and rear exhaust fans.
The temp on my CPU was 28 when the ambient is 30... go figure!
The final build was very clean, I was able to tuck all the cables away between the back panel and the HDD cage.
Great buy!
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