Antec Releases the "One" PC Case for Budget-minded Builds

Well this looks interesting. Might get one for my budget build.

Interesting case, but it's going to take a lot to move me away from the HAF 912 from a price-performance perspective.....

I dislike the PSU intake on the bottom. Obviously won't work on a carpeted floor. It would also have problems on a desk where mouse pads, papers, and cables are pushed up against the bottom or slide underneath. A sideways mount with the intake through the side would be better.

correct me if im wrong but it looks all messed up. theres no bottom fan? Just the top! and the psu is the wrong way around.. Where’s the psu intake fan that suppose to be on top? Can’t see it, might be the picture quality. What’s going on lol?

@boju: The picture with the components in the case, shows the top fan and the rear fan attached to Antec's sealed liquid cooling kit. As for the PSU, the case has a bottom in-take, so the PSU's fan is facing down to draw in fresh air from outside of the case, instead of drawing hot air from within the case.

I have the original Antec 300, and by looking at these new version 2 cases, it feels like antec decided to go cheaper quality material, and tanka toy looks. When the times comes for me to update my case, i would more likely go with a Corsair 500r or 550d, or whatever other case out there that is worthy to replace the Antec 300 simplicity, and robustness.

It doesn't even fit a long graphics card.

@mikeangs2004: Yeah, I noticed that too when I was doing the story. It would fit my GTX 560 Ti but not much bigger. It is limited there, which keeps it in the budget area & a less direct threat to the Antec Three Hundred Two (handles 12.5" GPU's).

seems like this is better than my coolermaster 430

let me fix this for you: Well this looks ugly. I will definitively look somewhere else for my next build.

Dang it... I bought an Antec 300 a few weeks ago to finally replace my old case circa 2003, and then the new Antec 300 is released!

I don't quite like the idea of a toolless case though - things aren't as secure in it, and I already use a screwdriver to remove the thumbscrews on my case (I want to make sure they're completely tight and won't vibrate or anything). I really don't mind needing a screwdriver to secure things, and would actually prefer it. Also, having the PSU fan on top isn't too bad - mine's mounted that way because otherwise there's almost no airflow for it, and all works just fine. I've got a Coolermaster hyper tx3 cpu cooler (92mm fan), 2 HDs, a seasonic s12ii (regular height), full atx motherboard, and a evga geforce 550ti (9.5" I think), and it all fits pretty well.

All in all, this Antec One case isn't bad, though I don't get what the bulge on the side is for. I'd like to see them make a small micro-atx or mini-itx case though, like a business SFF machine, using a smaller psu and all (Not ISK-150 small though - the airflow is too limited in there unless you're running an E350 or 2100T, and I've heard of i3 2100s hitting 80C under load in there). For people like me, who want dedicated graphics cards and lots of upgrade room, a mid-tower case is great. However, for someone who just wants to surf the web and is fine with an i3 and integrated graphics or an AMD APU, great airflow and lots of upgrade room, including the ability to have a dedicated gpu, just isn't needed. Something smaller would work just fine. I haven't seen any good options there, most being from companies I've never heard of.

If this is like an antec 300, it should be fine. I can put in a 550ti with some space inbetween that and the HD cage, and if the card was longer I would simply have to sacrafice a hard drive slot or two (and it has 6 of them).

I don't know why people complain about bottom mounted PSU. I have carpet in my room but it doesn't mean I'm too stupid to put something under my desktop to give it room to intake air. I rather do that then have a top mounted fan with cable dangling in my case and having it suck up the hot air from the GPU and CPU.

Sheesh, look at all the n00bs that don't even know about modern cases with bottom mounted psu's. This trend started OVER two years ago and allows the psu to draw in fresh, cool air. You've got to love the dorks who cant wait to show you how clueless they are.

It's for a budget build. Most budget builds I see usually use a 560 or 560 ti, not a 580 or 570.

True but you should never have yor PC on carpet anyways.

One thing I don't like, and it seems to be this way with all of Antecs cases, is the HDD mounts. Always in the older and harder to get to forward position instead of the side mount, like in all the Corsair and pretty much all CM cases or other high end cases. Even the high end Antec cases have this (902, DF-85).

Its not bad looking, I just dislike some things.

Not bad.
Looks just a tad too short lengthwise but thats it.

It should have been made to fit at least 11" expansion cards because 10.5" is not enough.However, for a budget build that shouldn't be too much of a problem.

At 10.5" maximum you may have trouble fitting a Radeon 6950, but this is intended for budget builders... That is, if you can't fit a $220 graphics card into your budget. At least the 6870 shouldn't have a problem.

It could have trouble with a GTX 570 too, but that's an expensive card. The 560 TI shouldn't have a problem and it's cheap enough for a budget build. The 560 is definitely cheap enough for a budget build, but it uses similar amounts of power to the 560 TI so it's not really a match for the 6870 it competes with, at least in my opinion.

If a buyer wants to keep some space between the card and the edge of the case, then depending on the buyers exact budget I'd go with either a 6870 or a 560 TI here. If you can't fit one of those two cards into a budget than maybe an even cheaper case would be a better option.

Non-reference designs might be able to fit in the case better too, but then they might have trouble fitting into a low budget.

I still say it should have been able to fit at least up to 11" just to be safe.

Wait, so you have to remove the right side panel to get at the hard drive bay? The hell is that about? Why make everything BUT the HDD cage accessible from the left side? Silly Antec, you almost had me.

If going for the budget market... why bother making this compete against the Antec 300/302? The typical price of the A300 is $50 already.

This "ONE" should be a mini-ATX board and two 5.25 drive bays... keep the 5x 3.5" drive bays. Now that would be something useful. Nowadays... very few people actually need a regular ATX board... and those who do (with SLI/CF) - they have the $$$ to buy a much better case in the $100~200 range.

Also, with the smaller case - the fan at the top is not needed.

bottom mount, fan facing up

I was thinking the same thing, and the guy with the computer on the carpet....dude, take a trip to IKEA and buy a f-ing computer desk, jesus...

This is a perfect case for what it's designed for; budget builds. If you have an 11 inch graphic card it should be obvious that this $55 small case is probably not what you should be looking at, but if I'm building a PC for my grandfather $55 for this great looking, compact Antec case is a killer deal!

I was actually expecting it to be a little under 50$.

kudos to Antec for producing cheap really nice looking case for budget builds! I don't know about the quality of the cases since I've never actually seen on or read a review.

On the contrary, you mount the PSU upside-down if you are on carpet and then it acts as an extra case fan taking internal air out of the case. Plus the PSU (hopefully the heavies component of your computer) will be at the bottom of the case instead of the top, making the whole thing less likely to be tipped over. I have a minimum of fans in my computer, so I do this even though I am not on carpet to help just a little bit with airflow; But if you are building a little monster where you are pulling wattage at or above what your PSU is rated for then pulling fresh air from the outside is a huge help to keeping things cool and running smooth.
Besides, you should not have your computer on the floor anyways, even getting a PC 6-12 inches off the floor will cut down about 1/2 of the dust that goes through the system.

you don't 'need' a budget case for your 'long' graphics card.

you need an Antec Twelve Hundred,

/firstworldproblems

Not always. The Antec P280 uses a side mount for the HD drives.

Really? That's news to me. I've ran PCs almost continuously on carpet since 1979. I've never experienced a problem.

But of course this advice comes from America where there are always 1000 new rules that all of us should have known, instead of manufacturers just making things that work in the first place.

$55 dollars for a case, wouldn't put it in the "budget" area, especially when you can find a much cheaper case with similar features. If you got a mircocenter store near you, take a look at their cases on sale in their ad. You can get a really good one with plenty of cooling features for ~$30-$40.

They've a way to catch up with Bitfenix. Looks like they use the same Chinese fabrication works, though.