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#1
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Antec 1200 review. (53 positive points) (26 negative points, some of them are minor)
Hello,
Well since my Dream PC is dead for the moment and I have nothing better to do and I am not 100% happy with the antec case I will write a review about it... for you, for me, for them, for further improvements. Let's see what I find good about this case and then less good The good/the positive: +++++ +++++ +++++ + Superb airflow (16 points): +++ Three very nice front inlet fans/positions. ++ Two very nice rear exhaust fans/positions. +++ One big top exhaust fan/position. + Adjustable fan speeds, very nice/cool. + Extra air/space in the top and bottom. + Extra air/space in the front/rear. +++ Three removeable/cleanable/strong dust filters. + Airflow goes into the front, and out the back and even top as it's supposed too. + Power supply on bottom, extra airflow/cooling on bottom. I like that. +++++ +++++ +++++ Good mounting system (15 points): +++ Three removeable harddisk bays. + Bays go out via the front. ++ Floppy drive mounting extension included. ++ All necessary screws included. + Thumb screws which can be used by screw driver too. + IDE/DVD drive fit perfectly. + Floppy drive fit perfectly. + Lots of space. + Good motherboard holding screws/places/positions. + pci slot closures. + Strong material in general, strong side panels. +++++ +++++ +++++ +++++ ++ Extra's (22 points): + Laser like leds that shine light over fan blades, looks like a presentation... very nice/cool/beautifull. + Good manual with fan/airflow specifications. + Very good on/off power button =D + Very nice black look, with golden antec logo on it. + Holes in the motherboard area to work away cables. + Extra space on the sides to work away cables. + Rubber feet to prevent scrathes, and possibly reduce resonance and increase stability. + Glass/plastic see through side panel so you can look inside to see if everything is ok. + Extra internal mounting places for additional fans. Probably not really necessary but it's there if you need it. + Daisy-chain molex power connectors for fans... they can all be attached to each other. + Almost millimeter perfect... nothing gets stuck or anything like that + Special grill for floppy drive. + Extra foam for top grills. + No sharp edges. + Nice knubs for fans, looks good. + Reset button. + Two usb ports on front, one sata port on front, two audio ports on front, I don't care so much about this so only one point for all that. + Protective grills on back and top and even front fans, to prevent fingers and large objects from falling in or touching blades or whatever.. + Manual had a good tip on getting the dust filters out easily. I appreciate that a lot ! + Tiny little blue harddisk activity indicator at the top... Nice. + Extra space on the right side panel to tuck away large plugs and cables... comes in handy ! + Constant light beam on fans shows the fans are working ! Total positive points: 53. ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- - Now the bad: - It's very heavy... this makes it stable and less prone to vibration... but it's also a back breaker - It's big... it's difficult to transport/pick up. - It's low above the ground... It's difficult to get fingers under it... this makes it difficult to pickup or move it across a table. - It doesn't have any handles or so... this makes it difficult to pick up. - The doors are a bit difficult to attach... they seem to overshoot into the case... then must be pulled back for proper placement. - Right door corner wasn't 100% closed... it looked as if cables pushed it out which wasn't the case... it just didn't close 100% perfectly... it's not a problem but you should look at it so you don't get fooled when working away the cables. - The cabling system pretty much sucks ass... it has plastic thingies which look like they will break/snap easily... it's not a good system... way too many cables to get through those thingies... but maybe with a modular power supply it might work... but I doubt it... since I wish I had a better cabling system.... with many place holders everywhere or so. - The external front ports... are high up... I place my case on the table... so better might have been on the bottom... so I don't need long digital camera cables etc... I haven't tried it though.. but I know that's gonna be a stretch.. what if I wanna move the camera a little bit on the table ? It's too high up there. - What is the purpose of the front grills with all the holes ? I guess it's just for looks or so... and ofcourse some airflow through it... maybe it's just for protection or so... too me it looks a bit weird... like unfinished or so... but just leave it as it is or so, minor negative point. - I don't like the floppy grill because of missing foam... so that's another minor point down below, it's it only attached in one way and it almost overshoot inside... but minor negative point: - No special foam cut for floppy drive... so I will have to cut the extra foam with a stanley knife... then I could cut myself and get blood somewhere... - The rubber feet are very sturdy... it makes it difficult to slide the case over the table... even trying to move the case for one millimeter is nearly impossible at least on a wooden table... one could argue this is could to prevent people from ****ing with it... but ok. Another thing that worries me about the sturdyness is what if I push really hard ? Maybe the rubber feet would break off... So I think that the rubber feet should be a little bit more smooth so pushing the case around the table becomes possible. Minor negative point... I like the sturdyness too... especially if it prevent any vibration etc... however this critique is food for further eximanation and experimentation is there something better possible ? - Inside of case scratches easily... so be carefull... minor negative point. - Some metal splinters from screws which I had to screw in... and some black paint correls... minor negative point. - Case had lots of smell... maybe vent the case before shipping ? Minor negative point since I have good airflow through my appartment... could be issue for people with less good airflow in their houses - It is possible to drop little screw on the top big hole... which could fall down... so people better be carefull not to do that... - Bottom power supply could be dangerous if anything fails into it... especially small little things and screws on the side could fall in. - This case can definetly not be placed on the ground.. it would suck in massive ammounts of dust... People doing so are crazy in my honest oppinion... even with the dust filters I reckon it would still suck in a lot ! - Manual said filters might have to be cleaned once a month... sounds boring ! - Fan power connectors are not modulair... I stuck them to the back with plastic tape... so I will have to pull the tape loose... this is a big negative point. - While I like the harddisk mounting system a lot because it is ridig/sturdy.. it does involve a lot of thumbscrews and extra screws... this is slightly time consuming. - Working away all the cables with plastic stickers in the side requires an insane ammount of time and energy and concentration and planning... very big negative point. *** Major improvements in design could be made here to motherboards and cases to work away cables better... Maybe design a case that has special sleaves or something to easily route away all the cables... Maybe make a special routing sleaves/lanes like a traffic system on the side pannels *** - Front and read leds can't be turned off.. Probably minor negative point... so far I don't mind the blue lights/leds/lasers - No indicators for the buttons and ports at the top... Some text or icons might have been better for newbies like: reset, usb, sata, power/on/off. Maybe in golden letters might have been nice. - What is the purpose of the top triangles ? Looks a bit weird to me... some handles there might have been more functional ! - I am worried the top could break off if I pick it up there... seems like plastic attached to it... so far it seems sturdy... but for how long... so better not grab it there Total negative points: 26 negative points. (Some of those minor negative points ) So to sum up: The biggest positive thing is: + Very good airflow + Very strong sturdy case. + Possiblity to work away cables/plugs. + Nice pitch-black look, lasers kinda nice too. + Pretty good mounting system. + Good power on/off button The biggest negative thing is: - Very difficult to pickup because of missing handles or place to grab onto, also because it's close to the ground. - Very difficult to move because of size, weight and sturdy rubber feet. - Cabling system is terrible... some nice pre-made sleaves, lanes or something might have been perfect ! - The smell was kinda annoying... took at least two days to get rid of it.. might be because of new motherboard, artic silver and new cooler too ! - The doors are a bit difficult to close... especially the glass door. It overshoots a little. So there ya go folks... don't think too much of the negative... this is a damn good case ! But it's not for people looking to quickly mount a system together... You'll need lots of time to mount everything and you'll need lots and lots of time to work away the cables... which is a really tiring... but once that's all done.. it's fabulous And a special word about the laser/light show... I like those lasers/lights a lot ! They shine a constant beam of blue light onto the fan blades... you can only see it flicker/move a little bit.. (so you know the fans are working !) it doesn't really move that much so it's not annoying or distracting... but once you look at it... it's quite beautifull/gorgious... I am not found of christmas trees... but this I like =D The only little weird thing is: the top blow hole led can be turned off/on... while the rest cannot ? :$ LOL. That's funny. I even like the blue light on the blowhole.. It's like a ufo on top of my case ! What more could you ask for in the fun factor ? LOL =D Go here if you wanna see some pictures of a build: http://members.home.nl/hbthoupperman...mPCThirdBuild/ Bye, Skybuck. |
#2
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Antec 1200 review. (53 positive points) (26 negative points, some of them are minor)
Also,
I didn't write anything about the noise levels. I haven't had to chance to fully test it out for a long period of time... So maybe I will write about the noise levels in the future. From what I have heard/experienced myself it seems: At low it's very quite. (The first I did notice some humming from the case.. like it was rocking back and forth or so.. but maybe it just wasn't placed properly on the table... dont know about that.. I didn't notice it again) I could actually hear the harddisk make noise... ? Is it because the case is whisper quiet ? - Probably... Or is it resonating/propagating a little bit through the case ? Or maybe because of the open holes in the front ? - Probably not. On medium it made some nice which probably would get annoying during gaming. On high well speaks for itself... you ll go mad But all in all no real humming... humming would be most annoying... but so far it doesn't seem to be present. When it's on low it's like your in the forest... with a little breeze blowing kinda nice... it's not silent... but barely noticeable... On medium it starts to blow a lot like wind past your ears one a bike with wind or so. It's kinda cool too.. being able to adjust the airflow and noise levels... However this requires long exposures to be sure if it's annoying yes or no... I hope to find out for myself soon enough once I fix my PC Cooling was pretty good at low... motherboard temperature rose 2 to 3 degrees... However I have a huge top down cpu cooler... which is the zipang... which is probably also probably helping to cool it a bit. SLI is probably bad though... northbridge gets very hot... this case will probably not help that much on cooling it unless the middle front fan is set to medium speed. then the northbridge gets cooled a bit better and drops a few degrees. SLI is only possible if there is enough room for the graphics fan to suck in cool air... So at least one pci slot under the graphics cards needs to be open. With my motherboard this would exclude any expension cards like the x-fi elite pro soundblaster... when using dual slot graphics cards. The onboard audio does use some cpu... which is definetly noticeable during gameplay... I will test sli a little bit more once my pc is fixed... to see how much difference it makes in fps when playing cod 4. What sli might gain in fps... is probably lots too the onboard audio... so sli might not to that much to improve performance - pure speculation though... must still be confirmed... I know one thing for sure... a single 7900 gtx 512 MB is a pretty powerfull card to run cod 4 at high resolution with some shadows and such off... and still get decent 30 fps at 1920x1200 with 44 players. Also this was with onboard audio and a single graphics card if I remember correctly... with x-fi fps might go a bit up.. thanks to sounds being cached etc. More testing still needs to be done to be sure though... Bye, Skybuck =D |
#3
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Antec 1200 review. (53 positive points) (26 negative points, some of them are minor)
On Sat, 2 Aug 2008 20:53:29 +0200, "Skybuck Flying"
wrote: None of us at s.e.d. are likely interested in this. Your dream PC sounds like a nightmare to me. John Hello, Well since my Dream PC is dead for the moment and I have nothing better to do and I am not 100% happy with the antec case I will write a review about it... for you, for me, for them, for further improvements. Let's see what I find good about this case and then less good The good/the positive: +++++ +++++ +++++ + Superb airflow (16 points): +++ Three very nice front inlet fans/positions. ++ Two very nice rear exhaust fans/positions. +++ One big top exhaust fan/position. + Adjustable fan speeds, very nice/cool. + Extra air/space in the top and bottom. + Extra air/space in the front/rear. +++ Three removeable/cleanable/strong dust filters. + Airflow goes into the front, and out the back and even top as it's supposed too. + Power supply on bottom, extra airflow/cooling on bottom. I like that. +++++ +++++ +++++ Good mounting system (15 points): +++ Three removeable harddisk bays. + Bays go out via the front. ++ Floppy drive mounting extension included. ++ All necessary screws included. + Thumb screws which can be used by screw driver too. + IDE/DVD drive fit perfectly. + Floppy drive fit perfectly. + Lots of space. + Good motherboard holding screws/places/positions. + pci slot closures. + Strong material in general, strong side panels. +++++ +++++ +++++ +++++ ++ Extra's (22 points): + Laser like leds that shine light over fan blades, looks like a presentation... very nice/cool/beautifull. + Good manual with fan/airflow specifications. + Very good on/off power button =D + Very nice black look, with golden antec logo on it. + Holes in the motherboard area to work away cables. + Extra space on the sides to work away cables. + Rubber feet to prevent scrathes, and possibly reduce resonance and increase stability. + Glass/plastic see through side panel so you can look inside to see if everything is ok. + Extra internal mounting places for additional fans. Probably not really necessary but it's there if you need it. + Daisy-chain molex power connectors for fans... they can all be attached to each other. + Almost millimeter perfect... nothing gets stuck or anything like that + Special grill for floppy drive. + Extra foam for top grills. + No sharp edges. + Nice knubs for fans, looks good. + Reset button. + Two usb ports on front, one sata port on front, two audio ports on front, I don't care so much about this so only one point for all that. + Protective grills on back and top and even front fans, to prevent fingers and large objects from falling in or touching blades or whatever.. + Manual had a good tip on getting the dust filters out easily. I appreciate that a lot ! + Tiny little blue harddisk activity indicator at the top... Nice. + Extra space on the right side panel to tuck away large plugs and cables... comes in handy ! + Constant light beam on fans shows the fans are working ! Total positive points: 53. ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- - Now the bad: - It's very heavy... this makes it stable and less prone to vibration... but it's also a back breaker - It's big... it's difficult to transport/pick up. - It's low above the ground... It's difficult to get fingers under it... this makes it difficult to pickup or move it across a table. - It doesn't have any handles or so... this makes it difficult to pick up. - The doors are a bit difficult to attach... they seem to overshoot into the case... then must be pulled back for proper placement. - Right door corner wasn't 100% closed... it looked as if cables pushed it out which wasn't the case... it just didn't close 100% perfectly... it's not a problem but you should look at it so you don't get fooled when working away the cables. - The cabling system pretty much sucks ass... it has plastic thingies which look like they will break/snap easily... it's not a good system... way too many cables to get through those thingies... but maybe with a modular power supply it might work... but I doubt it... since I wish I had a better cabling system.... with many place holders everywhere or so. - The external front ports... are high up... I place my case on the table... so better might have been on the bottom... so I don't need long digital camera cables etc... I haven't tried it though.. but I know that's gonna be a stretch.. what if I wanna move the camera a little bit on the table ? It's too high up there. - What is the purpose of the front grills with all the holes ? I guess it's just for looks or so... and ofcourse some airflow through it... maybe it's just for protection or so... too me it looks a bit weird... like unfinished or so... but just leave it as it is or so, minor negative point. - I don't like the floppy grill because of missing foam... so that's another minor point down below, it's it only attached in one way and it almost overshoot inside... but minor negative point: - No special foam cut for floppy drive... so I will have to cut the extra foam with a stanley knife... then I could cut myself and get blood somewhere... - The rubber feet are very sturdy... it makes it difficult to slide the case over the table... even trying to move the case for one millimeter is nearly impossible at least on a wooden table... one could argue this is could to prevent people from ****ing with it... but ok. Another thing that worries me about the sturdyness is what if I push really hard ? Maybe the rubber feet would break off... So I think that the rubber feet should be a little bit more smooth so pushing the case around the table becomes possible. Minor negative point... I like the sturdyness too... especially if it prevent any vibration etc... however this critique is food for further eximanation and experimentation is there something better possible ? - Inside of case scratches easily... so be carefull... minor negative point. - Some metal splinters from screws which I had to screw in... and some black paint correls... minor negative point. - Case had lots of smell... maybe vent the case before shipping ? Minor negative point since I have good airflow through my appartment... could be issue for people with less good airflow in their houses - It is possible to drop little screw on the top big hole... which could fall down... so people better be carefull not to do that... - Bottom power supply could be dangerous if anything fails into it... especially small little things and screws on the side could fall in. - This case can definetly not be placed on the ground.. it would suck in massive ammounts of dust... People doing so are crazy in my honest oppinion... even with the dust filters I reckon it would still suck in a lot ! - Manual said filters might have to be cleaned once a month... sounds boring ! - Fan power connectors are not modulair... I stuck them to the back with plastic tape... so I will have to pull the tape loose... this is a big negative point. - While I like the harddisk mounting system a lot because it is ridig/sturdy.. it does involve a lot of thumbscrews and extra screws... this is slightly time consuming. - Working away all the cables with plastic stickers in the side requires an insane ammount of time and energy and concentration and planning... very big negative point. *** Major improvements in design could be made here to motherboards and cases to work away cables better... Maybe design a case that has special sleaves or something to easily route away all the cables... Maybe make a special routing sleaves/lanes like a traffic system on the side pannels *** - Front and read leds can't be turned off.. Probably minor negative point... so far I don't mind the blue lights/leds/lasers - No indicators for the buttons and ports at the top... Some text or icons might have been better for newbies like: reset, usb, sata, power/on/off. Maybe in golden letters might have been nice. - What is the purpose of the top triangles ? Looks a bit weird to me... some handles there might have been more functional ! - I am worried the top could break off if I pick it up there... seems like plastic attached to it... so far it seems sturdy... but for how long... so better not grab it there Total negative points: 26 negative points. (Some of those minor negative points ) So to sum up: The biggest positive thing is: + Very good airflow + Very strong sturdy case. + Possiblity to work away cables/plugs. + Nice pitch-black look, lasers kinda nice too. + Pretty good mounting system. + Good power on/off button The biggest negative thing is: - Very difficult to pickup because of missing handles or place to grab onto, also because it's close to the ground. - Very difficult to move because of size, weight and sturdy rubber feet. - Cabling system is terrible... some nice pre-made sleaves, lanes or something might have been perfect ! - The smell was kinda annoying... took at least two days to get rid of it.. might be because of new motherboard, artic silver and new cooler too ! - The doors are a bit difficult to close... especially the glass door. It overshoots a little. So there ya go folks... don't think too much of the negative... this is a damn good case ! But it's not for people looking to quickly mount a system together... You'll need lots of time to mount everything and you'll need lots and lots of time to work away the cables... which is a really tiring... but once that's all done.. it's fabulous And a special word about the laser/light show... I like those lasers/lights a lot ! They shine a constant beam of blue light onto the fan blades... you can only see it flicker/move a little bit.. (so you know the fans are working !) it doesn't really move that much so it's not annoying or distracting... but once you look at it... it's quite beautifull/gorgious... I am not found of christmas trees... but this I like =D The only little weird thing is: the top blow hole led can be turned off/on... while the rest cannot ? :$ LOL. That's funny. I even like the blue light on the blowhole.. It's like a ufo on top of my case ! What more could you ask for in the fun factor ? LOL =D Go here if you wanna see some pictures of a build: http://members.home.nl/hbthoupperman...mPCThirdBuild/ Bye, Skybuck. |
#4
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Antec 1200 review. (53 positive points) (26 negative points, someof them are minor)
And this related to computer architecture in exactly what manner?
Computer architecture as in : How processors go about their duties, The organization of memory systems, Cache coherency issues, Design and analysis of floating point units, instruction sets, I/O systems,..... |
#5
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Antec 1200 review. (53 positive points) (26 negative points,some of them are minor)
Skybuck Flying wrote:
Hello, Well since my Dream PC is dead for the moment and I have nothing better to do and I am not 100% happy with the antec case I will write a review about it... Bye, Skybuck. Have you ever considered posting to the appropriate group that could address your problem ? All you will get by crossposting to unrelated groups, is well-deserved abuse. If you want help, try trimming down the crossposts, and then stick to some hardware-type questions. For example, post to just this group, describing the current set of hardware components (motherboard, video card or cards, RAM, power supply brand and power level, etc). Also, describe what symptoms are present when you turn on the power, any beep codes, whether the fans are running, and so on. alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt HTH, Paul |
#6
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Antec 1200 review. (53 positive points) (26 negative points, some of them are minor)
On Sat, 02 Aug 2008 12:33:17 -0700, in sci.electronics.design John
Larkin wrote: On Sat, 2 Aug 2008 20:53:29 +0200, "Skybuck Flying" wrote: None of us at s.e.d. are likely interested in this. Your dream PC sounds like a nightmare to me. John Yeah, but you could have snipped the garbage....it must have been several milligrams of CO2, worldwide That new box of yours looks nice BTW martin |
#7
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Antec 1200 review. (53 positive points) (26 negative points, some ofthem are minor)
Skybuck Flying wrote:
[snip] The biggest negative thing is: - System still has Usenet access. Prioritize this as the first thing to eliminate. -- Paul Hovnanian ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Have gnu, will travel. |
#8
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Antec 1200 review. (53 positive points) (26 negative points, some of them are minor)
How you gonna mount all that stuff ?
Not thinking about this basic question can get your computer architecture into lots of trouble See current companies for examples. Bye, Skybuck. |
#9
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Antec 1200 review. (53 positive points) (26 negative points, some of them are minor)
PLEASE DON'T FEED THE TROLL!
Can only 100% agree ... getting sick and tired of Sky**** ... yet even though I killfiled him, so many people just are reacting on him that I still get all the bull**** of this super troll. So everybody, do either not react on him or killfile him ... |
#10
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Antec 1200 review. (53 positive points) (26 negative points, some of them are minor)
so many people just are reacting on him that I still get all the bull****
of this super troll. Yep, a better method is needed, other than a kill file, because these groups are frequented by what seems to be the college crowd, intent on showing/proving to you that they know everything and everyone else in these groups is a dumb****. People get drawn into a worthless argument with these trolls and what they write pops up all over the place. My recent favorite was 'rod speed', who if anyone disagreed with him, would trace their e-mail back to the posters name and and address and post it. His messages would start with, 'some pig face bitch asshole named:', then he would post the name and address. His IP traced back to the University of Berlin. --g |
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