Anyone Use an Antec 300?

[Leyawiin]

I'm considering grabbing one this weekend. I have an PII X2 955 with a Xigmatek 1283 HSF, plus a full length (Nvidia GTX 260) graphics card. Only one HD. Does it sound like a decent fit for the hardware?

 

[error8]

Originally posted by: Leyawiin
Does it sound like a decent fit for the hardware?

Yes.

 

[Leyawiin]

Originally posted by: error8

Originally posted by: Leyawiin
Does it sound like a decent fit for the hardware?

Yes.

Thanks. The Xiggy was the biggest concern - literally.

 

[error8]

You mount it parallel with the videocard and all the hot air it's exhausted through the 140mm upper fan. It can't get better then this.
I suggest you to install three 120mm fans, as intake fans, for optimum airflow, since the case comes only with the two exhaust fans.

 

[zagood]

Kudos - nice, simple design. Good cooling. Decent wire management. Space for 99% of cooling solutions and video cards. Cheap.
Caveats - Reset button hard to get to. Direct hard drive mounting can be a little noisy. Easily scratched paint. No front panel e-Sata.

As e8 said, get fans at least for front intake.

If you have a dremel or any other cutting tools, I'd highly recommend cutting out the fan grills on front intakes and exhaust. I'd recommend that with any case though.

 

[Leyawiin]

I have an AM3 board, so the Xigmatek's fan direction is up to begin with - the top mounted exhaust fan directly above will be perfect. I have three Scythe 120mm fans I can put in the front and the side panel. Should be very cool, which is a help where I live (over a 100 F a lot in the summer and the PC's room can hit 80 F frequently).

Yeah, I've heard about the lack of vibration control on the hard drive mounting. I'll have to try to track down some tiny rubber washers.

Sounds good guys, thanks again.

 

[yh125d]

I have one. Great case. Fits towers like a xigmatek or the TRUE I have now just fine in either orientation. Front fascia and filters come off easy, comes with plenty of thumbscrews and such. Great cooling too, and quite solid and well built. Would buy again A++


As for the hard drive mount, I've never noticed any noise from them

 

[zagood]

If you're not going to use all three 5.25" bays, might consider getting a HDD silencing adapter. I have three HDDs in mine so I had to get a little more creative and sandwiched them vertically using rubber strips for spacing and airflow.

 

[Soulkeeper]

I just purchased one last week to replace my all plexiglass case, after I noticed my hard drive temps get over 65C.
I couldn't be happier, I didn't have high hopes for the psu position and top fan. But after using it I really like it.
The big fan on the top matches up perfect with the orientation of my thermalright ultra-120

the fan positioning is nice, all my temps are down about 10C or so (hard drives down 20c)

 

[Leyawiin]

Ordered mine from Amazon today. Keep my fingers crossed for an easy build on Wednesday (when it arrives). Thanks again guys.

 

[Daverino]

Great case, easy build. A TON of cooling for such a small and relatively inexpensive case. Two fans (120 and 140) come stock and there is space for three more 120s. With so many fans (I used Scythe Flex fans) I could put them all on the lowest speed settings, get great cooling and have a very quiet computer. Not silent, but you'd need a more expensive case to go truly silent. I was really impressed with the bang-to-buck ratio for this case.

 

[Leyawiin]

Originally posted by: Daverino
Great case, easy build. A TON of cooling for such a small and relatively inexpensive case. Two fans (120 and 140) come stock and there is space for three more 120s. With so many fans (I used Scythe Flex fans) I could put them all on the lowest speed settings, get great cooling and have a very quiet computer. Not silent, but you'd need a more expensive case to go truly silent. I was really impressed with the bang-to-buck ratio for this case.

I've got three really nice Scythe 120mm fans (used them before - ones on my Xigmatek CPU HS) for the front and side (if it fits over the 8800 GTX). Should be cool and relatively quiet from all I've read about the case.

 

[43st]

Great case.. Here are some brief thoughts on it..

- I've removed my top 140mm case fan completely.. with the CPU fan pointing up (and thru) a Xigmatek. The CPU fan vents the case very well on it's own.
- My front fans are on a Zalman fan mate, so if the case needs the air it triggers them to ramp up. Otherwise it's only the CPU fan running. (and PSU, GPU)
- All other fans have been removed, for the sake of air flow and less dust surface area.
- The 300 stock fans are much louder than the stock fans that came with my older 900.. I thought this was slightly odd. Anyway.. you are best off replacing them.

 

[wolfman11]

Very nice case. Used one for a build for my dear wife (PII X3 710) and it works fine with just the stock fans on low. I really liked the layout of the case, my first with a PSU on the bottom. Ample space to "hide" extra cables (although a few holes punched through the sheet metal would've made an even nicer job) and very good airflow even with the two stock fans only. Lots of extra thumb screws and reusable zip ties for cabling.

Feels well built and solidly designed. Definately a bargain for the money spent...

 

[Leyawiin]

Just finished assembling it. That case is a dream! Great features, easy assembly, excellent cooling (better than the Coolermaster Stacker it replaced), quiet, no sharp edges - and it was $60. The Coolermaster was three times as much and pretty junky imo. Thanks for the good reports on it guys - really, really happy I bought it!

 

[error8]

Yes, the Antec 300 is the ultimate budget case. I can't see any other case that offers so much for so little money.

 

[yh125d]

Originally posted by: error8
Yes, the Antec 300 is the ultimate budget case. I can't see any other case that offers so much for so little money.

The CM Cent 590 is very similar in terms of size, looks, features, cooling. Main differences is that it has toolless mounting, only one front fan, but two side and top fans/ Also, the side and top fan mounts all have holes for 140mm as well as 120mm I think

 

[error8]

CM Cent 590 doesn't have a reset button and it's narrower then Antec 300. If you have an aftermarket cooler mounted on your videocard ( Accelero S1 or Hr03-gt) the lower side fan can't be mounted on the inside. You have to cut a little hole to mount it on the outside. And one other thing I don't like on the 590 is the upper side fan who doesn't really have any purpose, since most of the cpu heatsinks are tower like and there is no need to put one in there. And so it becomes a pain in the butt, since you have to cover it up somehow. So, I still see the Antec 300 being the better buy.

 

[sjsharky]

Yeah, Antec 300 has a great bang for your buck ratio, so you can't go wrong.