Which case is better?

[paratwa]

Despite the annoyance of the plastic 5 1/4" to 3 1/2" adapter with the micro sized holes you can easily substitute with a $2 metal adapter that is also available the fans are running full speed here and you can hardly hear them. The two 3drive bays are simply held in with thumb screws and make life easier sliding those out for installing, adding, swapping drives out.

The only spot where things are tight is right behind the 5 1/4" drive bays. But I've seen that problem in a numner of cases especially the non gaming styles. If you're not in a big rush everything will go right into place without a hassle. A little patience goes a long way.

Patience is a virtue they say, but I say a case should be easy to use.

Yes there were thumb screws for the drive bays, but something as simple as accidentally inserting the bays upside down means you have to take them back out and remove the drives, then reinstalling the drives and reinserting the bays. The thumbscrew holes do not line up if you put it back upside down. And there are no visual cues to keep it right in the first place.

So you will have to mark the bay so that you do not turn it around and install everything wrong.

The front plates for the drives are flaky. If you bump one a little hard, you end up having to take both side doors off the case and loosen the screws and then realign the covers, then place the side doors back on. Real simple right? I say poor design.

And as far as the fans are concerned. If I can hear them, they are to loud. I like my cases silent and unseen. On high speed the Antecs are rated at 39db. Thats as loud as a small portable air conditioner. Way to loud for me. You must be in a loud room to not hear those.


Here is a good website comparing the antec's to other fans, even the ones I usually prefer, the Nexus brand of fans.
http://www.silentpcreview.com/article695-page1.html

 

[PC eye]

Here if you didn't see the blue led lights on the fans you wouldn't know the system was running. The 900 runs as quiet as an old Socket A case that only saw one 80mm rear fan then. And that old 98 case is still running strong and quiet after all this time.

 

[DSM1999]

I would go for the Cooler Master Cosmos anytime out of those two. well worth the money. and good mid tower cases is the NZXT Apollo and Nemesis.

 

[PC eye]

I would go for the Cooler Master Cosmos anytime out of those two. well worth the money. and good mid tower cases is the NZXT Apollo and Nemesis.

NZXT makes some great cases. There were only two downsides to the 900 being the plastic drive bay adapter for installing a floppy drive and the lack of space behind the drive bays for drive cables especially trying to compress the more durable Antec Cobra UV White ide cable used here.

Other then those two things the 900 is quite a bit quieter then the last case namely the AeroCool AreoEngine II model I used to replace an old case when upgrading from a Socket A build to the 939. That old case looked great but sadly lacked any front or side vents moving everything into the model seen here.