Installation
Ok so what are we putting inside this case? Our system is comprised of an Intel Core i7-965 processor, ASUS P6T motherboard, 24GB DDR3 memory, ATI Radeon 4870 X2 video card, 2 128GB solid state drives, 2 750GB SATA drives, optical drive and we actually have one of Antec’s CP-Series power supplies. Stay tuned for a review of that very soon! The first thing you want to do is install your motherboard, the standoffs are already preinstalled so just screw it in.
Next we have our hard drives, I decided I wanted to put the 2 SATA drives in the top drive cage so I took the bays out, screwed the drives in and slid the drives back in.
We had a custom bracket made for our 2.5-inch solid state drives. It is the same size as a normal 3.5-inch drive so it fits easily into the bottom hard drive cage.
Moving on to the optical drive you need to install rails on each side then just slide it into the front of the case.
Next we have our power supply, as I said we had a CP-Series power supply from Antec, it’s the CP-850. To install a CP-Series power supply you first need to remove the bracket on the back of the case. Once it’s uninstalled you can slide the power supply in.
Now this is where I ran into some trouble. Before I installed the video card I went to connect everything up on the motherboard. After I had everything connected I went to put my video card in and I noticed that it did not fit. The top hard drives were blocking it! Luckily I had room in the bottom hard drive cage, but if you have more than 4 hard drives you could be out of luck if you want to run a large video card in your system. I solved the problem by moving the hard drives down to the bottom cage.
Once you have everything installed you can connect it all and try and organize your cables. There really is not a whole lot of room to make the case look clean, but I think I did a pretty good job.
Another thing that this case was missing was an opening behind the motherboard so you don’t have to remove your motherboard when installing certain CPU coolers. There are a few routing holes that you can use to route cables behind the motherboard. These really came in handy when routing the top power connector on the motherboard.
Do the TriCool connect to the ASUS Board? I am looking at the ASUS P6X58D Premium. How noisy are they? Thanks
Do you have a better MidTower that is quiet, cool? I was looking at a very similar system as you reviewed. Along with a Sapphire 5850.
Each of the tricool fans have 4 pin molex connectors so you would have to get a 3pin adapter for you to connect them directly into your motherboard
I've had this case for about half a year now, and I'm pretty pleased with it.
The provided fans are not the most quiet around, but do pretty well on the slowest setting. It's also a good idea to test different fan configurations to find out what suits you best.
For me I left the rear fan in place, at low speed, moved the top fan to the front intake while connecting it to a separate fan controller and covering the top hole with a piece of clear acrylic.
To improve the dust filtering I added pollen filters squeezed in between the standard filters and the metal mesh behind them.
Thanks for this post!
hello. which antec range of case are better at blocking noise, the sonata or performance? and which mid tower would you recommend? also are there any non-antec that are better?
Of the Antec cases I think Sonata is slightly better at absorbing HDD vibrations, whereas Performa is the very best at dampening noise in general.
The key to quiet computing is to generate as little noise as possible in the first place though, so that dampening becomes pretty much a non issue.
If quiet computing is your interest, then I suggest you to visit
http://www.silentpcreview.com
There you can find lots of info and recommendations about it.
Of the Antec cases I think Sonata is slightly better at absorbing HDD vibrations, whereas Performa is the very best at dampening noise in general.
The key to quiet computing is to generate as little noise as possible in the first place though, so that dampening becomes pretty much a non issue.
If quiet computing is your interest, then I suggest you to visit
http://www.silentpcreview.com
There you can find lots of info and recommendations about it.
I can't see from the illustrations.
Are the Power & Reset buttons actually behind the door?
Do you have to open the door to operate them?
Where I have mine set, it would be difficult to have
to open the door just to power on/off or reset.
The Power and Reset buttons are behind the door. The door has to be open to operate them. The door can be locked to protect them. For me, opening the door was also a problem. Since I couldn't remove the door, the fix was to open the door 270 degrees, all the way around, so that it is flat against the left side of the case, and leave it there. It is now totally out of the way.