Antec Nine Hundred review

A PC's case has a huge impact on how many peripherals you can connect, how quiet your computer is and how cool it will run.

The case also defines how your PC looks. Antec's Nine Hundred certainly looks attractive. Its black mesh front is appealing, while the window in the side of the case lets you show off your PC's insides with the addition of lights or coloured fans (see PC Builder, Shopper February 2007 for details).

The Nine Hundred has been carefully designed so it's easy to use when it's standing on the floor. The top of the case houses the panel that's usually mounted on the front of other cases. So you've got quick access to audio in and out, two USB and FireWire without having to bend over and fiddle around. The power and reset buttons are also in this control panel. Fortunately, they're recessed, so you can't accidentally hit them or reset your PC by dropping something. This design keeps the front looking nice and clean and avoids the need for concealing flaps.

The top of the case has a small tray, which takes the anti-slip mat provided in the box. This may sound like a strange addition to a case, but it's surprisingly useful. When we were building a PC into the Nine Hundred, we found it a handy place to store the screws and screwdriver, so we didn't lose anything in the process. Antec's instructions aren't the best, but the case is quite simple to understand. The windowed side panel is attached by thumbscrews and once it's removed there's a surprising amount of room to work. Slipping a motherboard into place is very easy, although it's likely that you'll need to replace the bundled motherboard back plate with the one supplied with your motherboard.

The case can hold up to six hard disks, spread over two removable cages. Getting the cages out is fiddly, as you have to remove the second side panel and undo four thumbscrews per cage. However, once the cages are removed, inserting the hard disks is easy. There are three 5" in optical drive bays; you can use one of them to house a floppy drive or memory card reader, but you'll have to install the supplied adaptor.

As with Antec's top-of-the-range P180, the power supply sits at the bottom of the case. This doesn't make installation any trickier, but it does mean you end up with cables trailing across the motherboard. As most power supplies are designed to sit at the top of a case, you might have trouble with some power supplies' motherboard cables to stretch far enough. We recommend buying some case clips to keep the inside tidy and provide good airflow. On the plus side, locating the power supply at the bottom gives Antec plenty of room at the top of the case for a massive 200mm fan. This helps draw air out of your case, so you can pack it with the latest components and powerful graphics cards and your PC will still run cool. The fan has a three-speed fan control built in, too, so you can help keep your PC quiet as well as cool.

The Nine Hundred also ships with two front-mounted 120mm fans, each with a three-step speed control. Each one cools a hard disk bay to protect your disks. Finally, there's a third 120mm fan with speed control mounted at the rear of the case. If that's not enough, there are 120mm fan mountings in the middle of the case for the processor and one in the window to help cool the graphics card. The fans all have blue LEDs in them, which makes the case look attractive when it's lit up. Unfortunately, having all these fans can add to the noise. It was acceptable with all the fans set to their lowest speeds, but when they were on full power there was a distinct hum. Our advice is to connect only the fans you need to use and then adjust the fan controls to keep the case's noise at an acceptable level.