Antec Twelve Hundred

Antec Twelve Hundred
Feature-packed case not perfect for everyone

THOUGH ANTEC'S NEW Twelve Hundred super-tower looks like it's just a bigger version of the company's popular Nine Hundred gaming chassis, it's much more than that. Antec has significantly revamped the design and added new features, more cooling, an dmuch more room to maneuver.
This 22.9x8.4x20-inch (HWD) case features 12 internal drive bays, of which nine are reserved for hard drives; the other three can be used for components such as optical drives and media readers. The case also offers seven PCI slots, but it's not toolless, so have your Philips screwdriver ready.
The $209 twelve Hundred acceps only ATX motherboards, and its motherboard tray is not removable. Though there's still quite a bit of interior room-it's able to accommodate long video cards and large power supplies-we found the case's middle section a bit cramped for installing motherboards, and cables (especially if you have many hard drives) can create an inconvenient tangle.
The top of the chassis features power and reset buttons and easily accessible I/O ports-including two USB and one external Serial ATA (eSATA)-as wel as headphone and microphone jacks, but no FireWire. The front of the chassis features three removable hard-drive cages, each of which holds three drives and houses a 120mm fan, but removing the fans's washable filters is something of a chore. And the bright, blue LEDs on the drive-cage fans cannot be turned off, which can be annoying.
Two 120mm fans in the rear chassis and a giant 200mm unit on the top provide further cooling; you can adjust their speeds via a small panel in the top rear of the chassis. We appreciate it, but it's a pain to climb under your desk to access the switches.-Josh Norem.
source: Computer Shopper September 2008.

www.antec.com