Antec Skeleton

Unique case offers unprecedented accessibility

IN A MARKET WHERE MOST CASES BOAST about features that isolate PC components from the environment around them, Antec's Skeleton case is unique: It leaves your PC's innards
exposed to the open air.

The Skeleton's two level design allows room for the power supply, two 3.5-inch drives, and two 5.25-inch drives below the motherboard tray. Four additional 3.5-inch drives can be mounted on the sides of the case. A rail on the front of the case has power and reset switches, as well as audio, USB, FireWire, and external SATA (eSATA) ports.

The ATX motherboard and power supply are mounted on slide out trays, and for the most part, the open-air design makes installing parts much easier than in a traditional case.The trickiest part is routing cables in the Skeleton's tight quarters. Installing cards is a snap, though with larger cards you'll want to remove the transparent card guide's two screws to simplify installation.

Despite the lack of a traditional airflow path, cooling doesn't seem to be an issue. With the massive 250mm Tri-Cool fan set to a barely audible medium setting, our CPU and chipset temperatures were about the same as when we installed the motherboard in a different case. One warning The case's
open design means you'll hear lots of noises usually muffled by a closed case.



Our biggest concern with the Skeleton is its lack of protection against the environment around the case. In a house with pets or curious, small kids, leaving the components exposed might be nerve-wracking or even dangerous. And though the airflow from the
fan should keep most dust away. you should
invest in a large value pack of canned-air
cleaners. But in a controlled environment, the Skeleton could be ideal for chronic upgraders. —D.A.

Computer Shopper January 2009
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Antec Micro Fusion Remote 350

Compact home-theater case has some limitations

THE $239.95 ANTEC MICRO FUSION 350 REMOTE is an attractive home-theater-PC case with some design gotchas that give us pause.

Measuring 4.5x15.1x16.1 inches, the sturdy, compact case accepts only MicroATX motherboards. We wish Antec had left
a wider perimeter around the board-mounting chamber—wedging our test mainboard into place was tight. Also, the single hard drive bay, a removable cage, is buried deep in the front of the case. We had to remove the front-panel LCD—a delicate operation—to access it.

Interior cable routing is tricky, too. There's minimal space for apart from piling it atop the motherboard. The included
350-watt power supply uses standard—not removable—leads, and stowing the unused ones takes what little space there is.

More crtidally, the case limits your expansion-card options. The slim profile
mandates only "true" low-profile cards with
low-profile mounting brackets, greatly limiting your choice of graphics
card and TV tuner. Fortunately, the lid is high enough to accommodate a normal
CPU cooler—a stock Intel heat sink fits comfortably.

The case's home-theater fit-and-finish does shine The aluminum bezel looks comfortably dressed in a crowd of home-theater components (though this case is too deep for most media racks).



Your DVD drive hides behind a flip door, and we like the customizable LCD, which shows media-file playback info and more via included software. The bundled remote, however, feels like a throw-in: small in hand and generic-looking, no match for
the most basic dedicated Media Center remote.
While we like this case's compact size and exterior styling, it should be cheaper—and
better designed inside. —John A. Burch

Computer Shopper January 2009

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Antec Signature 850

Antec Signature 850

Beneath its glossy black surface, the Antec Signature 850 PSU (model SG-850) is a powerhouse that promises high performance and reliability.
The SG-850 supports an 80mm fan with PWM (pulse width modulation), which controls the speed of the PSU'fan and makes it qun quietly. Despite its high wattage, the Signature 850 is 80 Plus-certified, making this PSu energy-efficient. Its cabling is also partially modular, with mesh sleeving on all the cables.
Being SLI-certified, the Signature 850 is equipped to handle dual GeForce 9800 GX2 graphics cards, though we used a single (yet massive) GeForce GTX 280 during our stress tests. Our other testing specs included a 2.4GHz AMD Phenom 8750 triple-core processor; two 1TB HDDs and an additional (and dinky) 40GB HD; 2GB of DDR2; and a DVD drive.
We loaded up our system by simultaenously running three instances of Prime95 (one for each core), looping 3DMark 06 (rather than 3D Mark Vantage, which will only loop three times), and playing a music CD- all continuously for five hours.
Although our well-ventilated Antec Twelve Hundred case helped, the Signature 850 didn't seem to have any trouble keeping up. Our test system wasn't grueling as it could have been, but the Signature 850's performance reassured us that it would be ready for future upgrades that would require heavier loads.
antec's Signature 850 was a sturdy PSU that din't let us down.
by Kris Glaser.
source: Computer Power User October 2008.
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Antec Twelve Hundred

Antec Twelve Hundred
The Antec Twelve Hundred isn't named the Ultimate Gaminc Case just for kicks. On the contrary, the polished black full-tower asserts itself with the cooling capabilities and expandability that gamers and enthusiasts often dream of.
The number of fans cooling the Twelve Hundred will blow you away (no pun intended). Most impresive is the 200mm fan occupying most of the case's top. Two 120mm fans reside in the back, and there are three more 120mm fans, complete with removable, washable filters, beneath the honeycombed grating on the front panel. There are brackets for additional 120mm fans in the middle of the case, as well as on the side panel. All but the optional fans have separate speed controls, letting you regulate the airflow in the case.
I used the Twelve Hundred to torture Antec's Signature 850 PSU, and even with our system maxed out, it ran cool. Not surprisingly, the moment I sped up the fans, the Twelve Hundred transformed into a jet engine.
Twe Twelve Hundred's 3.5-inch internal drive bays are split inti three removable cages and can house three HDDs each, or, with the included adapter, an FDD. There are seven expansion slots and a bottom-mounted PSU slot that can house, with minimal effort, even 9.5-inch PSUs. The Twelve Hundred can accommodate ATX (and smaller) motherboards and 10.5-inch graphics cards. However, space between the GPU and the middle drive cage was so slim that you'll have to make the cable connections before re-inserting the cage.
Overall, the Antec Twelve Hundred was easy to work with and lived up to its expansion and cooling promises, proving to be a great case for gamers and enthusiast builders.
by Kris Glaser

Specs: Bays: 3 5.25-inch external, 9 3.5-inch internal, 1 3.5-inch external. Fans: 1 200mm, 5(+2 optional) 120mm. Front ports: 2 USB, 1 eSATA, Audio I/O.

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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.

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