Antec Nine Hundred Two: Second Generation Gamer Case
by Christoph Katzer on February 13, 2009 3:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
Appearance
The Nine Hundred Two case is completely black -- inside and out. The main structure of the case is composed of steel, with plastic parts for portions of the top and front. As with its predecessor, there are nine 5.25" drive bays with perforated covers on the front to allow air to pass into the chassis. Like most other cases that have a bunch of 5.25" drive bays, Antec uses hard drive cages placed behind some of the 5.25" covers. Two cages are included, with each cage occupying three 5.25" bays and supporting up to three 3.5" hard drives. If you want to forego using any optical drives, you could purchase a third hard drive cage separately.
There are power and reset buttons at the top, along with audio, USB, and eSATA ports. The top panel looks similar to the Twelve Hundred, with a large 200mm fan serving as an exhaust. The top panel is largely composed of plastic, which does make the case feel a little "cheap" -- or at least not as nice as the expensive aluminum cases -- but it's thick enough that you won't worry about accidentally breaking it. The combination of steel and plastic does help keep costs down somewhat, although at ~$160 this certainly isn't an entry-level or even midrange case.
The left side panel has a large window that extends from top to bottom, allowing you to see all of your internal components including the power supply and the back of any hard drives. You will want to take some time to make sure your cabling is clean, which is one of the drawbacks of such a large window. The rear portion of the left side panel has a cutout where you can install a 120mm fan, which would blow air directly at any expansion cards -- great for keeping GPUs cool.
Antec includes eight expansion slot covers on the back of the case, which is one more than most computer cases provide. Thumbscrews are provided to secure any components installed in the expansion slots, and most people will end up with an extra expansion slot or two that their motherboard doesn't use, which would be a perfect spot to install additional USB, FireWire, or eSATA ports.
Antec is one of the few companies to include fan speed controls on many of their cases, and the Nine Hundred Two continues that trend. There are two small potentiometers that control the case fans on the two included hard drive cages. In addition, there are three-way switches on the rear where you can select low/medium/high fan speeds for the top and rear case fans. Another switch allows you to turn the LED on the top fan on or off.
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IvanAndreevich - Friday, February 13, 2009 - link
Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6850(Quad-core 3.0GHz, 2x6MB L2, 1333FSB)
It's 2x4MB L2 ;)
v1001 - Friday, February 13, 2009 - link
My brother has this case. It's hideous. I about laughed when I saw it. I just bought this super small shuttle case that is very cool and quiet and fits anywhere. He gets this monster and it's HUGE. I mean really HUGE and loud. Totally out of place in his living room. At first I seriously thought he had like this big ugly guitar amp sitting next to his desk. I was like "what the hell did you get this for?? This isn't 2001 anymore! We don't have super hot CPU's, they run super cool and can fit in any tight case with minimal fans now!". I made him turn all the fans down though so at least it was quiet. Which the temp never budged because it was overkill anyway. With all the fans down and really not needed it tells you that it's all pointless anyway.bruf - Friday, February 13, 2009 - link
Any case recommendations for long gfx card (GTX or Radeon X2) from Antec or other manufacturers which sport the same minimalist/conservative design? I really like my Antec Solo case, but it doesn't fit the new high-end gfx cards from nVidia & ATI...Thx,
Christoph Katzer - Friday, February 13, 2009 - link
If you don't have too many drives take this one ;)just4U - Friday, February 13, 2009 - link
I'd love to see a revamped Lanboy.. It wouldn't have to be called that just based around some of it's design. All aluminum, (black would be nice) Top mounted PSU, Side drive cages (i was a fan of those) Front and back 120mm fans (hell make them bigger if they want It would be a fatter case tho) Just make sure they have a mesh for cleaning. Perhaps a removable MB tray (wishful thinking) Normal full view window. All in all I think that thing would sell like hotcakes.greywood - Friday, February 13, 2009 - link
I did a build based on the original Antec 900 case; worst choice of case I've made in years! I wanted to build a good gaming rig that would also be quiet - not! Config is: Intel E8500, 4Gb Ram, 2 DVD's 2 HDD's, single ATI 4780 512 Mb video. I had to relegate the thing to use as a "guest" machine. Sounds like a bloody 727 on takeoff.7Enigma - Tuesday, February 17, 2009 - link
Then just do what I do. I have an older TitanS case which uses 2 120mm fans but is still not that quiet. I keep it under my desk and have the floor underneath with carpet, some foam on the underside of the desk that you can't see unless you are under there, and foam behind the LCD monitor and attached to the wall behind the case. Nothing obstructs airflow or traps heat, it just significantly helps at absorbing sound that would otherwise reflect up to the user and be unbearable.The0ne - Friday, February 13, 2009 - link
I've built a few computers using the old 900 and they're not loud; the fans that is. You should determine what this "loud" is coming from other than just putting everything in and saying the case is loud. It's one of the quieter cases out there but still doesn't compare to 180's.pepsimax2k - Friday, February 13, 2009 - link
fwiw, mine's not bad at all (quieter than vaio laptop when idle).5200+ (89w), 4gb, 2dvds, 2hdds, 3850.
Every fan's on low (two front, top, rear, 2x psu 80mms), hsf's at 1000rpm, and it's perfectly fine. Only the HSF gets pretty loud when it ramps up, but idle temps are 24C so it's all good. I figure if I remove a front fan and either the top or rear it's gonne be quiet enough for most people.
pepsimax2k - Friday, February 13, 2009 - link
About the GC space and cages sticking out the front; this is actually doable without too much hastle.Just shunt *all* the front devices forward a little; it shouldn't look abnormal at all as the sides, front and bottom overlap quite a lot (at least on the original 900). If that doesn't give you room, you can just remove the three front bezels from the front fan adaptor and move it even further forward. You loose the uniform look, but if you screw on a fan filter (black, or in my case chrome) to the front of the fan holder it covers the fan up and gives an almost normal looking front. You'll also wanna fill in the gaps in the side of the fan holder (left after removing the bezels), just some black electrical tape over some card cut to the right side works for me. This has given me enough space to fit an ide cable in behind a GC / power connector (angled towards the front of the case).