Antec Nine Hundred Two: Second Generation Gamer Case
by Christoph Katzer on February 13, 2009 3:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
Installing the Components
We didn't have quite as much space in this case as we did with the previously tested Silverstone Raven, although the two cases don't really compete directly for the same audience. We did like the hard drive cages, which provide plenty of extra room for airflow and improved hard drive cooling. The drawback of course is that you can only fit a maximum of nine hard drives -- or six without an extra hard drive cage -- into the case.
We almost always encounter some difficulties when installing our test components into Antec cases, and this is no exception. The big problem is that our 8800 Ultra graphics cards are simply too long. It's not possible to use these particular graphics cards while also populating all six hard drive bays. With the graphics cards in place, we were unable to get the hard drive cage back where it belongs. It ended up sticking out 1 cm at the front, and that's before we even tried to attach cables. With large graphics cards, it's very likely that you will need to avoid using the middle hard drive cage. In fact, we also couldn't use the top drive location for the bottom drive cage. One alternative if you don't need to have more than one optical drive is to move the middle hard drive cage up a couple notches. As it stands, with 380 800 Ultra graphics cards and no change in the positioning of the drive cages, we were only able to use two hard drives.
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7Enigma - Tuesday, February 17, 2009 - link
Circular swirling of hot air stuck inside the case? Doesn't make a lot of sense with the huge 200mm exhaust fan at the top but I guess anything is possible when you cram 3 large graphics cards and multiple HD/opticals in there. I did a double take when I saw the open case shot with everything installed. It looked like a mini-ATX!!!Christoph Katzer - Friday, February 13, 2009 - link
Nope,volgagerman - Friday, February 13, 2009 - link
Any chance we'll see a review of the Cooler Master HAF932 on this site? It seems to offer the best possible cooling at the moment, if you can get past the military data center look. Just curious as to how it would compare with the rest of your current lineup from a temp/acoustic perspective.sonci - Friday, February 13, 2009 - link
Not surprised that is a good cooling case, tons of fans without dust filters, certainly not for my living room..Zak - Friday, February 13, 2009 - link
I'm actually running an older CM Stacker with lots of fans and no filters and due to large positive pressure very little dust accumulates inside. It can be done. Z.7Enigma - Tuesday, February 17, 2009 - link
Does....Not....Compute....Unless you have a filter on the intake fan(s), there is no way you are not accumulating dust inside unless that is a jet engine on the intake side that prevents any dust from settling. I'll agree if you have adequate positive pressure on a FILTERED intake you will see very little dust in the system. But if you are telling me you have zero filtration, I just don't see it being possible unless you're in a cleanroom.
fri2219 - Friday, February 13, 2009 - link
Kind of defeats the purpose of the fans.I guess they surmised that if you put enough plastic windows and blinking lights on it, you'd be able to sell a bowl of tapeworms to you average WoWTard.
Bonesdad - Friday, February 13, 2009 - link
I think it's pretty hideous...MamiyaOtaru - Friday, February 13, 2009 - link
Looks better than the original 900 IMHO. That slanted front was hideous. I don't mind this one at all, though I wish the pastic accents would go.Nfarce - Friday, February 13, 2009 - link
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder I suppose. I think it's pretty cool looking. Apparently the "in" thing right now for cases is military stealth-type design with angular references. Kinda like something you'd see in a futuristic Sci-Fi flick.