Antec Nine Hundred
The Nine Hundred is positioned by the manufacturer as a system case for hardcore gamers. In this article it is an opponent to the P182. It is a very big system case for a full-size mainboard, a lot of hard disks and, perhaps, a liquid cooling system. It is not the biggest, though. Antec’s line-up includes the Twelve Hundred model.
The front panel is occupied by meshed brackets for the 5-inch bays (nine in total as the model name implies). You can see two 120mm fans through them. It is all very utilitarian, without any decorations. The P182 looks far more stylish in comparison. Interestingly, the front panel is free from any buttons. All of the buttons are located on the top panel. Like the above-discussed models, the Nine Hundred employs TriCool fans with speed regulation. There is a translucent window in the center of the side panel. The side surface is also covered with a metallic mesh nearby. It’s not quite clear where the manufacturer suggests the system case is placed. If on a desk, it won’t be easy to reach the buttons and ports on the top panel. If on the floor, under the desk, why the window?
Interestingly, there is a translucent plastic panel underneath the mesh. It keeps almost all the air from getting through the mesh. It is only in the center, between the two juts for fan fasteners, that there is a gap left for the air to pass through. Well, if you don’t want to install an additional fan, you can remove the plastic panel altogether.
It is the top panel that is the most impressive in this system case. The back half of it is all occupied by a huge 200mm fan. Being almost the same width as the system case, the fan must have an enormous air-pumping capacity. This is a very important thing for gamers because it is in gaming systems that you find the best and the hottest graphics cards and CPUs. The back of the top panel being occupied by the fan, the PSU resides at the bottom while the mainboard has moved up a little. The P182 has the same internal layout but the Nine Hundred doesn’t have a separate compartment for the PSU as the former has.
The 200mm fan belongs to the TriCool series and features three-level speed regulation with the following parameters:
This giant’s impeller creates a stronger airflow at 400rpm than a 120mm fan does at 2000rpm. The level of noise being equal, the 200mm fan at 400rpm is pumping through 2.5 times as much air as a 120mm fan at 1200rpm.
The buttons and additional connectors populate the slanted front part of the top panel: Power and Reset buttons, a FireWire port, two USB ports, and two audio connectors.
There is a depression between these components and the fan. You can use it for various small PC-related things such as flash drives.
A nice trifle: there is a special rubber pad at the bottom of the mentioned depression to protect the plastic of the top panel from scratches.
