Antec Three Hundred
The Three Hundred is yet another model in the gamers-oriented series the Nine Hundred belongs to. The Three Hundred is simpler and considerably cheaper, though. Let’s see what has been sacrificed with the purpose of lowering the price.
The front panel looks almost the same as the senior model’s. It is a mesh. There are now three brackets in the 5.25-inch bays while the entire bottom is covered with a dual mesh: a coarse metal mesh on the outside and a fine synthetic one on the inside. By the way, the latter is fastened within a plastic frame that is secured by locks and can be easily removed – it is going to be easy to clean this mesh. Overall, it is all very practical again, without any creative extravaganza. It is all purely utilitarian and I can’t see anything particularly beautiful here.
All the buttons and connectors are grouped in the top part of the front panel: this system case is obviously meant to stand on the floor. The selection is standard enough: Power and Reset buttons (the latter is sunken deep to prevent your pressing it accidentally), two sound ports in the center and two USB connectors on the left. The USB ports are placed far from each other so that the connected devices didn’t interfere.
The side window is now missing. Instead, there is a 120mm fan seat covered with a punched-out mesh.
The side panels are fastened simply with screws. These are thumbscrews, so you won’t have to look for a screwdriver to open the case.
Like in every system case from Antec’s gaming series, there is an exhaust fan at the back of the top panel. This fan is removing the hot air from the hottest components, the CPU and graphics card. This time, however, it is a 140mm fan covered with a punched-out grid from above, rather than a 200mm monster. Easy to guess, the power supply has moved to the bottom of this case, too. As for the fan, it is yet another TriCool series model with three-level speed regulation.
The big diameter helps this fan create a stronger airflow at somewhat lower rotation speeds than 120mm models do.
There is a 120mm fan at the back panel but the outputs for liquid cooling systems with an external radiator are now missing due to the positioning of the model and its lowered price. Otherwise, the back panel is quite ordinary.
Like with the Nine Hundred, the feet are made from soft rubber. Their traction is strong. It is hard to move the standing system case. The feet also suppress vibrations from the working PC.
