Posted: October 17th, 2002
Written by: Justin "The Sheriff" Woods

Initial Impressions & Details

The case comes shipped in a white box with a glossy picture of the case on the sides. I was impressed as most cases come in brown boxes with nothing more than their packing information on them. I flipped the box on its top and opened the bottom, then slowly rolled the box over, and lifted the box off the case. The case is wrapped in plastic, and covered on both ends with Styrofoam to prevent any damage while shipping. This careful attention to packing the case pays off. There is not a single visible scratch, ding, or dent.

          

As I mentioned in the features section, this case comes with a 2 front-mounted USB ports, and 1 firewire port, also mounted on the front of the case. It is cleverly hidden behind the nameplate, which flips up out of the way. I couldn't find any documentation as to whether or not the USB ports were 1.0 or 2.0, though I connected the cables to the USB 2.0 pin headers on a motherboard I was benchmarking, I wasn't able to test them, so I cannot guarantee they work. Though it makes sense that the connector will work for either USB 1.0 or 2.0, Antec should have documented this a little clearer.

          

As you can see in the picture above, the case door has a fan attached. The honeycomb cut-out looks nice, and allows for decent airflow. The fan comes attached and there is ample length on its power cable to open the case door completely. I am impressed that the fans on this case are so quiet. Be careful when you remove the door, as the paint is easily scratched. I put a tiny scratch in the left side panel when leaning the right side against it. The front of the case opens up to reveal the drive bays, 4, 5.25" bays and 2, 3.50" bays for a floppy, and internal ZIP drive.

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