Antec gave a nice introduction of their new products at their hotel suite. At the top of the pecking list, we have the new Twelve Hundred case that comes with a slew of new features. Cooling was a primary consideration in the design of this case, and it includes a top-mounted 200mm fan, two 120mm fans in the back, and up to four HDD cages each with a 120mm fan. The side panel has additional space for one more 120mm fan that will blow directly on the graphics card(s) if installed. There are a total of twelve 5.25" drive bays in which the user can potentially mount lots of hard disks and/or optical drives. The front bezel features small punched holes that allow for direct cooling of the drive bays. Behind the opening are filters that help to keep dust outside of the case. The filters are easy accessible for cleaning purposes. As an added bonus, Antec painted the inside of the case in black, giving the case a very cool "stealth" vibe.
Three Hundred
The Three Hundred looks similar to the Twelve Hundred but it's targeted at a different market - users looking for a case that's not as large and not as expensive as the Twelve Hundred. It comes with a plain steel case and a simple front bezel that is also covered with punched holes for better cooling. It also features washable filters like the Twelve Hundred but they are not quite as easy to access.
Mini P180
In addition to the large high-end cases of the Performance One series, Antec released this smaller version for MicroATX mainboards. It comes in a sleek black color or a stylish white paint-job. The inside is also painted black like the Twelve Hundred. Antec includes two HDD cages which need to be sacrificed if the user wants to install a 120mm fan instead. This case might be a nice alternative for users who want a smaller system with low noise levels.
Signature Power Supply Series and TruePower Quattro 1200W
The Signature series comes with many features such as a PWM controlled fan, a "PCB sandwich" (where the two PCBs face each other and all the components are in the middle), Japanese capacitors, and DC to DC converter for the lower voltage rails. The appearance is more like an industrial purpose power supply, but at the same time it's made for the enthusiast that needs maximum performance. All the cables for running the system are connected to the power supply including all peripheral connectors. Antec added four jacks to add additional PEG connectors if needed. The 850W model shown has four 12V rails with either 22 or 25A rated at 40°C.
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autumnale - Monday, February 18, 2008 - link
Did y'all bother to ask the most important questions by any chance? When is the twelve hundred coming out and how much will it cost? I understand there are two versions. Water-cooled and air-cooled. I'm particularly interested in the price for the air-cooled version and the release date.And these things don't come with power supplies right? I hate how they jack up the price by adding a power supply. I mean if I buy the case without the power supply and then the same power supply they'd put in there, I'll bet it'd be cheaper. Hopefully, it won't have a power supply just like the nine hundred.
Synthetic47 - Tuesday, April 8, 2008 - link
I believe price will be around $150. There will be no included PSU and I'm pretty sure the water cooled version was dumped. ETA on this case is still very much unknown.Zoomer - Sunday, January 13, 2008 - link
I recently ran into an issue where the number of SATA power connectors weren't sufficient. I had 3 hard drives and an optical drive, all begging for the miserly 2 ports. I had to get quite a number of molex converters.Hopefully, newer power supplies will have more of these.
Christoph Katzer - Sunday, January 13, 2008 - link
A PSU with less than 3 SATA connectors? Have a look at the PSUs we tested so far. Even smaller and cheaper models have more. Most higher-end PSUs today feature at least 4 SATA connectors.C'DaleRider - Thursday, January 10, 2008 - link
Antec looks like it borrowed heavily from some CoolerMaster cases, like the Stacker....just left out some of the nicer features from it, like the CM toolless design.n7 - Wednesday, January 9, 2008 - link
wow the 1200 might just be the first semi-decent good sized Antec case in years.Apparently they finally realized they were losing all the many HDD users like me...
jonp - Wednesday, January 9, 2008 - link
The Three Hundred shows some improvements:PS on the bottom; back exhaust fan close to the top.
Two large (120mm?) front fans
USB, audio, switches on the TOP of the chassis.
Top vent/fan(?)
A full seven adapter card slots.
Three 5.25" bays.
However:
NO external 3.5" bays?
Hard drives mount front-to-back rather than side-to-side.
Case is so open, it's bound to be noisy.
Not much reason here to trade or use for a new build given others that are available.
v81 - Wednesday, January 9, 2008 - link
Is it just me or does it look like the Mini P180 only has 3.5" ext drive bays?Where would the optical drive go?
apriest - Thursday, January 10, 2008 - link
Looks like 1x 5.25" at the top and 2x 5.25" at the bottom. A 3.5" would need an adapter.insaneivan - Wednesday, January 9, 2008 - link
Why does the p180 mini have a top fan still? Because its "cool" or something? Everyone pretty much agrees that the top fan is not only pointless, or at worst harmful to cooling, but it makes the case much much louder. Everyone removes the fan and covers it, or at least should.I hope they made the front fan grilles less restrictive. They are ridiculous on the normal sized p180.