my new case: BLUE AZTEC (pictures and comparison)

Associate
Joined
13 Nov 2008
Posts
1,032
Hi all!

desided to write up my new Case upgrade and comparisson!

-got great deal and bought BRAND NEW ANTEC 1200 (boxed/all acessories) for £50 + 2GB RAM ~ £65-£70 TOTAL!
-that's the reason of upgrade, if did not have chance to get for such bargain, would use previous case for a while as it is good case: about it later!

-so previous case was THERMALTAKE DV1000 series!

thermaltake_aguila_vd1000swa.0.big.jpg


SPECS is in sign,
basicly placed all stuff from Thermaltake to Antec!

PROCESS:

1st step: empty the case-

PICT0156.jpg


2nd step: re-upplied thermal paste (cpu)

PICT0155.jpg


3rd step: placed PSU to antec!

PICT0157.jpg


4th step: as I use only 1 HDD, I removed 2 hdd racks (total 3) off fans to free up space and maybe improve bit of intake air flow.

PICT0144.jpg


5th step: placed front panel cables/ 6x cables of fans and PSU cables behind motherboard tray/side panel!

PICT0158.jpg


6th step: placed all components

(sorry, by eccident deleted pictures)

7th step: started to play with cables inside and behind m/b tray, took a long time, as tried to hide as many cables as possible.

PICT0160.jpg


as said in step 3. only 1 hdd rack... saves space and improves intake air flow:

PICT0162.jpg


PICT0159.jpg


when finished had problem with POWER BUTTON- Pc was not turning on, but problem was solved: see dedicated thread:
http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18059398

AND LATER:

PICT0176.jpg


PICT0177.jpg



COMPARISON:you get what yo pay!

Thermaltake is smaller as midi-tower and without cable management!
In theory! I disovered, that side panel removes by two screws and there's bit of place to hide cables.
I have silencer PSU which has many-many cables..and could not hide about 70% of cables (but didn't know about side panel)...was hidinng on top of PSU, behind motherboard an everywhere where could.
Loved front door and dost filters where suplied!
In Overal was happy with case, got it for £65..for the price It has everything what mid-tower case requires.

aZtec is about 10-13cm higher and of course more room inside and easier to play with, love back cable management and very little cables inside.
Like blue led fans...
having inside all components there are still plenty of room for future upgrades: watercooling, 2nd card, etc.
from now, my cases will be only FULL TOWER..but sure, you pay +£150

few issues that found:
-when I removed TOP bazzel, broke all 6 tabs, despite was not pulling hard!
-on window (side panel).. those plastic "screws" (see picture above) are very dodgy...while removed metal mesh side panel broke 5 of them

CA-102-AN_400-1.jpg


other than that it is superb case, especially for £50, very happy:

Finally,,,inside look (same components)

PICT0151.jpg


PICT0161.jpg


thanks for your time
 
Last edited:

AMG

AMG

Soldato
Joined
18 Aug 2008
Posts
4,700
Location
lincs, spalding
great job

i can't do mine to that, powersupply has too many cables and they are pretty thick with stupid barrel things on the wires not sure what they do, saying that I don't think I can braid mine as the wires are in plastic things litery
 
Associate
OP
Joined
13 Nov 2008
Posts
1,032
thanks. I appreciate it.

Superewza: Yes, coolermaster Z600, but I have one fan on it. did not see with/without fan difference when CPU on stock, but forget to check temps when OC anabled
 
Associate
Joined
27 Jan 2009
Posts
400
Location
Chippenham
Good review. Did you not find fitting of hdd's a pain, I have 3 hdd and 1 ssd and its a right pain removing the cases/fan assemblies and then a dozen screws, only downer on it for me :)
 
Associate
OP
Joined
13 Nov 2008
Posts
1,032
Good review. Did you not find fitting of hdd's a pain, I have 3 hdd and 1 ssd and its a right pain removing the cases/fan assemblies and then a dozen screws, only downer on it for me :)

Yesterday was first day when I desided to clean properly of dust inside, removed all fans, etc. etc. ... took about 2 hours
 
Back
Top Bottom