Antec 300 vs Fractal Design R2

YoungOzzy · 21 Mar 2010 at 20:23

What are your thoughts, reviews on the cases ?

Will be purchasing new hardware soon and dont no what case to choice, i like my cases clean on the inside and out and this case to be quiet.

N

Disjunto · 21 Mar 2010 at 20:29

Fractal every time. Quieter case, better cable management and more hdd space

goujon945 · 21 Mar 2010 at 22:08

Disjunto said:
Fractal every time. Quieter case, better cable management and more hdd space

+1

Andrew Moore · 21 Mar 2010 at 22:10

Depends what you want to use it for. The r2 is awful for cooling unless you populate the empty fan bays with something else.

Andy

Disjunto · 21 Mar 2010 at 22:11

Andrew Moore said:
Depends what you want to use it for. The r2 is awful for cooling unless you populate the empty fan bays with something else.

Andy

yeah, unless you put fans in, it's not that great at cooling

yeah, I know what you're saying, it seems to need a bit more to get some decent airflow going

YoungOzzy · 21 Mar 2010 at 22:21

All i use my pc for is gaming/Photo-shop so 300 better in this case, i still love the style of the R2

But i seen a video on you tube and he had a i5 setup in it with a H50 and his temps were 30-40 degrees. will be getting a H50 most likely too.

Tr Insanity · 21 Mar 2010 at 22:26

Bit odd comparing two items when one is about twice as much as the other.

YoungOzzy · 21 Mar 2010 at 22:48

I know

Fractal has the looks but i think the 300 has the better cooling.

Would i be correct ?

chris__stoke · 22 Mar 2010 at 00:56

I have a 300 and i dont think its great for cooling to be honest i have and i7 with the h50 and get 47deg ish

Cursed · 22 Mar 2010 at 07:56

I upgraded to the R2 from the 300 and it's better by a country mile. Cooling isn't quite as good, but it doesn't make that much of a difference. Much quieter and better looking.

Souljacker · 22 Mar 2010 at 12:25

chris__stoke said:
I have a 300 and i dont think its great for cooling to be honest i have and i7 with the h50 and get 47deg ish

Seriously? I get 32 (idle) with Phenom 955BE and a Zalman 9600. 300 is good, but not great for cable management and you may find gettng an H50 inside is a squeeze.

BIGBC · 22 Mar 2010 at 13:09

300 is a crappy case, even for a budget case.
All stock fans need replacing and all fan mounts populating for it to keep a 4890 at reasonable temps. And then it sounds like a wind tunnel.

There are much better cheap cases.

wakayoda · 22 Mar 2010 at 13:11

R2 - my mate has a 300 with custom fans - it looks cramped inside

Disjunto · 22 Mar 2010 at 13:13

BIGBC said:
300 is a crappy case, even for a budget case.
All stock fans need replacing and all fan mounts populating for it to keep a 4890 at reasonable temps. And then it sounds like a wind tunnel.

There are much better cheap cases.

it was much better value when I bought it for about £30 a year or so ago. Mine is pretty silent (I can only hear the hdds when idle) I run stock fans on low and have some other fans controlled by my board.

Obviously once I start using my rig is becomes incredibly noisy

R2 soon for me

antran · 22 Mar 2010 at 13:36

I replaced my old antec 300 with the coolermaster cm690 which I picked up brand new for £25.

Columbo · 22 Mar 2010 at 18:14

300 is a terrible case and should be avoided like a dose of the clap.

BIGBC · 22 Mar 2010 at 18:29

Disjunto said:
it was much better value when I bought it for about £30 a year or so ago.

This.

I ran my bros rig in one for about 8 months before he got annoyed with the noise. Its been sitting in a cupboard ever since.