OcUK Product page - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-123-AN&groupid=2362&catid=160&subcat=
Today I am looking at the above mentioned case, it is a mid sized tower case with a sleek looking exterior and some interesting internal design implementations and features.
A few unique features are,
• Mini-ITX, microATX, Standard ATX, Extended ATX support.
• Three speed fan controller for the included fans.
• Easily removable HDD cages.
• Lockable front door with brushed aluminium front insert.
• Large Big Boy 200mm side fan
• 6 internal 3.5" drive bays (two can accept 2.5" drives).
• 4 external 5.25" and one 3.5" external drive bays.
Packaging and accessories.
Antec have always done this well, the cardboard box is uber tough and the soft cell foam inserts are so much better than normal polystyrene inserts, the case arrived in pristine condition and also had clear plastic film protecting the brushed aluminum front and side inserts.
Inside the actual case was this rather large box, inside it was this bunch of accessories, more on some of these later.
Exterior.
The front looks really nice, I like the aluminum insert a lot, the chrome vents on the right are actually plastic.
The front door is also on a double hinge so it can be kept flush against the side panel.
Plenty of room for air to enter the front down both sides of the door.
A lock for the door, eSATA, 2XUSB2.0 ports and microphone and headphone port.
The power and reset buttons and activity LED's are behind the lockable door.
The two front dust filters are hinged and are held shut by spring latches, they are also easily taken off, the case doesn't include front fans but they are easily fitted.
Between them is a 3.5" quick access drive bay (not setup as hot swap-able, but can be) also with dust filter.
Everything is well filtered to keep dust at bay.
The right side has a 200mm that has been mounted in a way to not take much room up inside for components.
It also includes a dust filter that is really simple to remove.
The side panel fan is a Big Boy 200mm and powered via a molex connector it also has a three speed controller, unfortunately you can only adjust the speed with the side panel removed. There must be a way a future design can have the speed controller easily accessed possibly on the outside where the fan actually sticks out of the side.
The sides are constructed with a steel and polycarbonate dual layer design. They are extremely sturdy and heavy, I think they are the heaviest I have yet experienced and have zero flex to them.
The polycarbonate helps insulate noise, foam strips are also added along the edges to keep vibration and noise to a minimum.
The left side panel is plain but again uses a steel and polycarbonate construction.
The roof includes two 140mm fans.
The rear which has a single 120mm fan included.
This is the fan controller for the two top fans and single rear fan, there is low, medium and high settings,
Seven expansion slots and two grommeted holes.
A standard ATX PSU can be fitted or a Antec CP series PSU can be fitted.
Interior.
Initial impression after taking the side panel off is a serious lack of decent cable management holes and what are there are not grommeted at all, also the interior is unpainted.
I am not bothered about the lack of a painted interior, you wont see it and modding a window into the side panel will be extremely difficult if not impossible due to its construction.
Anti vibration strips have been added along the raised edges, it helps seals the top and bottom compartments from each other.
The PSU sits on anti vibration strips too, there is no vent in the floor for the PSU so it relies on the air that enters the front of the case.
The fans supplied are powered by molex connectors.
Sections in the floor can be removed then refitted to pass cables through from the PSU.
I think some of the rolled edges of the cuts could be better.
A 120mm fan can be fitted behind the lower HDD cage.
Remove the securing screw and then pull on ring to remove the cage.
The lower front panel fan mount takes a 120mm fan.
The HDD cage has rubber anti-vibration mounts for four drives.
The middle cage is also easily removed and another 120mm fan mount for the front panel is then accessed.
The quick release caddies for this middle HDD cage will take 2.5" drives and again uses anti-vibration mounts.
A little storage box is also fitted presumably for screws etc.
HDD cage accessories.
Included in the package of parts supplied with the case are a couple of extras.
Two fan clips to add another 120mm fan to the rear the middle HDD cage sucking air through the cage and into the top compartment.
A PCI card holder, but this is only useful for really long expansion cards.
The 5.25" drives are fitted with these rails screwed into both sides.
Then slotted home, this method is really easy to use, just squeeze the sides in and the drive can easily slide out again.
Installation of parts.
With the lack of cable management holes it was difficult to make a tidy build inside, the fact that there is no side window does mean that it is not as important unlike cases with a side window or indeed without (but can have one modded afterwards).
With a tall heatsink such as the Coolermaster 612S as fitted, it is not possible to close the side panel as the side panels fan takes up a bit of the interior space.
Antecs homepage says a 140mm maximum height heatsink is all it can accept
The Big Boy fan takes 15mm of space up inside, so I acquired a Thermalright true spirit 90M which at 124mm tall had no fitment issues.
Water cooling isn't really possible, the rear 120mm fan is too close to the side (radiators are a bit wider than a 120mm fans frame) and the top fans are too close to the motherboards VRM area and heatsink to be able to also get a radiator in there.
So to sum up, this case is best for stock cooling or for a small aftermarket heatsink, the cable management is nowhere near as good as other cases I have used, but there are a lot of clever little features in its favour.
The noise levels are extremely quiet as long as the fans are on their lowest settings, increase their speeds to medium of high and the noise is substantially increased with a very strong "whoosh" of air flow at their maximum speed.
Do to the fact that I had to use different cooling for the CPU to be able to use the case, I have not included any temperature results as I would not be able to compare it to the other case reviews I have done in the past which did use the Coolermaster 612S.
Conclusion.
Currently as I type the Antec P193 is on offer at £74.99 (normally £84.98) this represents good value for a case that is extremely quiet, looks good to me with the aluminium fascia and side inserts giving a touch of class to the style. The cooling opportunity is excellent with fantastic fans fitted as standard and the possibility for a lot more to be added. The cable management is as I mentioned not up to the standards more modern cases have but again the lack of a side window makes this a bit of a moot point.
The lack of available room inside for heatsinks does mean that nearly all the good ones on the market will not fit, so this does limit you to whats available, this has a knock on effect that you shouldn't be using the case for serious overclocked rigs that do need a large heatsink to keep the CPU temps in check.
The quality of the panels and construction is high with the panel gaps being very tight, my only bugbear is that some of the cut holes should have larger radius rounded edges.
A quiet office, home, music creation/editing environment is where this case truly belongs I feel.
The bottom line.
Are you looking for a case to use in a quiet environment with good stock cooling, extremely well built panels and overall high levels of fit and finish and some unique touches such as the lockable front door, HDD cage options and the variable fan speed controller then this case could be for you.
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