Antec Launches the Stylish Twelve Hundred PC Case

[paybackdaman]

peoples tastes vary. you should see some of the ugly glaring rigs people have with lights... uggh.

Its a PC, not a freaking epilepsy inducer. why not mod a toaster to blink lights, it makes as much sense...

Yeah, some builds can be over the top on color choice and too much light, and stuff going on in their case, but I feel a little bit of personality that comes with adding parts that glow, or light up when they turn on adds...well....zazz to a rig. It's kind of like pimping your ride...it may be a little tacky, but it looks good in the eyes of the beholder.

Anyways, the Antec twelve hundred doesn't look like a bad case. It all depends on price for me. If it is less then $110-120 I can live with it, but if it is over $120 even by a penny, I wouldn't even give it a second glance. I can't find it anywhere, anyone know the price in the US?

 

[Mussels]

Yeah, some builds can be over the top on color choice and too much light, and stuff going on in their case, but I feel a little bit of personality that comes with adding parts that glow, or light up when they turn on adds...well....zazz to a rig. It's kind of like pimping your ride...it may be a little tacky, but it looks good in the eyes of the beholder.

Anyways, the Antec twelve hundred doesn't look like a bad case. It all depends on price for me. If it is less then $110-120 I can live with it, but if it is over $120 even by a penny, I wouldn't even give it a second glance. I can't find it anywhere, anyone know the price in the US?

i think someone said earlier 150-160 US. $248-$290 is the price in australia... horrible, for such a case.

 

[paybackdaman]

...nope...I would say for that price I would just invest in a Silverstone...or a Cosmos...wow...still can't believe that is the price.

 

[Kursah]

I'd like to see a new Rev of the 900 take suit after this case with some new features, really I don't think it's that ugly or unappealing, nor do I really care how loud it is...my 900 with all 120mm's on Medium and 200mm on Hi isn't very loud at all. Plus I'm always using my Turtle Beach HPA2 gamer headset, so I could really care less about noise. The cooling should get the job done for many, as a 900 is very sufficient for my needs, just wish it had a filter solution to it at times, but in the end that's not a big deal.

This case definately goes on the end of the spectrum of air cooling performance, which if you want more of, ya gotta give up some of the silence for, just depends on how cool you need your rig to be at what noise level you can tolerate...if ya really hate loud fans, then low-speed fans and water cooling are the way to go!

I'd like to see one with an option for a sold side panel instead of mesh/window tho, give potential buyers the option at least...if I had the option I would go that way anymore..again another thing that's not too huge of a deal for me. But everyone has their own wants/needs, suggestions and opinions, and this case will mostly apply to those that don't really want to mod and want maximum air-cooling potential with some ability for cable management (maybe with some cable extensions?). Overall I think it's a decent case, and when the price is around $140-$160 it will be a good buy imo...we'll have to wait to see the TPU review (I'm sure there'll be one!).

 

[rangerone766]

it looks good i think. definitely an air cooling case. i have a 900 which is a good case if and only if you have 1 optical drive and only 1 hard drive. once you star adding more stuff in there it gets might tight real fast.

after buying the bestbuy rocketfish and experience lian-li, even if its a low quality lian. i will always buy thier cases. so much room and mod-ability.

 

[jonmcc33]

his comment on loud is not based on the fans, its the chassis. its full of holes, especially at the front - compared to cases like the P150/180/solo, its going to transmit a LOT of noise back at you. For a silent user (like me) this case is horrible.

Er, um, how do you know that my idea of quiet is as equal if not more stringent than yours? I got a Corsair HX520 because SPCR raved about it and I thought my OCZ PowerStream 520 was too loud.

I also replaced the left side panel with an additional plain right side panel on my Nine Hundred because I didn't want the window nor the possible noise leak from the PSU and or video card. Had to contact Antec and they sent me one for free.

I have an XP-90 on my Core 2 Duo and use a severely restricted 92mm Adda fan to cool it.

It's actually more quiet than my P180 was and merely so because I had to crank the fans in the P180 due to the restricted airflow. The front vents + filters just inhibited too much air flow. Being a more open case you can run the fans on lowest RPM and it's silent.

If I even hear the whoosh of air flow it is annoying to me.

 

[jonmcc33]

peoples tastes vary. you should see some of the ugly glaring rigs people have with lights... uggh.

Its a PC, not a freaking epilepsy inducer. why not mod a toaster to blink lights, it makes as much sense...

I agree. Many think that the P180 (and it's clones) look great but I found the case to be dull and ugly. Nothing like a mini-fridge and it actually matched the weight to it's looks.

 

[ex_reven]

If I even hear the whoosh of air flow it is annoying to me.

What about yours 7200.10's?
Do you hear them hum?

My rig is like a god damn wind tunnel lol, cpu fan makes HEAPS of noise.
Ive put my finger to stop the cpu fan and my rig is then pretty quiet, but yeah, never could be bothered forking out the money to make it quieter (nor pulling out the mobo and undoing all my nice cabling )

 

[Saakki]

lol i still like Sonata 3 more

 

[ElWapo973]

Yes you can call me mal or whatever you want, it's not a problem at all.
I speak from my personal experience with at least five Antec 900 builds ... and I was so pissed, because owners of these systems gave a lot of money for their Antec 900s (here the case costs almost 200$, don't ask why ... monopoly) and they were completely fooled that these cases were top of the pops. Now this Twelve Hundred comes just to prove how right I am to be angry, that's all.

I definitely understand where your coming from. We in the states are fairly lucky when it comes to the selection available and the prices we pay for the majority of our products(not even limited to just the PC market either) compared to most of the rest of the world. And if the right product or part is not purchased it can be far more disheartening in such a situation where many other alternatives may not be easily available.

From my perspective after spending a fair amount of time in researching the parts I wanted for my last build, my current case(the NineHundred) offered most of what I wanted from a case at the time. Even by looking at it, it is fairly obvious what it does and what it doesn't do well. It had just the right amount of versatility with just the right airflow charactersitics at just the right size for me. And that is the beauty of choice. If I was looking for something that required 1 or 2 large video cards and/or more than 4 hard drives I wouldn't have considered this. Same thing if I was looking for a dead silent case this one wouldn't be near the top of that list, although don't get me wrong , in spite of it's design characteristics it is still a fairly quiet case, even at medium fan settings, where in most situations it will match or exceed in airflow quieter case designs that would end up requiring high fans settings. But then again there are always tradeoffs at both ends of the spectrum.

I guess many things can be affected by perspective. When the NineHundred was released I never took it to be the best of the best or a jack of all trades for that matter, it has a specific feature set and style tailored for specific wants, needs, and tastes. I guess a half-assed analogy would be like expecting a 2 seater sports car to have the utility/practicality of a minivan or a full size pick-up to have the fuel efficiency of a hybrid sub-compact economy car, see what I'm getting at. Their have even been models that attempt to offer a mix of features but in the end they are just compromises and don't truly excel and any one thing.

It's a shame that you had some dissapointed customers. However mmaybe it just came down to miscommunication? Did they make clear just what they wanted out of their build? Did you have clear idea of what they wanted? I too have used this case in few builds(for both friends and clients) and when it came down to them making the choice I made sure we both had all the information possible available and that all possible questions(within reason) were addressed. I admit I am a bit anal when it comes to choosing parts for a client and try to assess as best I can(questions,questions,questions) the wants and needs of each customer. This for the most part has helped me minimize any surprises or dissapointements that might occur. Although we are only human and mistakes do happen and sometimes certain lessons are harder learned than others.

On a lighter note. There are times where the fever hits me and I have had this case(with the possibility of a few mods of my own for good measure) sitting in the back of my mind for quite some time for a possible extreme build: http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=193&products_id=21901

 

[btarunr]

Only problem is taking a 8-pin +12v cable on boards with the 8pin input that high. Not all PSU's can give you that long 8pin cables for the board.

 

[DaedalusHelios]

Looks like a functional but rather generic looking case.
I think I prefer the Armor series.

Thermaltake Armor is not as well designed as the Cosmos 1000 or Cosmos S. I have a Thermaltake Armor too. Mine is silver.

My Thermaltake Armor is new but it comes with no vibration dampening and the rear slot design has to be modded for large cards like my 9800GX2. Poor planning.

 

[Mussels]

Er, um, how do you know that my idea of quiet is as equal if not more stringent than yours? I got a Corsair HX520 because SPCR raved about it and I thought my OCZ PowerStream 520 was too loud.

If you can see or hear mine... its not mine
I dont just go for quiet, it has to be inaudible. I hate background noise.

seagate HDD's are too loud, so i went samsungs... and in an external case so i can turn them off. My lan rigs specs are louder (raptor, mostly) but thats because that things only on in noisy environments when i use headphones.

 

[ex_reven]

If you can see or hear mine... its not mine
I dont just go for quiet, it has to be inaudible. I hate background noise.

seagate HDD's are too loud, so i went samsungs... and in an external case so i can turn them off. My lan rigs specs are louder (raptor, mostly) but thats because that things only on in noisy environments when i use headphones.

geez no consideration for us non-headphone users

I like to socialise during lans lol

 

[malware]

....

It's a shame that you had some dissapointed customers. However mmaybe it just came down to miscommunication? Did they make clear just what they wanted out of their build? Did you have clear idea of what they wanted? I too have used this case in few builds(for both friends and clients) and when it came down to them making the choice I made sure we both had all the information possible available and that all possible questions(within reason) were addressed. I admit I am a bit anal when it comes to choosing parts for a client and try to assess as best I can(questions,questions,questions) the wants and needs of each customer. This for the most part has helped me minimize any surprises or dissapointements that might occur. Although we are only human and mistakes do happen and sometimes certain lessons are harder learned than others.
...

I had to explain better.
In my case customers came with the parts already bought from other places (there "experts" told them this is the case) and wanted me to just assemble the system because they didn't feel qualified enough to do it by themselves. I had no word in choosing the case, they gave me the big plastic and I had to assemble it. That's what made me mad, because I knew from where they bought it (and how much they spent on it alone) ... and I couldn't tell them "man you're seriously ill to buy this case".
However it's my personal opinion based on the fact I've built a few Antec 900s, plus customers are always satisfied from my work.

 

[Mussels]

geez no consideration for us non-headphone users

I like to socialise during lans lol

lol its the quitest systems at the lans, its just that even in a scythe quiet drive, the raptor is still audible.

 

[ex_reven]

lol its the quitest systems at the lans, its just that even in a scythe quiet drive, the raptor is still audible.

dw i believe you

 

[Mussels]

dw i believe you

you'll see it when you come to a lan down here. or not, its kinda small and hides easily... unlike mr 1200.

Does anyone understand why antec has numbers? 900, 1200... whats the point?

 

[ex_reven]

you'll see it when you come to a lan down here. or not, its kinda small and hides easily... unlike mr 1200.

Does anyone understand why antec has numbers? 900, 1200... whats the point?

i was gonna do a mock up regarding that earlier.
The designers with two podiums for the 900 and the 1200.

...with 298 rejected designs in pieces on the floor between them

 

[Judas]

What an ugly looking case

 

[newtekie1]

Again, about the case being loud. It isn't, at least not with the fans on medium or low and at those settings they will still be pushing a decent amount of air. On high it will definitely be louder than some prefer.

As for the price, I wouldn't pay $200+ for any case, and definitely not this one. $200 definitely gets you better cases than this.

 

[jonmcc33]

What about yours 7200.10's?
Do you hear them hum?

My rig is like a god damn wind tunnel lol, cpu fan makes HEAPS of noise.
Ive put my finger to stop the cpu fan and my rig is then pretty quiet, but yeah, never could be bothered forking out the money to make it quieter (nor pulling out the mobo and undoing all my nice cabling )

Hum? No, that's sort of why they have FDB motors? I do hear them once in a while due to heavy read/write activity.

 

[jonmcc33]

If you can see or hear mine... its not mine
I dont just go for quiet, it has to be inaudible. I hate background noise.

seagate HDD's are too loud, so i went samsungs... and in an external case so i can turn them off. My lan rigs specs are louder (raptor, mostly) but thats because that things only on in noisy environments when i use headphones.

I've already posted about a Samsung drive I have that is by far the noisiest I have ever heard in my life. Not sure what you think are loud about Seagates. They have FDB motors in them.

I actually have a 500GB DB35 as well. You will never hear that no matter how much you read or write to it.

 

[Mussels]

I've already posted about a Samsung drive I have that is by far the noisiest I have ever heard in my life. Not sure what you think are loud about Seagates. They have FDB motors in them.

I actually have a 500GB DB35 as well. You will never hear that no matter how much you read or write to it.

good for you and your one samsung. i currently have about 10, and have sold over 50. only one made noise, and it was faulty and got RMA'd.

 

[jonmcc33]

good for you and your one samsung. i currently have about 10, and have sold over 50. only one made noise, and it was faulty and got RMA'd.

And there's a reason that Seagate is the #1 selling hard drive manufacturer in the world. Thanks!