Antec Nine Hundred Two Review

Closer Look:

This case looks like Antec genetically enhanced a Stealth Bomber into a computer case. In other words, pure awesomeness. Other than that and its 200X30mm fan at the top, the Nine Hundred two doesn't have anything out of the ordinary. It fits all motherboard sizes that are normal ATX and smaller, and we know it has a couple of hidden fans that are armed and ready to move air. So what does this case look like under its hood? Let's find out.

The Nine Hundred Two looks like it can move massive amounts of air. It has a total of four fans that come with it, plus the option to add two more if need be. On top of that, every fan has its own speed controller, so if you're getting hot, you can turn up the fan speeds and use your PC as an AC. There are two 120X25mm fans located at the front, the only down side to this is that this is the same place where your HDD bays are located. The first three HDD slots are blocked by an optional GPU fan socket, although the bottom three are easily accessible. If you own a large GPU and want it to be located in the correct slot, you will need to remove the optional GPU fan. This will do two things for you. One - you'll actualy be able to install your GPU. Two - it will open up three more HDD bays although the GPU will probably block at least one of them. The top half of the case is covered in what Antec calls the "Big Boy." The Massive fan looks like it could cool the whole case and your entire room on its own, and I bet it could do a damned near impressive job at it. On the back of the case near the PSU, we have the exhaust fan. Directly to the left is where all the motherboard inputs are located. The windowed side door is home to the second optional fan.

Every fan that came with the Nine Hundred Two has its own fan controller. The two 120X25mm fans at the front of the case both have a little knob, that you can turn in order to increase or decrease fan speed. The only times I can ever imagine anyone decreasing fan speeds would be for the noise, and you'll be glad to hear that the two front fans weren't the noisy ones. Both the back 120X25mm fan and the Massive 200X30mm "Big Boy" share a fan controller in the back. This controller is a little more intuitive than the knobs on the front fans. You have three speed positions for the "Big Boy" and the rear exhaust fan. Low, Medium, and High for the "Big Boy", the rear fan only gets Low and High. On the rear fan controller, you are also given the option to enable the "Big Boy's" blue LED. Doing so will brighten up your case, your room, and hopefully your day.

The Nine Hundred Two has three easily accessible slots for your optical drives located directly above the first front fan. If you are still using a floppy drive or have some other need for a 3.25 drive bay, Antec supplies a 3.25" converter. Along with the 3.25" converter, you will also receive assorted screws and pegs in order to firmly secure your motherboard to the case. On the back of the case you can see the eight expansion slots. To the right of these, are the holes you can use to run hoses out of your case if you decide you need liquid to keep your CPU cold.

On the very bottom of the case Antec rightfully lets us know that the Nine Hundred Two was trully..."An ANTEC DESIGN."

So how does everything fit inside? The mobo, RAM, CPU, HSF, sound card, and PSU all were easily put into the case. The only trouble was when trying to install the GTX 260. While keeping the optional fan holder, it would not fit. This is okay if you're only planning on using one GPU, because you can move the fan down. The only problem with doing this is that the optional fan is meant to blow over your graphics cards. If it wont fit in the case with a larger GPU, then there is really no point in even using it. While installing the hard drive, I encountered another possible malfunction. The only way to properly fasten a HDD in place is to remove four thumb screws from both sides of the case. After doing this you need to slide out the HDD bay, and then you can install your hard drive. Or you could just place your hard drive where you want it and fasten it with ducktape - it's your choice! Without using anything extra, you will be able to do a pretty decent job at wire management. You can slide most of the connectors under the MOBO tray. On the flip side, you'll find two tabs which you can use to secure your wires. I shoved the wires that I was not using into the HDD bay directly in front of my PSU. Doing so renders the second front fan useless, but unless you put your remaining wires under the MOBO tray, you'll hinder the fan anyway. If you're like me (pray you're not), you'll probably buy some zip ties and fasteners in order to do a more thorough wire management job.

Now that we're familiar with the case, and how everything fits in. Let's see how it performs.