Antec SOLO II case review

The test system i chose for this review is a mid end system usually found in an office environment and homes.

the system includes

• Phenom II X4 965BE at stock and overclocked to 3.8Ghz
• Gigabyte GA 880GM USB3
• 2 x 4GB Corsair 1333 C9 Ram
• Sapphire HD 7850 overclocked to 100/1275 for the overclocked test
• GX 450W psu

Now many may question why i chose this system over my usual 2500K+Z68 combination.The simple reason being that you wont see that combo in the price range where this chassis fits,and frankly Phenom Quad core chips with a GPU like 7850 is quite formidable.Anyway..lets look at the number..shall we?

Installetion
First of all,system installation with this case is not tools less at all,almost every part has a screw attached to it..so it would be nice if the guys over at Antec include a nice screwdriver along with the package.
Secondly the absence of a manual doesn’t help the situation at all.A normal user wouldn’t know that you need to attach brackets at the sides of DVD writers to mount them into the chassis unless he has a manual.

So am hoping Antec would introduce the two things i mentioned in the package later on.
Anyway let’s have a look at the installation pictures that i took and i hope this will help anyone who is finding it difficult to install a system into this case.

You have to attach the brackets to the side of the dvd writer then slide it into place.

The HDD can either be suspended on the suspension system or can be mounted on the silicone standoffs with the help of the long screws provided.

The PSU is firmly held in place by a strong rail which i looks like it can take some weight but i didn’t take chance with my regular PSU.Call me paranoid but better be safe with my hardware.

All in all installation was somewhat easy for me since i never go tool less.
Hers how the case looked after i finished.

One thing though the case looks stunning when its running and even with the CPU stock fan running at 3500 RPM hardly anything came outside.So thats a thumbs up from me.

Thermal Testing methodology

For thermal testing i ran Prime 95 for 15 minutes on all cores(IN place Large FFT’s) and recorded the temperature after every run.The average of 3 runs were taken into account.The included fan was set to full.

All temperature readings are in degree Centigrade.
Ambient temperature being 17 degree centigrade,

Stock Performance

Overclocked Performance

the temps are too close for comfort for me.But since the case focuses at acoustic performance rather than good thermals we have to live with the tradeoff.The gamers could really use one more fan in the package.