The entry level enclosure market is double edged sword : you really need to get your engineers and market analysts together to make a product which doesn’t break the bank, yet provides fair expansion abilities, tool and hassle free installation and cable routing options and produces above average thermal and acoustics. To most manufacturers, this is a daunting task. But as days progress, we are seeing more and more companies trying their hands on this niche – some failing, some succeeding. Today we put one such case from Antec under scrutiny.
Presenting the Antec V1, a new entrant in the 3k range.
So lets see what we have in there…
lets check out the specifications first then we will move onto a tour of the product and beyond.
| Antec V1 | |
|---|---|
| 8 drive bays: 3 x 5.25 / 4 x 3.5 / 1 x 2.5 | |
| Motherboards: Standard ATX, microATX, Mini-ITX | |
| Maximum graphics card length: (290 mm) | |
| Maximum CPU cooler height: (165 mm) | |
Cooling system:
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| 7 expansion slots | |
| Maximum-sized CPU cutout | |
| Water cooling support: rear water cooling | |
| grommets (support -inch tubes) | |
| Bottom-mounted power supply with intake filter | |
Front I/O ports:
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Availability:
I did a quick search of Indian online retailer..and the cabinet is available throughout India with a varying price point ranging from 2.5k to 3.4k.
i will let the pictures do most of the talking here.
And please dont mind the background in some pic.
Am not too sure what to make of the front (i was never an artistic person u see). Antec does a pretty decent job of mixing a transformer face with mesh for airflow, and it works. On a side note the face looks like a mixture between autobots and decepticons.
the backside got a place for a 120mm fan and ports for watercooling pipes with the psu placement at bottom. Pretty standard stuff. i would have liked some thumbscrews on the expansion covers though.
Now the interiors.
the V1 is a no frills entry-level cabinet, as such i didn’t expect any cable management options. and i didn’t find any.Its specious and offers a fair amount of space to move around if you are not using any a very big cooler like a NH-D14. CLC’s wont give much of a problems. here.
but let me warn you though with a full atx board you will feel the cabinet is filled to the brim.
Coming to the backside, the main plus is the cpu cut out. It makes the installation pretty hassle free. But there is little to no scope of cable management in there.
The front panel has a both usb 2.0 and 3.0, which i feel is not needed since usb 3.0 is backward compatible.
If you look closely the reset button is hidden there..
The side panel has the place of one more 120mm fan
While the top has an option of 2x 120mm or 1x 140mm fan.
There is is..not much to say…i would close this with a closeup of the fan.
next page please…
Now i have some good news for you guys and some bad news.
They set out with one thing in mind, that is to create a non expensive chassis with keeping ab balance between form and functionality. And they did a pretty decent job of it.
The manged to pack space for multiple HDD, long graphics card and bottom mounted PSU’s along with acceptable number of cooling options. where they falter is the cable management options of which i am sure they will find a solution.
On the bad side of things
- there is no cable management options.Antec design team needs to make some space at the back of the case.
- Atleast one more bundled fan is needed.
- Price seems to be very volatile across India.
Apart from that we have a good VFM product in our hand. just need a few tweaks.
A 7/10 from me.
Thanks to Antec India for sending the unit for review.
Signing out
Sumon