Antec SLK3700AMB Mid-Tower Case w/ 350W SmartPower & 120mm Fan

[DoobieOnline]

Price has gone up since the first post, so expect to pay about $75^ from a reputable vendor with stock.

TCWO.com has it for $74.95 shipped here (thanks anazoal). Their listed specs are wrong but you can click on "detailed specifications" to see Antec's actual spec page.

TechStore.com has this case for $45.83 and shipping runs $21.60 to Austin for a total of $67.43. Link They have a lifetime reseller rating of 8.88, but their six month rating is only 3.33 so use caution.

Edit: BACKORDERED NOW at Techstore.com. tmchow ordered from TechStore.com and got a bit of a runaround so I would avoid them altogether. Check pricegrabber for a couple of vendors that have stock in the upper $70's shipped (search for SLK3700AMB). At this point I would advise paying a few extra bucks and get it from Provantage, Computers4Sure, or Newegg.

I just received mine today from TechDepot (paid $76 with free shipping - ugh) and it's such a great case that I had to tell you guys about it. It comes with the 350W SmartPower PSU (P4 ready), one 120mm exhaust fan (room up front for another 120mm intake fan) washable air filter, two front USB ports (no firewire), four 5.25" & two 3.5" external bays, five 3.5" internal bays (with rubber grommets to absorb vibration), quick release drive cage, thumbscrews, and best of all it's Antique Metallic Bronze (dark gray) with a stellar clear-coat finish. You can check it out at Antec here. Newegg carries it for about $20 extra and has some nice shots of the interior and exterior here.

I've used Antec cases for a while now and was really surprised at how great this model is since it's part of the "Solution Series" which is supposed to be a value line. I'll be moving everything out of my Plus880 tonight (including the 430W PSU) and into the SLK3700AMB. I know, I know - I sound like a pimp, but I can't help it I gotta tell ya!

 

[etee]

nice specs. 120mm fan, trupower PS, and grommetted rails sound nice

looks like you might be able to get it direct from antec for ~$74 shipped if you want to avoid techstore (for any reason --personal grudge, etc.)

EDIT:
upon closer inspection it looks like antec's ordering system is screwy. when you add the slk3700 it shows up as the slk1600, my guess is that it is $74 shipped is for the slk1600...

 

[tmchow]

Does this power supply have AT and ATX connectors? I'm not familiar with newer style power supplies that are coming out these days.

 

[DoobieOnline]

Hey tmchow - here is the spec page for the SL350 PSU that's included with the SLK3700AMB. Link It does mention Baby AT or PS/2 size. Hope this helps!

 

[tmchow]

DoobieOnline: Awesome.. thanks!

So what's the verdict from people, should I even bother ordering this base from techstore? That product page seems really sketchy.. it barely mentiosn any info and doesn't even say what power supply is included.

 

[DoobieOnline]

If I didn't already have it, I would order from them. When I was looking at all the websites carrying this case, several of them had the specs wrong but the model number matched up exactly with Antec's site and I got exactly what I was expecting based on Antec's specs. It's a retail box so you shouldn't have any problems with specs being different and this line of cases is fairly new.

 

[daMachine]

Staples.com has the Antec SLK2600AMB (the smaller brother) w/ 300W SmartPower supply for $61.99 - $10 (coupon) = $51.99 + tax and shipped free. I just picked one of these up and it's a great little case. Although, I would feel more comfortable running a higher wattage PS.

For $67.43 the 3700 sounds great, too bad I hadn't seen it sooner. Oh well, with Staples I got the thing delivery next day eventhough they said 3-5.

Linky to the SLK2600AMB

 

[DoobieOnline]

I just picked up a black 22" monitor from Dell and black 5.1 speakers so I figured I'd add a black or gray case with a drive door to cover up my beige drives. The 2600 is what led me to Antec's page, and then I saw the 3700 and decided to check specs on it. When I saw the 120mm fans, I was hooked. I'm a noise freak, but still need decent airflow with OC'ing my 1.8A to 2.4GHz (not to mention the Ti4600 that runs hot enough at stock speeds) so the 120mm option was too good to pass up. Haven't installed everything in the 3700 yet, but I'm hoping the door will cover up some of the noise from the CDRW and DVD drives and that the front vent design will lessen some of the interior fan noise from the cpu and video card. I guess that's my Sunday project since I was way too lazy last night and today.

 

[tmchow]

I bought the 3700 from techstore for the $67.43 shipped. I currently have another Antec case right now with a dying power supply, so I figured i'd just buy a whole new case

Now the only thing to do is find a power supply for my FreeBSD server. I'm using a cheapo case right now, but I'm okay with that since I don't have to look at it everyday Any recommendations on an AT compatible power supply?

 

[DoobieOnline]

I'm partial to Antec, and you can pick up the PP300V 300W AT PSU from YesMicro.com here for $44.10 shipped. If 250W will work for you, you can save a little by going with the PP250V for $36.26 shipped from the same vendor. They only have a few reviews from rating sites, but all are excellent.

 

[sterling]

Doobie

Are those real vents on the front? If so, does it come with a filter? Alot of last years model antecs dont come with a filter and just sucks in alot of dust.

Thanks for posting

 

[sterling]

Duh

I read your thread closer, got all the info thanks

 

[ElFenix]

like an sx1030 but with a larger, more quiet fan! is this steel or aluminum?

 

[Sm0kes]

Originally posted by: DoobieOnline
I'm partial to Antec, and you can pick up the PP300V 300W AT PSU from YesMicro.com here for $44.10 shipped. If 250W will work for you, you can save a little by going with the PP250V for $36.26 shipped from the same vendor. They only have a few reviews from rating sites, but all are excellent.

Just to chime in, I will definately give props to yesmicro. Just bought a case, and an antec true 550W P/S from them .... very inexpensive, shipped quickly with all sorts of conformation emails and tracking numbers.

 

[tmchow]

I'm partial to Antec, and you can pick up the PP300V 300W AT PSU from YesMicro.com here for $44.10 shipped. If 250W will work for you, you can save a little by going with the PP250V for $36.26 shipped from the same vendor. They only have a few reviews from rating sites, but all are excellent.

I noticed the PP300V only has AT style connection. I want a AT and ATX style power connector to remain flexible if I upgrade. Is this possible, or it is one or the other?

 

[DoobieOnline]

ElFenix - it's made of steel and the side & top panels have a very glossy finish (prone to fingerprints but looks sweet).

tmchow - check out the specs for the different Antec supplies here. Most of their ATX units list Baby AT & PS/2 in the specs. After you find the one you want, find the best price at pricewatch, pricegrabber, or ZDNet Shopper (use the "check prices" link from Anantech's homepage - top right).

 

[outcastunderscorep]

yea i was stupid and ordered this case off of dartek.com the other day. diddent even pay attention to their overall RR (2.83) but saw their 6month of 9.9

ordered the case, then went back to RR. looked like they spammed 20 some reviews to bump it up. i think i might just cancel my order monday and order from this company. its $8 cheaper

maybe i could get them to price match it! and give the free shipping.



-oc

 

[plasticquart]

Originally posted by: DoobieOnline
TechStore.com has this case for $45.83 and shipping runs $21.60 to Austin for a total of $67.43. Link They have a lifetime reseller rating of 8.88, but their six month rating is only 3.33 so use caution.

This 6-month reseller ratings drop should perhaps be another thread on its own... as, and I'm just throwing out some observations here, but companies with serious declines in their 6 month rating are also those companies that are: 1. Going under or 2. About to go under.

Bunta Tech comes to mind. Geez, what happened to these guys. Hell, they've been around forever (well, "forever" as far as Internet reselling is concerned).

And on a somewhat related topic... another thing that has recently caught my attention is the practice of one company using numerous store-fronts (websites) to sell the same items. This kind of thing can be seen on PriceWatch very easily. For instance, this category which is the "Desknote AMD XP 2200+" category under "Notebooks"....

As you can see, the first page of results here look to be the same company... just using different websites/names.

Now, maybe this is just me... but it looks kind of shady, to say the least... esp. in light of the fact that the ratings for each of these companies is on the low-end (which leads me to believe that the kind of service they provide, if done under one company name, would probably kill them as a market competitor).

Here are links to these Combo companies in question:

• American Computech -- Reseller Rating
  ACT online store -- Reseller rating
  Americomp website -- Reseller Ratings Page
  ProNetSale -- Ratings Page
  PCSourceOnline -- Ratings Page
  AVAPC -- Reseller Ratings
  MGEpc -- Reseller rating
  AntaresNow -- Reseller Rating
  Newgenpc
  ACI Computer Store -- Reseller Rating

I've sent a couple of comments to Pricewatch to ask about this, but they haven't responded.

Thoughts?

 

[MrHans]

I've sent a couple of comments to Pricewatch to ask about this, but they haven't responded.

Thoughts?

I've noticed this in the past too. I havent gone so far as to send in inquiry but perhaps I shall now.

 

[DoobieOnline]

I've noticed the multiple store-front oddity with a few vendors and when I see something like that I always check ratings and actually take time to read some of the responses to see how "self-promoting" they sound. Most of the time it's worth it to spend a few extra bucks and order from a reputable vendor, but sometimes I'll take a chance and have been fortunate so far. I always use AMEX if a vendor accepts it because you just can't beat how well their customer service watches your back if something DOES go wrong.

Well, I finally got off my lazy butt and put everything in the 3700 today. It looks sweet and my drives and fans are quietly purring along. The door definitely helps with drive noise, and I'd swear fan noise is not as loud as the Plus880 it's replacing. I moved over the 430W TruePower unit to the new case, so the 120mm fan is running at super-low speed off the PSU's dedicated case fan line. It's not moving a lot of air, but it's silent and case temps haven't budged from what they were in the Plus880. The 350W SmartPower PSU it came with didn't have dedicated fan lines, so expect a little more noise from the 120mm fan by running it on a standard 4-pin connector. Now that I type that, I'm interested to see just how much more noise it will generate so I'll check that in a bit. The loudest things in my case are the stock Ti4600 fan and the stock P4 CPU fan, which I can hear, so you know how much of a noise freak I am. The rubber grommets on the internal drive cage DO help with HDD noise. Without looking at the HDD LED, I can't even tell when my WD 80GB SE is being accessed unless I put my ear right up to the front cover while loading UT2003 maps. The 5.25" drive rails are metal rather than the plastic ones found on higher-end Antecs, and it's a TIGHT fit when inserting the drives. You have to push pretty hard on the drive faceplate to get it to slide all the way in, but once it's in it is seated really well. I like the double latch system on the side panel and both sides have no vibration - and I mean absolutely none. Panel vibration was definitely something I noticed with the Plus880, so the 3700 seems to have a really great finish to it. The 3700 doesn't have as much "extra" space inside as the Plus880, but I didn't have any installation problems at all and cable management was easy. I've ranted enough. Guess I should have just said THIS CASE IS EXCELLENT!

Edit: I just tried running the 120mm fan on a standard 4-pin connector and the airflow tripled if not quadrupled. The fan itself only made a slight noise (as I type this it's completely silent running at low speed), but the noise from the airflow through the exhaust vent was noticeable. I may use this as an excuse to buy that Dremel I've been wanting, cut out the exhaust vent, and install a wire grille back there. At normal speed, the increased airflow is substantial. The additional noise wouldn't bother most people, but I'm plagued with bionic ears.

 

[Robdalton]

Awsome post Doobie!
I'm a noise freak too. I'm currently using a PC Power & Cooling case with their Silencer case fans (virtually silent) and have been very leary about getting a new case for fear that I would have to put too much work into it to get it as quiet as the PC Power & Cooling. I love my case but it's about the UNsexiest looking rig around.
I'll be picking up one of these Antecs
Thanks again for the ultra-informative post.
Rob

 

[Thump553]

Excellent post Double. After my sister got one of the new quiet Dells posted here a month back or so, (4000 or 4500 model) I've been really jealous of how quiet her computer was. I was thinking I would buy rather than build my next one. Now this thread has me thinking again.

 

[DoobieOnline]

Rob & Thump - the 3700 is quiet but it's not as quiet as a Dell. I'm at work right now using a Dell Optiplex GX260 and the only thing I can hear is the fan on the Ti4200 and I have to REALLY listen just to hear that. For silence, you just can't beat Dell's cooling system but it would be hard to OC a Dell due to it's limited cooling. I'm thinking of picking up a Zalman CNPS6500B-AlCu and running it in silent mode to replace my stock P4 cooler at home. Then all I'll have to do is figure out a quiet cooling solution for the Ti4600. The heatpipe system of the Zalman ZM80-HP looks promising and if it will fit my card and mobo I'll probably give it a whirl. I have the 3700 sitting on the desktop, so moving it under, or to the side of, the desk would probably make the noise less noticeable. Of all the cases I've owned, except Dell's, only the Palo Alto PA-600 had less noise than the 3700. The PA-600 was too small and hard to work inside, though. Of course the SLK3700AMB may be silent for you depending upon the types of components you're running.

 

[anazoal]

If there's one fault about the SX10xx cases, it's that they can be noisy!!!! The 120mm fan on this case would really reduce noise. If you want to keep the PSU that comes with the case, I suggest you do a mod an run the fan at 7V for DRASTIC noise reduction. It's really simple: buy a $1.99 4 pin Y cable and do some wire splicing. Connect 12V to the fan's 12V and 5V to the fan's ground.

(BTW, if you're using an SX10xx, two 80mm fans at 7V produce considerably less noise and move __slightly__ more air, than one 80mm fan at 12V).

 

[anazoal]

Two things contribute to making a Dell system quiet:
1. Unique cooling system using a large exhaust fan sucking air over the heat sink and directly out of the system
2. Double skin case (plastic skin on metal interior).

Doobie, if you could make a cowl over the Zalman and exhaust fan (like in a Dell system) then you should have really good cooling because (1) you have airflow over the Zalman, and (2) warm air from the HS directly exits the system and doesn't circulate in the case. If you add some sound proofing material to the side panels, you should have system that's as quiet if not quieter than a Dell.