I just built my computer for the first time in almost 10 years. My case is an Antec Solo. I think the case overall is good and I'd recommend it, but I'm sure you've all heard about the good aspects of it -- silent panels, suspension/rubber grommets for silent HDD, glossy finish, etc, etc.
I thought I'd share some of my peeves about this case (they weren't enough to drive me to buy another case, but I think it'd be more useful to share nitpicks than glowing accolades):
- The front panel, which swings open, still needs to have the side panel removed for you to swing the front open.
- With a long video card (I have an ATI x1900 AIW), the power connector reaches the very, very, very edge of the hard drive cage. Translation: 1 less usable hard drive cage. As a matter of fact, the connectors of the hard drive still rest on top of the video card in the cage I am using, so if you don't want stuff to touch, you might lose more than one cage. With SLI, I think you'd lose the use of two or more of the cages.
- Space is TIGHT. With the big bundle of USB/Firewire/Audio headers flopping around, and with the power supply installed, it was heck trying to fit the motherboard in.
- The 3.5 inch adapter is neat, BUT they only deisgned it for floppy drives. My internal card reader now sits above 3/4 inch behind where I'd like it to be (flush with the front) because it was the only way I could screw it down.
- The cable hooks on the side of the drive cages are kinda useful, kinda not. Not sure about other people's builds, but the only cables that would reach there are the front headers of the case itself, and those cables, for the most part, are too thick to wrap around little cable hooks like those. My SATA, IDE, power, etc cables don't reach over there to provide any use for those hooks at all. It's a marketing nicety more than anything else and seems to provide "Oohs and Aahs" for reviewers.
- Only one side panel has the captive thumbscrews. The other panel doesn't even have regular thumbscrews? Why? I don't understand this decision at all.
Any questions, let me know.
I thought I'd share some of my peeves about this case (they weren't enough to drive me to buy another case, but I think it'd be more useful to share nitpicks than glowing accolades):
- The front panel, which swings open, still needs to have the side panel removed for you to swing the front open.
- With a long video card (I have an ATI x1900 AIW), the power connector reaches the very, very, very edge of the hard drive cage. Translation: 1 less usable hard drive cage. As a matter of fact, the connectors of the hard drive still rest on top of the video card in the cage I am using, so if you don't want stuff to touch, you might lose more than one cage. With SLI, I think you'd lose the use of two or more of the cages.
- Space is TIGHT. With the big bundle of USB/Firewire/Audio headers flopping around, and with the power supply installed, it was heck trying to fit the motherboard in.
- The 3.5 inch adapter is neat, BUT they only deisgned it for floppy drives. My internal card reader now sits above 3/4 inch behind where I'd like it to be (flush with the front) because it was the only way I could screw it down.
- The cable hooks on the side of the drive cages are kinda useful, kinda not. Not sure about other people's builds, but the only cables that would reach there are the front headers of the case itself, and those cables, for the most part, are too thick to wrap around little cable hooks like those. My SATA, IDE, power, etc cables don't reach over there to provide any use for those hooks at all. It's a marketing nicety more than anything else and seems to provide "Oohs and Aahs" for reviewers.
- Only one side panel has the captive thumbscrews. The other panel doesn't even have regular thumbscrews? Why? I don't understand this decision at all.
Any questions, let me know.
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