Antec SX835II - Good Case?

[sblake]

Antec Performance Series II -SX835II

I am thinking of building a new P4 system. The last 3 I built, I used Enlights and really liked them but they do not USB & Firewire on the front and the last one (AMD) ran hot so I want to improve on the airflow. I do not want a case with a drive door. So far this case seems to appeal to me. I will not be doing any case moding or overclocking. Has anyone had this case or does anyone have any pros or cons?

 

[deadseasquirrel]

I have this case. I am very happy with it.

I had specific wants like you do:

No drive door
Easy-to-remove side panel
Included PSU @ >300w
Included case fans
Roomy to work in
Room for at least 2 HDD and 2 Opticals
Front USB/Firewire
Short enough to fit under my desk (no tall workstation cases for me)

This case fits the bill for all that. It also came with a filter gadget that slides up into the front bezel and filters your intake fans. I added 2 more case fans to mine (vantec stealths). There is also a place to stick a HDD fan as well, which is nice and if I had an extra fan, I'd use it.

The only negatives for me are:

No side panel intake fan to blow onto the HSF or vid card (but you can purchase separately I think)
Front Firewire useless unless you have headers on the mobo for it (not the case's fault)
PSU is 350w Smart Power and not 330w True Power (would have preferred the latter)

The hardest thing was wiring the USB connectors/power leds. Those connectors are so dang tiny and hard to read/handle. But as long as you have your manual handy, it's do-able.

Overall, it was the perfect case for me on paper, and, after 9 months of actual use, it still is the perfect case for me. I dig into it often (I have swapped CPUs and vid cards a few times, as well as some socket mods and reseating HSF) and it is easy to get around in.

I ordered it from someone online I had never heard of before. It was around $87shipped about 9months ago.

deadseasquirrel

 

[mechBgon]

I have the twin to it, the Plus880 (comes with a TruePower 430 PSU, they don't make this variant of the case now). It has a lot of good points, most of which are self-evident. I'd like to add that you can now buy a Firewire cable that connects to the front-mounted circuit board where the Firewire outlet is, but it terminates in a standard Firewire plug so you can just route it out the back through a PCI slot, and plug it into your motherboard's rear Firewire port. Those cables are...



Wait a sec... well, they used to have them in their Spare Parts section, but what they've got depicted isn't the right item. I'd drop Antec an email if you need such a dealie, because I'm not sure what you'd get if you ordered the item they're showing there.

 

[Budman]

I prefer the SLK3700AMB because you can use quiet 120mm fans in it.

 

[cainsdive]

I have the twin to it, the Plus880 (comes with a TruePower 430 PSU, they don't make this variant of the case now). It has a lot of good points, most of which are self-evident. -mechBgon.


Ditto. Am going to get Antec 1040 for next build. Love these cases.:beer: