What happened to Antec?

[Anfield]

No problem. I really wanted to buy another 1200 for my new build but I found the price of £140+ to be too high especially considering I paid £105 for one back in 2009. I understand it's V3 now but I still feel the price is too high.

In order to save money I contemplated going for the DF 85 but I found it to be missing features that I would have liked such as a lock system on the hot swappable drive at the top of the case. Also, not including LED lights in the two 140mm fans or a dust filter for the 120mm side panel fan. They may only be small things that many people may find irrelevant but it did sway my decision and eventually I decided not to go for Antec this time.

[qwio]

This looks good, much improved upon the 300 http://www.anandtech.com/show/5462/a...-enthusiasts/2

[Pob255]

Meh, it looks ok, lots of case use a very similar layout now.
only place I can find it for sale in the UK so far is OcUK @ £65 that's a heck of a lot of money.

One plus point that jumps out is a bottom psu area dust filter which easily accessable and removable from the side of the case. (while many case use a dust filter here few have that level of easy access esp at the lower price range)
Other are the inclusion of the fan speed switches on the back (like the other cases of the gamer range), removal of the simple folder metal hooks on the top and bottom of the side panel and a swing out design is nice. those seem to be the only real "new" features that you'll not commonly see.

No change seems to have been made to the front bezel, it still the swing out fastening, large mesh panel with easily removable filter.
Yes this is a big plus point, the front bezel design both mechanical & style was very very good, it would of been very tempting to change it but antec have managed to stick with a "if it's not broke then don't fix it" approach and resisted the temptation to "funky" it up or go for a simple pull off design.
Well done Antec, you've correctly identified probably the best bit about the 300 and left it alone.

The negative points, a fan vent on both side panels which have no filters (antec is not alone in not filtering side panel vents Please take note, don't bother filtering the front if you're going to put big unfiltered vents in the side for dust to enter) I don't take issue with the side panel vents and I like the use of a vent behind the cpu area of the motherboard, it's the lack of filters I don't like, it's something I've become really aware of after putting a filter on the side panel of my case.

Flat rear panel, the IO area and pci slots are flush with the rear, the pci card screw in point are stuck out of the back and have a separate slide on lock. I have yet to see this work well or even half decently, the slide lock never holds cards securely and a lot of strength is lost, both in the rear panel as a whole and the pci bracket (the thin strips of metal between each card slot are no longer supported as well) now some of this could be negated by using thicker steel to replace the lost strength but the front, back, top and bottom tend to be all one made from one sheet of folded steel in this type of design, I can see the reason for it, using a single piece design is cheaper and simpler to make (you don't need to make a separate io&card section that then has to be correctly aligned before being riveted in)

Loss of the front fan cages . . . I really liked the removable front fan cages of the 300, although I know not everyone did, I know of a couple of complaints that they added turbulence noise and quite a few people cut out the hex mesh fronts, the new design uses a more simple mounting system without any extra mesh to maximise air flow, but to me it's still a step back (again I can see that it probably reduces manufacturing cost and simplifies the process)


I wonder what thickness steel is used? one plus point to antec for me it that they've stuck with thicker steel when other companies have swapped to thinner steel to reduce the cost.
If the steel thickness has gone down, then you've got a more simple and common internal design, a loss of quality in favour of lower production costs yet a higher price tag.
If the steel is still a good thickness, then you've got a more familiar internal design with a known good external style, a couple of production short cuts, which makes a strong successor to the 300, not radically different more refinement and "if it isn't broke don't fix it" ideology to build on the name and pass success.

@£65 I do hope the steel hasn't got thinner, because that's about the only reason I can see for it being at this price point.