What to do with an Antec Three Hundred

[Aden]

Im ordering the Antec Three Hundred tomorrow morniing for a new build and am looking to do something impressive with it, aswell as keeping it neat and tidy inside. I'm looking for the best cooling possible inside it and so far have ordered two Xilence 120MM XPF120's to go in the front (red led versions).

The cases theme colours are going to be Red and Black (becasue thats the colour of the room its going in ).

The only other thing i've considered is the NorthQ Siberian Watercooling for my Q6600..

I'm wondering how hard a window would be to add to this case, for a beginner like me :S

As for other ideas, i'm all out, but would love to hear your thoughts on what i could do to totally make this a sweeet setup.

[matty-hodgson]

maybe it'd be worth spending a little bit more on a case and actually buying a case that already has a window in the side?
you'll probably get better cooling with a more expensive case aswell.

what about an Antec 900?
they're only about £30 more, and it'll look a lot better and have a lot better cooling.

also, if you want watercooling; i'm pretty sure you need a large case to fit everything inside.

Antec 300 £40
Antec 900 £73

[Aden]

Thing is, i dont plan on full watercooling, just the NorthQ siberian as its an all in one solution for the CPU.

Thing was, i'm on a bit of a budget and although its only £30 something more that does make a difference.

Although I'm wondering how much I could sell the two 120mm front fans for that come with the Antec 900?

Though I am tempted, as i first considered the Antec 900.

Apart from its size, what kind of benefits will I see from it?

[matty-hodgson]

Thing is, i dont plan on full watercooling, just the NorthQ siberian as its an all in one solution for the CPU.

Thing was, i'm on a bit of a budget and although its only £30 something more that does make a difference.

Although I'm wondering how much I could sell the two 120mm front fans for that come with the Antec 900?

Though I am tempted, as i first considered the Antec 900.

Apart from its size, what kind of benefits will I see from it?

you'll probably struggle to sell the fans that come with the 900, but that doesn't matter.
you'll notice cooler temperatures, more space, better looking, stuff like that.

if budget is a real problem, then you should go for the 300 and just modify it in the way you wish to.
do you have a high end CPU and GPU?
if so, then cooling will be needed.

i'd personally try and get the extra £30 together and get the 900 instead of the 300.

putting a window in the side of your case wouldn't be too difficult, if you took your time and thought about every stage.
there's plenty of guides on the internet to show you what to do, and there's probably a few people on here that have done something similar that will be more than happy to share their knowledge and experience with you.

[Aden]

Well, i am actually leaning more towards the Antec 900 now.

I'll be using a Q6600, as for a graphics card i'm undecided, though its probably best I get the Antec 900 just for the expandability factor (I have been considering crossfire).

As for the front fans, i think i could move one to the sidepanel (the additional GFX Card fan) and then use my Xilence red fans at the front of the case. Though this would leave me one blue 120mm included spare? How many 120mm fans are includedd with the Antec 900 and how many slots for additional 120mm fans are there?

Also, if i can get that free postage deal from Scan when i have 20 posts here, the difference between the Antec 300 at £38.65 and the Antec 900 at £72.73 is actually fairly minimal, so i'll look at selling a few more bits and pieces on ebay etc and hopefully have the money together.

[matty-hodgson]

Well, i am actually leaning more towards the Antec 900 now.

I'll be using a Q6600, as for a graphics card i'm undecided, though its probably best I get the Antec 900 just for the expandability factor (I have been considering crossfire).

As for the front fans, i think i could move one to the sidepanel (the additional GFX Card fan) and then use my Xilence red fans at the front of the case. Though this would leave me one blue 120mm included spare? How many 120mm fans are includedd with the Antec 900 and how many slots for additional 120mm fans are there?

Also, if i can get that free postage deal from Scan when i have 20 posts here, the difference between the Antec 300 at £38.65 and the Antec 900 at £72.73 is actually fairly minimal, so i'll look at selling a few more bits and pieces on ebay etc and hopefully have the money together.

a Q6600 is a reasonably warm CPU, especially if you're going to overclock it. so getting the better cooling from the 900 is a better idea.
and if you're going to crossfire some graphics card, then you definitely need a decent cooling system.

i've recently went from an 8800GT to a dual 4850 Cross-fire setup and my case temperature went up about 10'C.

as for the fans on the Antec 900:

- 1 top 200mm TriCool fan with 3-speed switch control
- 1 rear 120mm TriCool fan with 3-speed switch control
- 2 front 120mm special black TriCool blue LED fans with 3-speed switch control to cool HDDs
- 1 side (optional) 120mm fan to cool graphic cards
- 1 middle (optional) 120mm fan to cool CPU or graphic cards

and the 300:

• 1 rear 120 x 25 mm TriCool™ Fan with 3-speed switch control.
• 1 top special 140 x 25 mm TriCool™ Fan with 3-speed switch control
• 2 front (optional) 120 mm fans to cool the hard drives
• 1 side (Optional) 120 x 25 mm Fan to cool graphic cards

[Aden]

Yeah, so i could put the front fans supplied with the 900 into the side and middle slots and then put my Xilence 120mm XPF120.TR's at the front?

Hopefully willl order it in the morning.. If I can get that free postage from scan

[matty-hodgson]

Yeah, so i could put the front fans supplied with the 900 into the side and middle slots and then put my Xilence 120mm XPF120.TR's at the front?

Hopefully willl order it in the morning.. If I can get that free postage from scan

do you know how to get the free postage?
use this guide

i hope you stick around after getting your 20 posts aswell
we're useful more than just tech help. we're real people that enjoy a laugh too

[Aden]

I do plan on sticking around here after my 20 posts, of course, I also plan on folding for Hexus.

I've been a browser here at Hexus for about a year now, but never actually was bothered to register.

So yes, i hope to stick around and thanks for the free shipping guide link. Once i get on a forum, i usually get addicted

[NeedMoarFarms]

I've got the Antec 900, and it's a very good dust trap. It's also an exceptionally cool case. It's pretty big inside, very quiet and with that massive intake on top you'll be sure to keep everything cool.

Got my Q6600 overclocked to just over 3gHz with the Scythe Ninja heatsink, idle temps are are 30C and on full load are about 60 - 65(only every reached 65 after a few hours of prime95).

If you manage to get good airflow and a very good aftermarket cooler, I'm sure you could get a reasonably high clock on air.

[Aden]

Aaah sweet, i'm pretty set on getting the Antec900 now, it'll slow down the point at which I'll have the system built, but should be better overall I assume.

If i'm running a Q6600, 2gb Corsair TwinX Dominator ( at 1066mhz ), the Foxconn P43A motherboard and two 500GB Seagate Sata II HD's, aswell as an undecided graphics card, with the expandability of Crossfire if i choose ATI, what size PSU would I be looking at?

Anyone have any recommendations?

[matty-hodgson]

if you're wanting crossfire then you want something around the 500-600w mark
a 500 watt PSU will cope with crossfire, so long as it's a decent brand.
a PSU is 1 place where you definitely need to spend a bit of cash.

[Aden]

Would this sort of thing (NorthQ 650W Black Magic) be able to cope?

Or would I be better with something like the Tagan TG600-BZ

The other stuff I've considered is:
-The Be Quiet Dark Power 550w
-780W Hiper (though TBH, i'm not sure if this is a 'decent brand')

What would you go for? About a budget of £80 for the PSU.

[NeedMoarFarms]

http://www.scan.co.uk/Product.aspx?WebProductId=684734&

Corsair is a very good brand, and is under £80.

[Webby]

Decent brands are,

Be-Quiet
Corsair
Enermax
Seasonic
Tagan

I would stick with the middle 3 personally as they offer the best price for performance.

Modular is good for neatness, and with a 900 its especially important as the cable management is poor. They do cost a fair bit more though...

For a crossfired 4850 rig I would be looking for PSU's around 600W so that you keep in the optimum load region efficiency wise. A 600W modular unit will set you back £85-100 if you go for a non-modular unit you can knock £15-20 off that price.

[Aden]

Decent brands are,

Be-Quiet
Corsair
Enermax
Seasonic
Tagan

I would stick with the middle 3 personally as they offer the best price for performance.

Modular is good for neatness, and with a 900 its especially important as the cable management is poor. They do cost a fair bit more though...

For a crossfired 4850 rig I would be looking for PSU's around 600W so that you keep in the optimum load region efficiency wise. A 600W modular unit will set you back £85-100 if you go for a non-modular unit you can knock £15-20 off that price.

As needmoarfarms posted, i'm thinking of going for this:
http://www.scan.co.uk/Product.aspx?WebProductId=684734&

Though I'm still not sure, and will look into Modular, as to get good cable tidying in the Antec 900 I've heard it requires a lot of modding.