Just picked up an Antec 1200 Options

[mazakman]

Hi guys,

There is no comparison to the AMG Plusview that I've been using for the past 5 to 6 years. Not to say that it was a bad case but the 1200 is awesome!

Cable management is great, got all cables running behind the back plate and cooling is rather surprising as I have all 6 fans on high and it's a lot quieter than the old case... somewhat like a mild hum as opposed to the whining of the 80 mm fans that were hooked up to a fan controller.

At idle on stock cooler the temps are at 26 C compared to 30 C in the AMG Plusview using the Asus probe.

I'll going to borrow a camera and post some pics.

Thanks for moving the thread Dave.

This post has been edited by mazakman: Oct 14 2009, 09:11 AM

[mazakman]

Hi Guys,

Here are a few pics of the case that include some readings using various instruments that I borrowed from work:




Cable management was pretty good but ever so slightly bows the right side cover when installed. The Corsair TX950 adds a lot of bulk for a power supply that is non modular... The gray wire that is in the picture is an extension that I made for the Delta fan to the fan controller (shown further down)... the fan controller came with the shortest and most useless wires that I have ever seen...oh well... thank God for soldering irons, wire and heat shrink tubing!



Here's one showing the H50 with a Delta 120mm by 38mm and one of the Antec tri-cool fans . That Delta is quite powerful and must push a good 140CFM or more that is way above and beyond that crappy little excuse for a fan that came with the H50 (look at the last pic in this thread) .



Here's another pic with the computer powered up. I'm sure you've noticed the home made video card cooler... the reason for that is the Thermalright T-Rad2 GTX that I bought doesn't fit on the Sapphire 4850 so I stuck the video cooler in till I can find a solution... The trad was given to my second son who has an 8800 GTS... just tried to install it on his video card and it doesn't fit Let this be known to Sapphire 4850 and Gigabyte 8800 GTS owners not to buy this cooler.
Here are a few pics of the cooler and son my son's video card taken earlier... he has the Antec 900 that is a nice little case.




Back to the subject at hand...



This a pic of the Sunbeam fan controller on low speed. Notice the accumulated dust on the three fan filters after only a week of running... smells like high maintenance to me!



This is a pic with the fan controller on high... I forgot to mention that it's only controlling the Delta and a 120mm Antec dual ball bearing (not tri-cool) on the side of the case (blowing out).
I borrowed a sound meter from work and at lowest fans settings I had 54.4 db and 63.2 with all fans on highest settings which is quite reasonable compared to when I had 3 Vantec 80mm tornados in my old Antec Plusview case.





As I mentioned in another thread I prefer to have more fans blowing out meaning a negative differential pressure for the case.
For demonstration I hooked up the "high port" on this instrument so as to show the negative pressure displayed in inches of water. By the way -0.040 inches of water is a decent amount of air but I won't get into details unless anyone asks.

Just for the hell of it here's a pic showing the reading with all fans at lowest settings.



Quite a difference and very quiet but not for a hardcore enthusiast like me so back to the noisy settings...
As far as temperatures are concerned I'll have to rely on what the motherboard is reporting... Below you'll see the hardware monitor in the bios and a reading from a thermocouple inserted in between the fins of the North bridge (passively cooled) cooler which is displayed on a Fluke 744 calibrator.



By the way, readings in the bios for CPU fan speed are for the Corsair fan that came with the cooler (see below) and chassis fan 2 speed is for the internal pump.



Finally I added the Corsair fan that came with the H50 to help cool the ram using the fan cage that came with the case... seems to do the job but no way of knowing for sure.

I would have posted pics of ambient temperature and humidity of the room using a Testo 650 with a 0636 9741 humidity probe but they came out really crappy. Anyways the readings were 21.1 degrees Celsius and 44.5% relative humidity.

PS: some of this thread might seem a bit erratic but during it's composition I reformatted my second son's computer while tutoring him how he should install Windows (he has much less patience than I do)... installed some winter tires on my oldest son's girlfriend's car and the wife just got home and said that her karaoke computer failed last night during a show...FECAL MATTER!... a day in the life!

Alex.

[Andrewr05]

Cable management was pretty good but ever so slightly bows the right side cover when installed. The Corsair TX950 adds a lot of bulk for a power supply that is non modular... The gray wire that is in

My Antec P182 has that issue as well.

I borrowed a sound meter from work and at lowest fans settings I had 54.4 db and 63.2 with all fans on highest settings which is quite reasonable compared to when I had 3 Vantec 80mm tornados in my old Antec Plusview case.

Thats pretty good with everything on high!

The reference cooler on my 8800GTS is quite obnoxious, I bet the db on that itself is at least 10 more than your whole case.

The build looks good, I bet its miles better than the old 800mm infested case...

[bp9801]

I gotta agree with Andrew, that is really nicely done. Those non modular PSU's are a classy lady to work with, too many wires that aren't used all at once for my taste... then like you said, hiding them behind the tray will cause the side panel to bow out usually. Still though, if no one sees it then it doesn't happen. I like all the pictures you took, made me really want the 1200 for my next build even more.. except for cleaning out all that dust lol. I'll have compressed air on standby haha.

[tkrow21]

Those non modular PSU's are a classy lady to work with

LOL, absolutely the BEST and most genius replacement for classy lady I have ever seen in my life.

Edit: It's a word filter. Just when I got some encouragement to increase my trust in humanity.

This post has been edited by tkrow21: Nov 1 2009, 07:59 PM

[bp9801]

LOL, absolutely the BEST and most genius replacement for classy lady I have ever seen in my life.

Edit: It's a word filter. Just when I got some encouragement to increase my trust in humanity.

I'm glad to have bolstered your hopes and then dashed them against the rocks with much force.

[mazakman]

Andrewr05

I was considering a modular psu but the pricing just wouldn't allow it for the power rating that I wanted. I have to admit that I dove off the deep end with the 950 but I just wanted to have something powerful... I figure my decision was influenced by high amounts of testosterone while doing extensive research for the power supply...

The tornados were wickedly efficient and kept things cool. At low speed they would generate a low pitched hum that was bearable but would whine rather annoyingly at high rpm. Thank God for headphones...
The Delta behind the H50 rad is quite loud and comparable to the sound of 1 80mm tornado but by turning down the voltage to around 7 volts it can still move a fair amount of air to help keep the cpu cool.

About the T-Rad2 GTX and reference cards: Direct quote form Thermalright compatibility:

REMARK*The models listed are based on ATI and Nvidia’s reference mechanical layout. Some manufacturers stray away from the standard and develop their own layout. For those, Thermalright holds no responsibility in case of incompatibility after purchase of Thermalright product(s).

I was really looking forward to trying out the cooler but can't really blame the different companies straying from the reference designs... oh well... if it doesn't fit on my youngest son's X1950 pro (also a Sapphire) I most likely sell it here in the forums.

bp9801

Classy lady... thought it had something to do with the filter because it's not an expression I'd expect to hear at OCC.

To tell you the truth the 1200 is quite a nice case to work with for the price and I would recommend it if your budget is limited for a full tower case (best bang for buck in my situation). I have to admit that I was surprised to find that it was only about a half inch taller than my old case but didn't it have the space behind the motherboard tray for cable management.

For the dust I have a portable compressor that gets used at least twice a month... I figure that it's like people who own high performance cars... high maintenance is to be expected.

Thanks for the positive comments guys.

[mazakman]

Well the Thermalright trad2 works on my youngest son's 1950 pro (my old card).
Although the cooler is impressive... I'm less than impressed by the lack of performance of the fans that came with the unit... those Thermalright fans just don't cut it for the hardcore enthusiast.
I'll look around for some Thermaltake 92mm smart fans if they are available... now those should impress me with this cooler!