Antec Eleven Hundred Case Review

Antec's original 'hundred' chassis series was a huge success. Many years of market domination were achieved by the popular Three Hundred, Nine Hundred and Twelve Hundred cases. With over a decade of service between them, that supremacy has come to an end. A series update was required. Can Antec's new flagship replicate the success of its predecessors? A mid-tower by design but a full-tower by nature, the Eleven Hundred is able to accommodate huge XL-ATX motherboards and quad-GPU graphics configurations. Heat extraction shouldn't be an issue with the Eleven Hundred's ability to house up to nine fans. Glamour comes in the form of a large side panel window and blue LED exhaust fan. Has Antec repeated the recipe for success which has been abundant in the Eleven Hundred's ancestors? Specifications: Motherboard support: XL-ATX, ATX, micro-ATX, mini-ITX. Expansion slots: 9. Included fans: 1x 120mm exhaust fan (rear), 1x 200mm blue LED exhaust fan (roof). Fan mounts: 8x 120mm and 1x 200mm. 5.25" drive bays: 3 (tool-less). Internal drive bays: 6x 3.5" (tool-less) and 2x 2.5". Dimensions: 527 mm (H) x 237 mm (W) x 546 mm (D). A bold picture of the Eleven Hundred chassis occupies the box front. Some of the key features such as the cable management configuration and cooling system are listed on the rear of the box. 12 drive clips, mounting screws, zip-ties and the basic 'product overview' guide form Antec's supplied bundle. The product overview sheet is, quite simply, a waste of time. It provides no installation assistance whatsoever. All it does is outline the location of drive bays, fan mounts and certain features. Instead, Antec directs you to its website for an installation manual. This may help reduce paper waste, but is of little use to somebody trying to build a system so that they can actually browse the web. Surrounded by an attractive black finish, the large acrylic side panel window is perfectly positioned to show off a system's important components. Appearance may be somewhat spoiled by the pair of honeycomb fan mounts, but this is a necessary compromise to achieve class-leading cooling potential. The same attractive black finish continues to the Eleven Hundred's right side. Antec very wisely chose a suitable material to resist fingerprint marks. Bulging out by approximately 10mm, the right side panel is built with cable management in mind. A 120mm fan can be installed behind the motherboard although its relevance is very questionable. A mesh front panel is certain to cause a debate amongst users and potential buyers - some will like it, others won't. Antec reserves the front panel's upper section for 3x 5.25" devices with clearance for the 2x 120mm fan mounts being maintained on the lower section. Situated on the case's front side is the IO panel which is comprised of 2x USB 3.0 ports, 2x USB 2.0 ports, audio jacks and a pair of indicator LEDs. Positioning the IO panel on the front side makes it easily-accessible when the case is seated on a desk, but not as straightforward when it is placed alongside your seating location. The black theme continues to the case's rear side which is pleasantly surprising. A 120mm exhaust fan and plenty of airflow paths should ensure that heat can easily escape the Eleven Hundred. Located towards the rear panel's summit is the chassis' fan control hub. The roof fan's blue LED can be switched on and off via this hub. It also allows users to manipulate the RPM of 3 Antec TriCool fans which utilise a 3-tier speed system. Unfortunately, Antec decided to include fans which aren't compatible with the speed adjustment system. Given the flagship status of this case and its clear ability to control fan speeds, the exclusion of TriCool models is a big disappointment. The speed control hub's support for only 3 fans is another slightly disappointing fact. Power and reset buttons are located on the case's top panel. A 200mm blue LED exhaust fan is mounted beneath honeycomb mesh. When the fan isn't in use, dust will easily enter the system due to the lack of a filtering method. 4 feet raise the case above the floor ensuring that the bottom-mounted power supply isn't starved of cool air. Space isn't in short supply thanks to the Eleven Hundred's roomy interior. As we mentioned earlier, this case is a mid-tower by design but can seem more like a full-tower by nature. The black colour scheme will help to create an attractive system that can be viewed through the side panel window. 6x 3.5" HDDs and only 2x 2.5" SSDs can be installed in the Eleven Hundred's drive bay. A pair of 120mm fans can be mounted on both sides of the bay to provide ample cooling for even the most enthusiastic storage fanatic. Tool-less clips secure up to 3x 5.25" devices. Standard screws can also be used for extra security. An interesting method which utilises a single screw to mount 2.5" drives. XL-ATX support is indicated by the presence of nine PCI slots. Antec purposely gave the 120mm fan mount plenty of surrounding clearance so that it could be used with their Kuhler H2O All-In-One liquid cooling units. Making the power supply dust filter removable from the side is an innovative and convenient feature. Up to 4x 3-pin fans can be powered by the internal hub. If you want to install one of Antec's Kuhler H2O CPU coolers, you will have to re-orientate the hub by following this guide. The 200mm roof fan is mounted in a separate channel which helps maintain effective clearance above the motherboard. 4 rubber grommets and a further 2 cable-routing holes should make cable management a simple task. Plenty of cable tie-down points ensure that securing the routed cables isn't an issue. A huge CPU cooler backplate cut-out decreases the possibility of mounting equipment being blocked. Removal of the front panel is required to install 5.25" devices and 2x 120mm intake fans. Mounting the IO ports on the case rather than front panel makes removing it an easy task. A pair of tool-less clips is used to mount a 3.5" HDD. Simplicity is the process' key feature - simply slide the drive into position. Building a system into the Eleven Hundred was a straightforward process once we had linked the screws to their associated hardware. Installing a 5.25" drive or expansion card was very easy thanks to the use of simple methods. Short front panel cables and the lack of a clear route for them made achieving a tidy system more complicated than it should have been. Providing a simple grommet below the ATX and micro-ATX board positions would have eliminated this problem. Graphics cards up to 315mm in length can be installed. The fan clips protrude enough to interfere with a long card, limiting clearance to 315mm. CPU cooler clearance is approximately 170mm. 2.5" drives are installed in a converted 3.5" bay. Secure installation isn't a highlight of this method, but the fastening will suffice. You may find yourself forced to remove a graphics card to commence 2.5" drive installation at a later date. Cables can be routed easily thanks to the 30mm of clearance behind the motherboard tray. 48mm of space behind the 3.5" HDDs makes connecting their cables a simple task. A predominately effective spread of grommets around the motherboard area helps when routing power cables. A problem is created by the exclusion of a convenient path for the front panel cables to take. Installation of a 5.25" drive requires the front panel to be removed; thankfully, this is a simple procedure. The styling of a DVD drive's bezel is complemented by plastic channels on either side of the front panel. Recessed PCI slots and a motherboard IO panel help to reduce the possibility of cable interference when the case is used in a tight space. The large side panel window proves its worth when a system is installed in the Eleven Hundred. Viewing of an expansion card is restricted due to the pair of fan mounts. Smooth blue is Antec's colour of choice for the top 200mm fan. A honeycomb pattern is projected onto the surrounding surfaces during low-light conditions. The LED can be switched on and off via the rear fan control hub. To put this case through its cooling paces we will be using an enthusiast-grade test system comprised of an Intel Core i7 2600K, Radeon HD 4870 and multiple storage drives. This system allows us to produce a substantial amount of heat and effectively test the Antec Eleven Hundred's cooling capabilities. For stress testing we use a mixture of Prime95 and MSI Kombustor to create the maximum heat output. Prime95′s ‘Small FFTs’ setting allows us to stress our CPU. MSI Kombustor’s ‘GPU Burn-in’ mode creates the maximum amount of load our GPU is ever likely to see. Test System: Processor: Intel Core i7 2600k. Motherboard: MSI P67A-GD65 (B3). Cooler: Prolimatech Megahalems CPU cooler with 2x Noctua NF-F12 fans in push/pull configuration. Memory: 8GB (2x 4GB) DDR3 1333MHz. Graphics card: Radeon HD 4870 1GB with Arctic Cooling Accelero Twin Turbo Pro. Power supply: Corsair TX650. Storage drives: 128GB Kingston V100 (OS), 1TB Samsung F3, 320GB Seagate 7200.12. OS: Windows 7 Professional 64-bit. Thermal Performance Test Procedures: The case’s default fan configuration is used to give an accurate interpretation of the out-of-the-box performance. The Antec Eleven Hundred's default fan configuration is 1x 120mm and 1x 200mm exhaust fans. The fans are operating at full speed. We allow the system to idle for 15 minutes and record the stable temperatures. We allow the system to operate under extreme stress for 15 minutes and record the stable temperatures. The Antec Eleven Hundred′s default cooling configuration of 1x 120mm and 1x 200mm exhaust fans was used. Room temperature was maintained at 22°C. Working in tandem, the 120 and 200mm exhaust fans combine effectively to produce excellent thermal results. Purchasing a 120mm intake fan would help to create a more balanced cooling configuration. Acoustic Performance Test Procedures: We placed our Digital Sound Level Meter one metre away from the front of the case. Only the case fans and our power supply are active to accurately isolate the acoustic performance of the case fans. The case fans are set to maximum speed (connected to the 12V molex connectors of our PSU). The Antec Eleven Hundred's default fan configuration is 1x 120mm and 1x 200mm exhaust fans. Please refer to our KitGuru noise guide for a comparison between the noise levels of this case and everyday scenarios. KitGuru noise guide 10dBA - Normal Breathing/Rustling Leaves 20-25dBA – Whisper 30dBA – High Quality Computer fan 40dBA – A Bubbling Brook, or a Refrigerator 50dBA - Normal Conversation 60dBA - Laughter 70dBA - Vacuum Cleaner or Hairdryer 80dBA - City Traffic or a Garbage Disposal 90dBA - Motorcycle or Lawnmower 100dBA - MP3 player at maximum output 110dBA - Orchestra 120dBA - Front row rock concert/Jet Engine 130dBA - Threshold of Pain 140dBA - Military Jet takeoff/Gunshot (close range) 160dBA - Instant Perforation of eardrum Antec's fans aren't of the highest quality which is highlighted by their distinctly average acoustic levels. Users could have modified fan speeds via the rear control hub if Antec had supplied the chassis with its TriCool models. Instantly promoted to flagship status in Antec's gaming series, the Eleven Hundred offers support for large components, has an abundance of cooling options and utilises effective cable management methods. As the king of its gaming series, Antec built the Eleven Hundred with a gamer-oriented style. Occupying more than half of the left side panel, an acrylic window is perfect poised to flaunt a gaming system's hardware. Blue light seeping from the 200mm roof fan can help to illuminate the internal components when combined with cold cathodes or LED strips. Sleek exterior materials and a black interior complete what is a very attractive chassis. As with all gaming cases, likeability of the aesthetic design is very much down to personal preference. Only a pair of exhaust fans, one of which is 200mm in size, the other 120mm, is included with the Eleven Hundred. This is less than one would expect given that the chassis sits at the summit of an enthusiast-grade product line. On the other hand, effective component cooling was achieved by just the two fans. Enough is as good as a feast? Perhaps. Nevertheless, at least a single intake fan to cool the drive bays would have been preferable. I would recommend purchasing a 120mm intake fan to offer a more balanced cooling solution. Some disappointing features to the Eleven Hundred's cooling system are present. The fan speed control hub only works with TriCool fans. Disappointingly, the included fans aren't supported by the speed controller. Additionally, the 2x 120mm fan mounts which reside behind the front panel are treated to a dust filter. Dirt will quickly enter the system through the roof fan and side panel fans, if used. Support for XL-ATX motherboards, long graphics cards and multi-GPU configurations make the Eleven Hundred a very flexible case. Water-cooling options are very limited. This could be a deliberate ploy by Antec, pushing you towards a purchase of their Kuhler H2O unit. 6x 3.5", 3x 5.25" and 2x 2.5" bays will offer plenty of installation freedom for all but the most storage-loving of users. Excellent cable management routes and a huge amount of clearance make it easy to build a clean system in Antec's gaming series flagship. The only disappointment is provided by the lack of a clear route and grommet for the short front panel cables. Available for £89.99, Antec's Eleven Hundred is able to fight its corner in a competitive price range. It most certainly isn't a bargain, but it does offer substantial value for money. XL-ATX motherboard support, nine expansion slots, nine fan mounts, good component clearance and effective cable management make this chassis worth its price tag. Built to become the flagship of one of the most successful case series ever to exist, Antec has designed another good case in the Eleven Hundred. The new head of the gaming series has its fair share of shortfalls, but it also offers flexibility and attractiveness at a price point that enthusiast-level gamers demand. Pros: Attractive. Large side panel window. Excellent component clearance. Good cable management. XL-ATX motherboard support. Nine expansion slots. Excellent cooling potential. Powered fan hub. Cons: Included fans aren't speed-adjustable. Fan speed control hub only works with TriCool models. Only 2 dust-filtered fan mounts. No clear cable management hole for USB and audio cables. Poor manual - doesn't provide any installation assistance. KitGuru says: A worthy addition to Antec's gaming series which offers the flexibility and style that gamers desire.

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Antec Eleven Hundred Case Review

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