Antec GX700 Case Review: Just What You Can Get For $59.99
by Dustin Sklavos on January 17, 2013 10:00 PM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
- Antec
- ATX
Noise and Thermal Testing, Stock
As is customary when reviewing any case with a fan controller, the Antec GX700 was tested with its fan controller at both low and high settings. Note that the control switch actually has a middle setting, but that middle setting turns the fans off entirely. That may not be a bad thing for some users, but for the sake of the testbed's longevity, I opted to test with just the low and high fan settings.
Ambient temperature when testing at stock was low enough that it may have slightly affected fan speed results; it's a remarkably cold winter here in California, and ambient temperatures hovered around 21C.
Thermals for the GX700 are competitive at low and frankly pretty awesome at high. At high the GX700 is producing temperatures competitive with Antec's Eleven Hundred, currently one of the best cases we've tested, anda it's doing so at $40 less.
Fan speeds may have been affected by the low ambient temperature during testing, but the GX700 still has some thermal headroom regardless. Our stock configuration just doesn't push it that hard.
At the low setting, the GX700 is also one of the quietest cases we've tested, while the high setting is still mostly competitive.
What we have with the GX700, at least at stock, is essentially a good balance between acoustics and performance, and the fan controller allows you to prioritize one over the other. It's a good demonstration of what I've often said about cooling in general: a good airflow design and multiple fans running at low speeds can often do a better job than any acoustic padding ever could.
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Hrel - Friday, January 18, 2013 - link
It looks like a Tonka Trunk. Not even a good one, a cheap one. that's literally my only complaint with this case. If they release one that's just black, no other colors anywhere. Then that's a case I can recommend to people. Honstly just change the colors to all black and it's "good enough".For my personal use I wouldn't buy it because the lines are wrong AND the colors are ugly. I like the sleek industrial look. I'm also willing to go up to 100 on cases.
Bottom line, I'm impressed they built a case that performs THAT well and is tooless AND has a fan controller that's actually effective. Those are some damn good acoustic levels. Simplify the lines, get rid of the unnecesary ditches around the 5.25 drives, cover the top one with a temp readout maybe, make it all black, add some dampening foam and charge 100 bucks. I'd buy it.
alyf - Friday, January 18, 2013 - link
The "botherboard" tray? :)jabber - Saturday, January 19, 2013 - link
When can we get a grown up case that reeks of style and sophistication?HardwareDufus - Saturday, January 19, 2013 - link
hideous at any pricemapesdhs - Saturday, January 19, 2013 - link
Reading this kind of review convinces me all the more of the wisom of my obtaining used
Antec 300 cases whenever I can. Half the price, better IMO. And when I say used, I just
mean eBay; some of the ones I've bought have been sold as new/unused, so even better.
Ian.
nwarawa - Saturday, January 19, 2013 - link
I've been waiting for a case to de-throne the HAF 912 for some time now in the $50-$60 range... looks like I will keep on waiting. If CoolerMaster could release a HAF 913 with USB3.0 support... maybe also add a few for 2.5" doo-dads for the growing prevalence of ssds... that would be awesome. But even as is, I have yet to see another case come close. The modular HDD bay is just awesome, cooling options are top notch, and the lack of flimsy steel just seals the deal.dj christian - Monday, January 21, 2013 - link
"The drive trays slide in from the rear of the botherboard tray instead of above like most cases"What do you mean? How can you slide them in from above?
Hrel - Thursday, January 24, 2013 - link
if you have the case laid on it's side, like you would if you were installing things.chrome_slinky - Thursday, January 24, 2013 - link
I really do wish that people [especially reviewers] would quit assuming that they know what it is the public wants -To wit - " We don't need four 5.25" bays anymore anyhow (we really only need two at most these days)."
This is not true for many, and especially the "high performance" crowd to which this is supposedly addressed.
I love the build quality of the older Antec cases, and what has kept me from buying again, but instead buying Cooler Master, is exactly that there are not more open bays in the case.
I still use a floppy on occasion, have 250MB internal Zip drives, and do my copying of optical stuff directly from one drive to another - that accounts for four, and does not make much room for a fan controller or a display of some sort.
I fully realize I am not the norm, but, after taking a quick survey of about 20 friends, I am not in a SMALL minority either. Most people I speak to [and come in contact with daily, as part of my job - selling, repairing, and maintaining computers] think that 6, my favorite, is excessive, also think that 3 is too few.
D1RTYD1Z619 - Sunday, January 27, 2013 - link
And I bet you could find an 1100 at about this price on sale, after rebate or both. Now if only they made a decent mitx case that takes a standard psu and a gtx 680 sized card.