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
Conclusion: May Be Worth the Sacrifices
One sentence needs to really be repeated over and over again (just as it has been in the preceding review): the Antec GX700 is $59.99. Without that, it's tough to put this case into perspective.
The core of the GX700 is pretty much all good news. This is a case that offers excellent thermal performance with middling acoustics, or excellent acoustics with middling thermal performance, and the integrated fan control leaves that up to you. If you're willing to run the fans whole hog it's difficult to find cases that run too much cooler than the GX700 does. On top of the thermals and noise, end users get to enjoy a largely toolless assembly and competitive I/O functionality. At $59.99, that's a pretty easy sell.
Where I think Antec gets hung up, and why I'm not rushing out to give it an Editor's Choice award, is because the construction is in some places just too chintzy. The design, despite how excellent a lot of it is, also needs some work. We simply don't need four 5.25" bays anymore, and the fact that the top one is basically blocked by the internal cables for the I/O cluster means the front of the case gets broken up needlessly. I think they could've just covered up that bay and called it a day, personally. Maybe put the I/O there or alternatively, put the Antec badge there. Something. There's also the confusingly short HD audio cable, the lack of expansion bay slot covers, and the aesthetic is bound to put off at least a few users.
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I think Antec did an interesting job of cutting corners to hit their price point, but I feel like they may have invested in the wrong places in some instances. The fan controller is an unqualified win at $59.99, but the metal drive bay shields feel excessive and unnecessary.
A lot of this is pretty subjective, though. At $59.99, you may not care too much about how the case looks or how well it's built, and you're probably going to be willing to overlook some of the GX700's shortcomings. I probably would too. It's very difficult to find a better deal in this price range, so users interested and only interested in pure performance or being able to balance acoustics and performance on their own terms, users who just want bang for the buck, they're the ones that need to be carefully eyeballing the GX700. If you know what you're getting into and you need something good and cheap, Antec's GX700 is the way to go.
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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.