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Antec SX830 and SX840 Workstation Computer
Cases
Last updated: 8/14/02
 MOLDED
PLASTIC. All of the plastic is very solid stuff with no edges or
corners that are going to break when the side and top covers are removed. The
front of the case is quite attractive and well-designed. It
consists of two pieces of heavy plastic that can be easily removed without
tools. The left side must be removed to remove the top section of the front
panel without breaking it. The right side does not. Once the
left side is removed, the top panel which covers the 5 1/4 bays and exposed
3 1/2 bays is easily removed by pressing rectangular buttons on its sides. The
bottom section is removed by pulling two latches that are concealed when
the top section is installed and sliding the bottom down and out. Some
care should be exercised when doing this to avoid breakage, but, overall,
the fingers which attach the bottom piece of plastic to the case are thicker
and tougher than those I have seen in many cases used for name-brand computers.
The speaker is attached to inside lower part of the front panel just below
the power switch. It is a small cylinder with no visible cone and looks
like one of those things that would resonate the front panel.
 The nicely
sculptured front is complemented by the Power-on switch, an inconspicuous Reset
switch, and LEDs, which are nicely arranged and labeled. The wires running
to the motherboard from these devices are quit long and will allow moving the
panel clear of the case without pulling them out of the case. The manufacturer's
one-inch square label insert is well-located at the middle of the panel and
well up from the bottom. A spiffy Antec label is provided for modest VARs and
homebuilders.
The case has plastic fold-out legs which are attached to the bottom of the
chassis. They are quite sturdy, but certainly breakable.
The plastic expansion card edge support is the best have seen--gone is the
requirement to push individual plastic card guides into metal holes--solid,
simple, easy to remove, and doesn't look like one that will come loose during
shipping. The same can be said for the chassis fan housings.
  COOLING. This
case does a superb job of cooling a fully loaded, top-of-the-line computer. The
functional grill structure maximizes air intake. It does not suck as
much dirt directly off the floor or desk through the slot at bottom between
the front panel and chassis as many other cases that behave like vacuum cleaners
because that do not have any (or have few) ventilation slots directly
through the front panel like the SX800 (irregardless, I do not recommend putting
computers on the floor). The case comes with two snap-in chassis
fans mounted on the back. These fans snap into plastic housings which
in turn snap onto the chassis to provide a fairly good air seal around the
fan and allow easy installation and removal. The housings have a latch
assembly with a large handle that releases the unit very easily by pressing
it towards the fan; however it may be more intuitive to some to move it the
other way. The latches are quite thick, but, I am sure, will break if
one gets impatient, is inclined to think and behave like a gorilla, and moves
them the wrong way too many times with too much force. They are not going
to pop loose during shipping. I can't tell you whether these fans have
sleeve or ball bearing fans. Antec sells both. These do not have
a part number on them. The fans plug into power supply drive connectors
and are not the 3-pin variety with a tachometer circuit, which can be plugged
into a motherboard for monitoring. The case will support three more optional
80 mm fans at the front. One mounts in a plastic housing attached to the front
of the 3 1/2" drive bay (see DRIVE BAYS below for picture). In my
experience, they are overkill for most computer configurations. For hovercraft
enthusiasts, Antec has an optional side panel with still another 80 mm fan
mounted on it.
 I put
three 7,200 RPM hard disk drives in the lower 3 1/2 drive cage: two 80 GByte
and one 30 GByte. When these drives are run outside of the case and not
in proximity of one another, they are fairly hot to the touch. When they
are run outside of the case and in the bay, they get even hotter, far too hot. After
they had run for a while in the bay, in the case, and the sides on, I removed
the left side and felt the drives. They were not even warm to the touch! And
that was done with an ambient room temperature of 82°F/28°C.
POWER SUPPLIES. The spec sheets on Antec's
web site for the power supplies are out-of date and grossly deficient. They
do not even mention how many plugs the power supplies have, let alone describe
them or provide cable lengths. The Antec
ATX12V / 2.03 Power Supply User's Manual provides some insight, but is
not included with the case.
This case comes with either Antec SmartPower PP303XP 300-Watt (SX830)
or 412X 400-Watt (SX840) power supplies. They meet the ATX 2.03
standard requirements, including Pentium 4 support. Peering between the
ventilation slots in the both supplies, one sees some heavy-duty heat sinks
and components (I didn't open them to investigate further). Let's say
they look like very good power supplies and they are quiet. Both power
supplies have thermal-controlled, variable-speed fans, which, obviously, adjust
their speed to the temperature of the computer. In the computer I built,
the power supply fan hardly runs at all. I would guess that the only
thing it needs to cool in a configuration like that is the power supply itself. There
is no mention in the specification of what kind of bearings the power supply
fans have; although they do state that the Mean Time Between Failure (MTBF)
for the 300-Watt power supply is 100,000 hours (11.4 years) and 50,000 hours
(5.7 years) for the 400-Watt supply, when operated at 25° C (77° F). I
have trouble believing the first number and find that many power supplies fail
before the second one. Duty cycles are not specified.
I counted two 3 1/2" and six 5 1/4" power connectors on the 400-Watt
supply, which really isn't enough, for a case with eight drive bays and at
least two chassis fans. there are certainly not enough 3 1/2" connectors
for many configurations. However, like most, the two chassis fans that
come with the case do include Y connectors. In addition to the normal
ATX motherboard power plug, the 400-Watt power supply has a 6-pin 3.3/5
VDC AUX Power Connector and a 4-pin +12V Power Connector. Both go to
motherboards that provide for them. See the above link to the User Manual
and Intel's
Pentium 4 Power Supply Guide for more info. The last time I counted
connectors on the 300-Watt supply it had one 3 1/2" and
seven 5 1/4" power connectors; however, the supply has changed since then. Antec's
web site states that the 400-Watt power supply now comes with a 2-wire/3-pin
signal connector from the power supply to the motherboard to allow users to
monitor the power supply's fan via the motherboard's BIOS.
There is no power switch on the power supplies, as on many ATX power supplies,
in addition to the ATX logic on/off switch on the front panel, which connects
to an ATX motherboard. Such a switch overrides the one on front panel
and is handy for making sure power to the motherboard is off, without having
to pull the power cord, when plugging-in expansion boards, etc. According
to a post in our forums, the 300-Watt supply now has the switch.
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