I stand by my opinions of full custom watercooling is always the best for pure performance. And its not a new watercooler I like to give an honest opinion of products, and I wouldnt use a AIO watercooler, but of course there is always a place for them in the market, maybe users don't want the hassle of custom loops, or maybe the costs are too high, or maybe they dont have a case that supports it etc.
And I wasn't gonna say anything Hopefully the signature 10 will bring Antec back in the game, because to be honest their products (not just the AIO coolers) have have been a bit behind other brands over the last few years.
A bit behind? That is saying it nicely. Antec doesn't need to only catch-up but stand apart. I loved Antec cases for a long time. So well built. Shame that they lost their glory. I hope they return. But Antec has a window of opportunity, but it will be difficult due to price targets, unless Antec marketing is able to justify properly the higher cost. And that is: Attention to details. So far not even Lian-Li , Fractal deisgn, Corsair, or NCase provides this. Yes, painting the inside black is a big step forward, but: -> look at the frontal case connector. They are all ugly, shows up like a sore thumb, has problem with interference as their connect the audio ground to the case or USB. Dye the USB connector. Microsoft does it, Apple does it, case manufactures should do it as well. -> No more side panel vents. Even Fractal Design R4/5 case, which looks nice, is ruins it's look with this. Sure you have a panel to hide it with sound dampening, but to me, if you need a side fan, you failed your build. It provide improper cooling and it is f* ugly -> Instead of having a top case with a mesh, because for some reason reviewers and many consumers thinks that they need to install this massive radiator (similar story with the NEVER used water cooling holes, except for that 1 person, who in any case has the tools to do the cut himself (I guess it is like the scroll lock key, no one dares to remove it), I would like to see the entire panel top switchable. If we look at the N-Case it has a mesh top, but I want flat/closed for professional look and quietness. If they sold the top panel on top without holes, I would buy that case for my next computer. I would like to see this. -> A button button that feels like my computer just cost 30 000$. WHat I mean, is enough with the cheapo plasticity button that is flimsy. Make a metal button, that feel solid, and looks fancy professional, and clean. -> Nice aluminum. No plastic look-a-like material used. A computer should be non-existent in term is sound, and very nice looking. It is a tool, an appliance, it is in a room, for years and years, people see it. It needs to be nice looking, it needs to have high attention to details, it needs to be quiet. Fractal design dual model where you have one with window and the other not (mind you I would like to see glass being used for the window, not plastic for light scratch resistance). Giving consumers choice. Those that prefer looks, and those that prefer quietness as the computer won't be visible, beside the front, in any case. I don't think it should be all window either, that is a bit silly. Small form factor like the NCase M1, would be awesome as well. Honestly the 2 things that prevents me of buying, justifying the super high price is: -> Top panel has wholes -> USB cut out is too big (like every freaking case, and PC manufacture except for Microsoft and Apple and Razor for some reason), and USB port not dyed black for hiding it.
A $500 case!? Jebus, I haven't seen a decent case from antec in years and now they're aiming for the sploosh market? Doesn't make sence to me.
Well in all honestly, I get your opinion, but your making an assumption on this new 'designer' product already and you haven't even seen it yet.
antec use to be top players in cases, the antec p183 was fantastic. Seems in later years they have gone completely off the rails. Lets hope this is a return to form. just looked to see if the P183 is still in production, it is in the form of antec p183 v3... Still not black internals, this is 2015, you can get £30 cases with all black internals, and the P183 V3 costs £120! And only one USB 3 port? its essenaly the same case from 2005 when the P series started but with one USB 3 header on.... Try harder.... >_>
Both may be true for you, but others still require these things! Oh - and why should ITX cases be smaller? To make it more difficult to fit in decent watercooling?
ITX gaming rigs with full sized GPU's look awesome too. Not everyone chooses ITX just for making a simple box for under the TV.
I'm actually with JRS on this one. Drop 5.25" bays across the board - as this happens, any components that need them will be shrunk too. For ITX its good we are seeing more focus on SFX PSUs and making the cases smaller - makes sense to take advantage of the fact that the boards only 17*17cm wide. You can still fit in watercooling and full size GPUs - just look at the M1.
Whilst this doesn't apply to Europe, for 500 dollarydoos an American customer could purchase a case-labs M8A. This is the sort of territory Antec are wandering into at that price point. A 900D appears to beat this in terms of watercooling capacity at a lower price point (although I have read that there are QA issues with that case). If its aimed as an air cooling case, well it seems there's better value elsewhere. Can you fit a 360 plus a 240 rad in there? From my perspective it looks like you would have some clearance issues once you take the end of the rad where the connectors are into account. It appears that there is no hot swap connector board on the main hard drive bays and that the hard drive cage is in the bottom section is fixed in place, even though it would be an ideal spot to mount a pump. I'm really not seeing what it has over its competition
