Hardware Antec Skeleton

[Bindibadgi]

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/200...tec-skeleton/1

Is it a case? Is it a test bench? No, it's the Antec Skeleton! With a unique open air approach to keeping your hardware cool. We take a look to see if Antec's minimalist new chassis has what it takes to shake up the PC case market.

[Mankz]

£130...WAAH?

I can buy a couple sheets of MDF, some screws and a few 120mm fans for about £20... I'll have my £110 back please.

EDIT - http://www.chilledpc.co.uk/shop/prod...roducts_id=673

Thats the test bench to get for £130...

[Naberius]

What idiot didn't see it as being necessary to be able to fit a huge heatsink on a testing bench. This case has so many floors i wouldn't even consider it for £10, never mind £130.

[Gunsmith]

that is pretty crap

[Kúsař]

Add few batteries, some wheels, dog-trappings and voila! You've got a mobile PC...
but even then it would be cheaper to mod your old grass-mower.

[naokaji]

It's overpriced, doesnt fit big heatsinks, drives are mounted with screws, the mobo tray slides out to the back, the horizontal bar that holds cards in place doesnt slide out together with the mobo tray...

on top of that it is ugly.

Sorry, but Antec failed this time.

Nice review though.

[karx11erx]

Ummm ... dunno where to ask this, but as the Skeleton looks like a failure anyway: Did you ever review, or consider to review the Antec Three Hundred? That's a nifty little case offering a very good price/performance ratio, and it's surprisingly cheap. I like it very much.

[EnglishLion]

I can't believe you couldn't find a Zalman 7000 series HSF around. This was a classic before the 9000 series and there's even the newer 8700 series with heatpipes. These would have cooled that CPU down much better and they aren't anywhere near as tall as the others. They didn't even get a mention in the review.

[zr_ox]

Not supporting taller after market heatsinks is an utterly unfogivable oversight.

[Baz]

Originally Posted by EnglishLion

I can't believe you couldn't find a Zalman 7000 series HSF around. This was a classic before the 9000 series and there's even the newer 8700 series with heatpipes. These would have cooled that CPU down much better and they aren't anywhere near as tall as the others. They didn't even get a mention in the review.

The older Zalman flowers like the 9000 series do indeed fit, and would have done a much better job than the stock, but the fact is we just don't have one handy here in the office so had to test with all we had that would fit, in this case an Intel stock heatsink.

I think the real problem here is that the Skeleton is closing just too many doors on the hardware you can install. No heatsinks over X height or width, no 8800 Ultras, no GTX 2xx series cards if your PSU doesn't have flexible power connectors. If you're buying a case/enclosure you want to be able to fit whatever hardware configuration you want into it, not just the limited set approved.

Imagine an operating system from Microsoft in which you can only install games requiring less than 1gb of hard drive space - There would be outcry, although some would doubtless still point out that the original Half Life would fit. But what if you don't want to play Half Life, and want to play Far Cry 2 instead?

[Grimloon]

It looks like it was thought of as a test rig by a tech then handed over to a committee to design - there's no way one individual could have screwed the design up in so many different ways.

I'd bet that having the top section higher was nixed because it would have interfered with the curve of the side rails. Having the tray slide out of the front was obviously too easy and making the motherboard headers longer would have left unsightly cables free don't you know?

Nice idea, shame the implementation appears to be so poor and how they justify the price is something I simply can't figure out. If it was £30 I'd have two and build a decent test bed out of the bits but at £130? Thank you but no, I think I'll stick with my heath robinson variety.

[Paradigm Shifter]

Bit-tech basically came to the same conclusion that ExtremeTech did when they reviewed it - with the difference you were (rightly) even harder on the 'case' than they were. Seriously, if someone wants an open-air testbench... it can't be that hard to make one. But no TRUE or higher-end GPU fitting in is unforgivable.

[Cheapskate]

You could pick up some public works PVC cutoffs and skip the mdf Mankz.

[Otto69]

Note, the hard drives and optical drives ARE quick release, but the instructions with the skeleton suck so bad it's hard to tell how to install it. You need to use the cylinder head screws in the little bags. One per drive. On the right side of the optical and left side of the HDD viewed from teh front of the case. If you do this and select the right hole in the drive, you can slide the drives in and out and they will click into place. No need to use the outboard permanent screw holes at all.

I like my skeleton. I'm running a Phantom 500 PSU in it and my older P4 system with a passive radiator on the CPU. Only downside is my crappy Nvidia 7800 board sounds like a jet aircraft taking off when I spool up a game, and the Nvidia drivers turn the fan off or on, but don't regulate it in between the extremes.

[Jojii]

dumb sauce

[Baz]

Originally Posted by Otto69

Note, the hard drives and optical drives ARE quick release, but the instructions with the skeleton suck so bad it's hard to tell how to install it. You need to use the cylinder head screws in the little bags. One per drive. On the right side of the optical and left side of the HDD viewed from teh front of the case. If you do this and select the right hole in the drive, you can slide the drives in and out and they will click into place. No need to use the outboard permanent screw holes at all.

I like my skeleton. I'm running a Phantom 500 PSU in it and my older P4 system with a passive radiator on the CPU. Only downside is my crappy Nvidia 7800 board sounds like a jet aircraft taking off when I spool up a game, and the Nvidia drivers turn the fan off or on, but don't regulate it in between the extremes.

Thanks for the spot there - we tried to figure out how on earth they worked, but as you said, the instructions are rather sparse and didn't explain it at all.

But surely the £130 you spent on the Skeleton could have been better spent on a core hardware upgrade?

[scarrmrcc]

it sucks that they pared it down to a lackluster device.

the skeleton is something different, and they should have made it Uber expsensive and perfect, rather than pretty expensive, and lacking.

it would have been easier to downgrade a great product for cash-strapped people, then to try to make a better version at a later date. the PR loop is backwards to start with "meh", and then work up to "oh-my!"

i was looking forward to this being awesome for my next build...now i gotta make a GOOD skeleton case, to show antec how it is done.

[Firehed]

Fail.

Looks like it showed a lot of potential too, were it not for the massive design oversights.

[Ghys]

I saw one where I work and thought 'WTF IS THAT?'

[Dr. Strangelove]

This may be a silly question.. but do you really think it will build up more dust than a normal case.. or will it just be more obvious? I mean especially with that big fan, you would think that dust is blown away...

btw £130 for that is just an insult