<- first post -v

I recently got this case basically because like Napster i wanted something different. it is different not only from the norm but also from regular pizza box style cases of the past.

whats not obvious from the pics is that its way deeper front to back than it is wide. for some people this is a problem because their desk simply wont be deep enough to fit the case.
there is method to the madness with this design however.. the case was designed to closely match the width of standard home theater equipment.. so it can be easily integrated into the usual HT setup.

A far as cooling goes, when i first cracked the case open, i could see where there would be some issues. there doesnt seem to be much room for airflow inside the case. i say "seem" because i discovered later with proper wire management and a little bit of forethought you can actually have a nice open case inside with everything installed.
There are actually alot of little nooks and crannies that you can stuff unused and extra lengths of wire to get them out of the general airflow area. this makes a big difference in not only how the install looks but how the case performs overall.
Antec did notice that there was generally an issue with cooling, so they did step up to the plate and add a fan (quite good quality i might add) to the side of the case, with a big and open honeycomb grille. this makes a big difference as far as airflow is concerned. they have also added vented bay inserts near the video card.. however my setup doesnt allow for these to be used.

anyway, in my personal experience cooling has not been an issue with this case. in fact, even given the fact that i use 4 PCI slots, and have 4 HDDs installed my case temp rarely goes very high at all. my MSI motherboard utility consistently reports temps of 24*C case and 27*C CPU. This is with the stock cooler on an AMD Athlon XP 3000+ 2.0Ghz. When overclocked to 2.5Ghz, my case temp stayed solid, but the cpu temp went up to 37*C. i think this had more to do with the stock cooler and less to do with the case.

I have made a few changes to the case to lower the temperature, but none of them could even be considered a mod. All i did was to flip the side and rear fans around so that the side fan pulls in and the rear fan blows out.. this was the other way around from the factory.. which didnt make sense to me. The second "mod" was a MadDog slot fan so to the last slot in the case which blows air out of the back of the left side of the case. this seems to get rid of what looks to be a "dead" spot in the airflow on the left side of the case.. this could be an issue with a "from the factory" setup because the PSU is designed to pull air IN to the case, blow the hot air across the MB and out the fan in the right side.
right now youre probably making the same face i made before i flipped the fans and added the slot cooler. I am also running all of the fans at a full 12v on a regular leg of the PSU.. i dont really need the PC to be pin drop silent.. so i went the way of "old fashioned-ness" and used a regular 12v output lead instead of the regulated lead from the PSU Antec suggested.. (these regulated leads allow the PSU to adjust fan speed to cooling needs.. running them at low speed "silent" mode normally and upping the speed when the need arises.)

the case is not silent with all these fans blowing everywhere.. but it is nowhere near loud either. ironically its quieter with the top off.. so that leads me to believe that its the CPU fan making all the racket and not the 4 other fans in the case.

I have been contemplating installing a window in the top of the case because i also think it would look stellar. theres not much room for cold cathodes and all that mumbo jumbo in here.. but with a window and a few LED fans it could definitely be a looker. If anything i will be putting a vent or fan in the case lid directly above the CPU fan to add that last little bit of cool air.. and also to maybe quiet the case down a bit :P

anyway.. sorry for the long first post.. but Napster wanted opinions and impressions.