Customer Reviews

Antec Skeleton Uniquely Designed Case

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I bought this case to make a media computer that would be hooked up to my HDTV & my surround system. The construction is excellent & installing motherboard, CD/DVD drive, hard drive(s), etc, is very easy. Once it's all put together, working on internal hardware is a breeze. As for noise, it is very quite (depending on what cpu cooler you use, I have the Thermaltake Golden Orb II) as basically you only need 2 fans. The lighted 220mm top fan can be a bit distracting when it cycles through it's "light show", but he led lights can be turned off, so it's not that big a deal. I've read lots of comments about dust build up, but ANY computer will attract dust. Even with filters, my Cosmos cased gaming computer gets just as much dust inside, but it's a lot harder to clean! With the Antec Skeleton all you need is a can of compressed air, about 5 seconds of your time & voila! it's clean.

If you choose your internal hardware wisely this a good, all round "case" that will attract looks & comments from anyone that sees it.

My specs......

Antec Skeleton Case
Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-S2H mobo (HDMI out)
AMD Phenom X3 8850
2Gb Corsair Dominator RAM
WD 150Gb Raptor (sys)
WD 750Gb Caviar (storage)
Seagate 750Gb Barracuda (storage)
Samsung DVDR/RW
Enermax 500w psu

This case is great! The configuration of the is case is very unique, where you have two levels on the case. The bottom level is for your power supply, hard drives, and your CDROM drives. The upper level is for your motherboard. There is a 250mm fan on top of the case the blows air down onto the motherboard to promote air circulation.

However, due to the lack of a manual in the box (the manual is downloadable online), there are things that are left for you to figure out. Me, not being the sharpest tool in the shed had some problems on the installation.. more on this later.

Installing the motherboard was a snap. The upper level had most of the mb mounts screws already in place. My first problem was securing the video card and my sound card to the case. In the rear of the case, there is a removable plastic bar that is supposed to secure the video card, but because the plastic bar is on TOP of the cards (instead of under the card as in all other cases), screwing in a screw does not secure the expansion card since the card is not between the screwhead and the case. The only way to secure the card to the case is to screw up (upside down) from under the plastic bar (links to pictures to come if I am not too lazy). I can see this being a problem for a few people since the screwhead may block some connectors.

Also, with an open case or any case where you can see the inside, keeping your wiring nice and tidy is a job in itself. This case is very unfriendly to this task. For one, the only real conduit you have between the back of the case to the front of the case is the center gap between the two drive bay areas. This can be a problem for some since your motherboard power, PCI-E power, ATX power, and the 250mm power cable have to fit through this gap. This may not be much of a problem, but the fact that the power supply is mounted counter-clockwise by 90 degrees, where the power cable is facing the right side of the case makes the power supply cables that much shorter in reaching some far to reach areas. Also, because of this 90 degree rotation, a power cable with a 90 degree elbow is recommended since it will be a tight fit if it doesn't have one. All in all, cable management could have been better.

Also, one more note. Since this is an open case and is in fact an open enclosure, be aware that the sounds of your computer (aka hard drives) are going to be 10 times louder since there is no sound cushioning as there is if it was in an enclosure.

The power supply's awkward position and PCI mounting bar being on top of the cards are the reason why this product was one star short of perfect.
Other than that, this case is unique and will turn many heads. I am sure you will get a LOT of positive reviews. This reviews was to make you aware of it's small shortcomings.

It's the most unique and cool case as far as I can find. It took me only 10 minutes to transfer all PC components from another enclosed PC case into the Skeleton. Then, it took me only a few minutes to completely gutted out again.

Even though it is very easy to assemble components into this case, it is not as easy and/or spacious as I had expected, especially, when the wires from a PSU is not modular or is not very long. I take one star off for this.

The second time around, when I disassembled yet a 2nd PC and assembled all the parts into the Skeleton, I found out that it is even easier to install components into it if I remove the entire slide-out cage completely during the assembly.

I placed the Skeleton high up on a shelf and on its side such that the big fan on the top is actually facing away from the wall (instead of upward toward the ceiling). Such placement allows me to enjoy the uniqueness and coolness of the Skeleton while eliminating any chances of dropping metal objects and liquids onto it...until I noticed a bug flying near it...then I thought, perhaps, I need to have a mosquito net around the Skeleton???

I agree with others that Skeleton is not the case for the general mass. But, if you like cool and unique stuff and you have a way to minimize the risk of dropping metal objects and liquid onto it, this is THE case to buy.

Since most PCs all collect dust anyway due to fans bringing air into the case, I am NOT at all worried about dust problem on Skeleton. Nonetheless, I do expect to clean the dust a bit more frequently than enclosed PC cases. But I will have a much easier time doing so because there is no case cover to remove. It should take me only a few seconds of spraying compressed air and VOILA!

The SKELETON, made by Antec, my not be for everyone but for those of you who are constantly opening up your case to change something, add some kind of mod, or just want to look at that awesome video card you just installed this is the answer. Simply stated it is an open air case. You can look at all the neat stuff you have (motherboard, CPU fan, drives, wires, etc), stuff you paid good money for, so why cover it up? Also it runs cooler, dust does not collect dust in it and the different colored lights are fun, all because of the 250mm fan sitting on top of it all. If you're a computer geek like I am you've got to check it out.[...]

Somewhat complicated to assemble but when done a nice open air case offering very easy access to all components. Well made amd efficient layout for any of the newer mo-boards. Comments range from "Wow" to "What in the heck is that?" The big led fan on top is worth the price of admission! Definately takes the Ho-Hum out of yet another new build.

I was iffy going with this case about 2 months ago, although I have always liked it. I originally went with a clear plastic case, it was nice for a while, but if you wanted to upgrade it you would have had to remove the Power Supply and motherboard, a pretty annoying task. I ended up getting this case from Amazon, used my Prime shipping to get next day delivery for about $8, moved all my components into it, and love it.

I'm using it as a Windows Home Server Case, and this case is perfect for any server tasks since not only are all the components kept cool, but it is easily upgraded. Running a WHS, my main priority is storing data, meaning I need to fit in enough hard drives, and in case one fails, or I want to upgrade it for a bigger hard drive, be able to remove it with ease. In the case I currently only have three 3.5" HDD's and one 5.25" disk drive. For a server, I don't really need a disk drive since I can install things remotely, so if I wanted to I could place four hard drives in the case, of which two will require a 5.25" to 3.5" adapter (since the left is designed to hold 2 disk drives, while the right side 2 hard drives. ...I know what you're thinking, four hard drives does not sound like a lot of room, and the HP Media Smart Server can house 4 HDD's with ease. The case comes with four disk trays which you can mount on the sides of the Skeleton case, two on each side, so you can have a total of 8 hard drives in this case, and like I've said, be able to keep them cool and access them quickly.

One of my other reasons for going with this case is due to its uniqueness. It will get attention, and people will look at it closely, specially those that are not really familiar with building a PC or seeing the inside mechanisms that run a computer. ...so if you can, I do recommend finding nice looking PC cards. cpu cooler, etc... On the subject of cpu cooler, you will want to go with a small one, or one that's not as big as the upright Zalman or Vendetta coolers, cause it will not fit. I have one of the big upright Zalman's, I had to "re-engineer" it to make it fit, I'm surprised it came out well ...just cutting some fins off. You don't really need a hug cooler anyways, the big fan on top of the case blows air down onto the motherboard. ...the HDD compartment also has it's own fan. The hard drives are at temperatures of 30-37 degrees depending on the fan speed (which you can control) and room temperature ...so it's an alternative to water or nitrogen cooling.

Overall, for a server or gaming machine, I'm pretty sure you will love this case. The only downside will be keeping dust out of it (which since it is an open case you can easily do that), keeping little flying creatures from getting killed by the moving parts, keeping children from pulling a wire, and other such tasks. I didn't really find the part about hiding the wires to be hard, I hid them pretty well, you can use the compartments on the sides of the PSU and the little compartment between the 5.25" and 3.5" drive bays to hide any cables or wiring.

I wont say anything that hasn't already been said. It's a great case that defies its shortcomings with sheer awesomeness. Many will be disappointed at the shape of the fan holder thing though, most of the time you wont be able to fit a nice big 150mm heatsink in there. I measured it all out and went with the water cooler Corsair H70 and mounted the radiator on the PCI mounting bar and slapped on two 120mm SilverStone fan grills with same hexagon pattern and it looks stunning. Great, fun build, got the looks, it makes for a full 5 stars from me.

I bought this truly radical case when building my first system-a good move in retrospect as it was a snap to install components. Looks better in real life than on web. Overclocked processor happily running stock fan & cooler, and sits 30-32C at idle, rarely hitting 40-42C at full load. No need to buy extra power sucking fans and coolers unless you really push the volts, just keep all liquids and cats at a safe distance. Should be award winner if it isn't already...

Got this not only for it's beauty but because if fit in my Sons cabinet due to it's low height. Towers were a bit tall to go under the keyboard. Sad thing is...now I want to leave it out since it is very cool to look at with the led colors (switchable) on the main fan. Went together ok spending some extra time on wire management. For some reason the audio jack was distorting the sound terribly. Determined it to be defective, luckily I had a front panel unit I put in below the DVD drive anyways for the headphones and mic setup.

Out of curiosity, I triedd a few naked work station type of case, including this one, Lian-Li t60, and a Dospara case.
I installed i5-750,
Asus P7P55D-E Pro mobo,
intel 80gb SSD,
msi 5750 display card,
4gb ram,
Corsair power supply,
Pioneer dvd r/w,
Seagate 1.5tb hd.
Once you download the manual from website, the installation easiness is about average, slidable mobo plate is really nice feature.
the only limitation I can see is the clearance for huge cpu cooler, also it has big foot print for tiny space.
other than that, the picture does not justify its unique esoteric good look, innovative design, we need more of this kind of product.
Once the build is done, used on daily basis, I love the case, there is no Con, to me it is 5 star.