Antec P7 NEO as of late July 2023
Please keep in mind when reading below, Antec may still be the best available.
I had been Antec case exclusive for about 3 decades. I still use 3 'excellent' Antec cases!
This case changed all that. Set your expectations low now and have less frustration.
The bad stuff:
The renowned Antec smoothed stampings are wasted with the sharp self tapping screws poking out in many places.
It would not be difficult to draw blood reaching around sometime in the future if you forget where the spikes are.
If it ever draws _power_ from a worn thru power cable that would be fun to watch but expensive as such things tend to be!
It is very lightweight, not enough metal to be very quiet, it is so thin it will never dampen noise. My motherboard with heatsink has almost as much mass.
'They' know it is too thin, they had to add vibration dampening material to the sides! This case will not be quiet under load it lacks the gravity!
It is 'lightweight' enough that I have concerns I will try and lift,move,position it by the top cover once I have a power supply and mobo installed and bend it.
The rear 120mm fan is mounted over an opening only wide enough for an ~80mm fan. The 120mm fan axle/hub actually blocks much of it. Removing it might improve airflow.
Front fan space is ALSO for small fans yet has 120mm fans installed. (tall and narrow like a cell phone video on a wide monitor)
They rediculously provide mounting holes for(and advertise compatability with) 140mm fans. The case is plenty wide but the air path is narrow!
If I were overclocking this build the case would already be on it's way back! Why make a wide case and not use some of the space for fan OPENINGS?
I'll guess why, the metal is so thin they are afraid it won't stand on it's own if they cut big fan holes in it.
The picture showing the back fan from inside the case is decieving, the air path is as tall as the fan but less than 2/3 as wide.
How could this thing ever be quiet with the fans having to spin faster than they would with a properly sized airway?
Back panel PCIe card slot covers are permanent break away junk. Many builders will curse that 'engineering' decision.
It's not going to be easy to break out a slot cover with the motherboard installed.
The whole PCIe card mounting screws portion of this case is ugly and akward. It's sticking out from the flat backside.
On the plastic front panel, as mentioned by others, there is a large hole in the bottom front with no mesh grill to keep big stuff out.
The air pathway in general is poorly designed. There are many places where air can go in circles thru the fans instead of out with the heat.
If the front were airtight around the fans without the obstructions a rear fan could/would be un needed!!!
The good news follows:
The PSU space is actually 225mm deep with the hdd bracket mounted to front. My RM850x is 160mm plus ~15-20 mm for modular cables.
My case arrived with frontward mounted hdd bracket unlike Amazon photos and published 170mm length.
They may make this obvious error in the specs to discourage folks with beefy power supplies(heat) from purchasing it.
I have narrower 3.5 HDD brackets too so I pulled the trigger knowing it would involve some change from what is pictured.
I may not even ever mount a HDD in it.
The small PCB holding the 3mm white LED near the front switch is removable.
The switch LED and it's current limiting resistor on that removable PCB are thru hole parts making modding simple if it's annoying.
It would also be trivial for a solderer type to repair a faulty switch. Another reviewer mentioned a bad switch issue.
My revised build plan:
I moded my case airway into usefulness with power tools but others may care about warranty.
I will mask the many extra holes in the front to get proper thru flow of all the air.
I will re-install Antec fans until I get some dark 4 pin 120mm fans.
I planed on using 140's on front but wont waste the larger fans?
I also planned on a glowing review of another Antec case. Oh well.
I went hard on Antec because _THEY_ raised my expectations with ~3 decades of excellent products.
It _will_ work as is, just not as quietly and cool as I had anticipated.
You have been warned! :-)
| Number of USB 2.0 Ports | 2 |
|---|---|
| Number of USB 3.0 Ports | 2 |
