Review Antec 902

I have for the last couple of weeks had the oppertunity to play with the Antec 902 enclosure. When I started using this enclosure the fond memories that I had of the Antec 900 started flashing back to me. It was an enclosure that I could have used for years without having to switch. When using the 902 I have noticed a few key differences to the 900 such as better ventilation, easier with cable management, reasonable price and better dust management.

Specifications:
• 9 drive bays
- External 3 x 5.25″; Internal 6 x 3.5″ for HDD, or
- External 6 x 5.25″; Internal 3 x 3.5″ for HDD, or
- External 9 x 5.25″
• Advanced cooling system:
- 1 rear 120 x 25mm TriCool™ blue LED exhaust fan
- 1 top 200 x 30mm “Big Boy” TriCool™ blue LED exhaust fan
- 2 front 120 x 25mm special black blue LED intake fans with front speed control
- 1 side (Optional) 120 x 25mm fan mount
- 1 middle (Optional) 120mm fan mount
• Built-in washable air filters
• 8 expansion slots to support multiple graphics cards, including NVIDIA 3-way SLI®
• Front mounted I/O ports
- 2 x USB 2.0
- 1 x eSATAv – Audio In and Out (AC’97 and HDA compatible)
• Motherboard: Mini-ITX, microATX, Standard ATX
• No power supply included
• Unit Dimensions:
- 19.4″ (H) x 8.6″ (W) x 18.6″ (D)
- 49.3cm (H) x 21.8cm (W) x 47.2cm (D)
• Package Dimensions:
- 22.7″ (H) x 11.3″ (W) x 20.1″ (D)
- 27.7 cm (H) x 28.8 cm (W) x 51 cm (D)
• Weight:
- Net: 25.4 lbs / 11.5 kg
- Gross: 28.9 lbs / 13.1 k
The box and what is inside:
What I like with the box is that it has thast excellent style from Antec. This for me means that you get that excellent quality and impression that for me symbolizes Antec. It has that excellent yellow and black color.
They do not disappoint you with what you get in the box either. Antec ships everything that you might need in a box to you.
• Floppy drive cage
• 5 3/4″ to 3.5″ converter plate
• Large bag of screws
• Small bag of screws
The case itself:
Compared to the 900 there is a few key differences with the 902. On the frontpanel you now have the following; 2 USB 2.0, single e-SATA, headphone and mic 3mm ports and the reset and power buttons.
What I like is that on top of the case you now have a space where you can store unnecessary items that you do not currently use. Right now I have my Canon DSLR standing on this space. Next to it you have small spaces; they are hard to clean but when you have them cleaned they look awesome.

The biggest change for me right now is that you now have dustfilters through the front panel. Except for the front panel where you store your DVD. Removing these covers to install your DVD is extremely easy. You do it by first removing the screws and later on simply pushing out the cover. When I can do this I can guarantee that you can do it

Installing the hard drives into the 902 is a fun process what first do is to remove the cage from the case by unscrewing the screws and slide it out. One thing that I have enjoyed with it is that it is easy to install the harddrives. In one of the cages I have installed three hard drives; 1 Western Digital 300 GB Raport, 1 Western Digital 750 GB and 1 500 G Western Digital.

On the back of the case you fan controllers that helps you control the fans speed. They are easy to use and do not give any real trouble.
They have really managed to create an easy process to install the hard drives into the case. When the process is finished you slide the cage back into the case and insert the screws.
If we instead look at the side of the case we have a side window which is a lot similar to the one on the 900. The difference with the side on the 900 is that you have black grill covering the fan mount. I have noticed that on this side you do not have to be afraid of getting dust inside of your computer.

What Iike is that it looks just as good on the outside as it does on the inside. .
Another thing that I have noticed with it is that it has a great sound level. I have a few persons in my family that often complain about the sound but they say that they would love to use this case.

I have used it with the following equipment:
• AMD Phenom II X940 processor
• ASUS MA378T motherboard
• Kingston 4 GB HyperX Memory
• 750 GB Western Digital hard drive
• 500 GB Western Digital hard drive
• 300 GB Western Digital Raptor hard drive
• Optiarc DVD burner
With this equipment it has worked excellent. The sound level has been nonexistent. What I like when I installed the equipment was how easy it was. Antec have thought a lot about the end user.

Conclusion: This is an excellent enclosure. The features of it will make me use it for a long time. I really like how Antec have thought a lot about the end user.

Where to buy: Antec’s website has more information about retailers.

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 19th, 2009 at 11:54 pm and is filed under Experience, News, Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.