In this latest review we take an indepth analysis of Antec’s most recent gaming chassis to succeed the popular Nine Hundred Gaming Case – The Twelve Hundred.

In this latest review we take an indepth analysis of Antec’s most recent gaming chassis to succeed the popular Nine Hundred Gaming Case – The Twelve Hundred.



The Twelve Hundred is Antec’s top-of-the-line gaming case. The Twelve Hundred is the successor to the award-winning Nine Hundred which was a popular choice for many with its distinct glowing appearance, excellent build quality and great airflow. The Twelve Hundred has more space, more fans and has washable air filters. It seeks to continue the legacy of such high standards that the Nine Hundred set and improve upon them, giving gamers a case which is bigger and better!

As graphics card develop they seem to be getting larger in size. With the recent NVidia 9800 GX2 reaching 10.5inches. The Nine Hundred case struggled to host such a large GPU, the Twelve Hundred will surely build on such downfalls and improve upon them?

Over the next few pages we find out just how big the Twelve Hundred is, showing off all It’s features and revealing if these improvements really justify the higher price bracket the Twelve Hundred is found at.

Features (Interior and Exterior)

Website: www.antec.com
Price: £117
Dimensions: 58.2cm (H) x 21.3cm (W) x 51.3cm (D)

The Twelve Hundred is notably bigger than the Nine Hundred as already mentioned. Being nearly 4 inches taller and an extra inch in depth. This will allow the latest GPU’s to fit inside the case and we will be showing this later in the review. It also allows you to add/remove hardware more easily as you have more space.

On the top side of the case you will see a large mesh vent. Underneath this cage there is a massive 200mm fan. Being placed at the top of the case where the heat rises, this helps to significantly remove the existing heat that the rear exhaust fans do not dispel. You get the option of being able to control this fan just like the others, selecting low, medium or high for the fan speed with the choice of having the blue neon light illuminating the fan or not. On the top of the case there is also a handy front control panel with two USB slots, an eSATA slot, headphones/mic jack and of course the usual power and reset buttons. This is a great feature; it gives you full support for a wide range of devices. It is interesting that the usual firewire slot has been substituted for an eSATA port which is a lot more popular on devices such as external hard drives on the market at the moment.




Inside the case towards the front there are 3 drive bays. Each bay can host up to three HDD’s giving you a maximum of 9 drives. This makes the Twelve Hundred case very expandable and appealing to system builders.

On the back of the case one of the first things you will notice is that there are 2 rear exhaust fan outlets. To control these fans and the large 200mm fan at the top of the case there is a little control panel at the back of the case. This allows you to switch between low, medium and high. There is also the option of having the lighting on the top fan switched on or off. So what we have here is a case that has a multitude of fans which can be controlled. This is a valuable feature and something which however small, is important.




Lower down, there are circular rubber ports above the expansion slots. This is so you can run an external water-cooling kit into the case. Which again gives you more options, if you aren’t familiar with water-cooling but are interested in it this case is a practical case to purchase as it will allow you to move from air coolers to water-cooling in the future.

With the Twelve Hundred, you are given a large perspex window so that you can keep an eye on your components. With the collection of fans inside the case a cool blue glow will be emitted. It’s handy to be able to see components inside your case, especially if you have a motherboard with an LED diagnostic panel. It saves you having to take the side off if you are having problems as you can see it directly. It also gives you the opportunity to show off your top of the range kit to friends! Along with the perspex panel there is a mesh covering, underneath this is space to fit an additional fan (directly above the CPU cooler).

Installation

Installing the motherboard and other components is much the same as any other case except you have much more space to move things around. The cooler you can see in the images I have installed on the CPU is the Noctua NH-U12F. This is a very large cooler, it fitted inside the case with no problems, there is around 5CM space above the cooler from the side panel. Installing the GPU in this case was easy, I see questions all the time regarding graphics cards across various forums – asking “does the 48xx fit inside this case” etc. Well I can tell you, the HD 4870 that I installed on the motherboard inside the Twelve Hundred fitted with no problems, there is in fact plenty of clearance and what is especially helpful is the HDD is no where near the back end of the GPU. So you will have no problem with the latest GPU’s inside the Twelve Hundred. It will host the GTX 260, 280 and the GX2.

As you can see from the images, there are bags of space inside this case. This made the whole installation process very quick and easy. There’s nothing worse than having a case which is cramped for space, with sharp objects protruding out and constantly knocking things.




On the other side of the motherboard tray is a panel with adjustable grip ties. This allows you to root cables through hiding them from view and improving your airflow. I rooted the PSU cables all the way through this underside and all the way up to the DVD-RW. I also tied any un-needed cables along this underside of the case – this really does help tidy things up. It’s something which I find very useful. You can indeed knock quite a few degrees off the temperature readings of your components with a nice tidy case as it greatly aids airflow throughout the case.

You may have difficulty understanding how the HDD’s are mounted at first but if you refer to the manual It’s very straight-forward. There are 3 cubes which you can remove by unscrewing the thumbscrews on each side, this removes are you can see from the image. You simply slide the HDD inside the cage, screw it up with the long screws provided and pop the cage back inside the case and secure with the thumbscrews. Additionally you can mount another fan on the back end of the HDD. This enables you to set your HDD inside a cooling unit, with fans at either end passing cool air and pushing any unnecessary heat from off of the device itself.

Upon finishing the installation, the case does indeed look outstanding. IT glows a superb cool blue colour, illuminating the room. Giving the room plenty of atmosphere and feeling. This case really does look fantastic, in the dark whilst playing your favourite game.

Conclusion

Our impressions of the Twelve Hundred are nothing but encouraging. Our experience with the case is positive and there is very little to complain about. This case is truly a gamers’ dream, it ticks all the boxes – superb cooling, strong construction and a pleasing array of features. Even if you are not a hardcore gamer, system builders and overclockers will benefit from this case because of Its sheer size and multitude of options.

The possibility of 9 HDD’s to store your data and the space to include the latest GPU with plenty of room as well as having all these devices intensely cooled is very impressive. With a significant amount of fan’s and the ability to hide cables It’s not surprising this case is a great performer when it comes to cooling. Airflow is indeed a high point with the Twelve Hundred.

As already said there was very little to comment on the downfall of the case. The only things we would like to see from a case of this calibre would be having the option of tool-less fixing of devices. However small, this is an essential option to have. Cases are rarely made without tool-less design being a consideration. There are many reviews out there which disapprove of the RRP, but we think this is set at just the right price for what you are getting from this chassis.

We would highly recommend this case to those looking to invest in a new case. It offers the space and features any gamer/overclocker would need and it looks superb. We would like to thank Antec for supplying this case.