Date: November 13th, 2006
Article by: Joe Anderson (Hardware Reviewer)
Edited by: Nathan Glentworth (Owner / Head Editor)
Product was submitted by: Antec
<--SHOP FOR AN ANTEC NINE HUNDRED CASE HERE
PRODUCT INSTALLATION AND TESTING
It's always a good idea to read the manual before attempting an install using a case you're not familiar with. While the Nine Hundred case is fairly conventional, it does have a few quirks that the manual explains in detail.
I recommend that you remove both drive cages before installing the motherboard. This gives the user more room to make connections and route cables. There are 16 thumbscrews to remove before the cages can be slid forward and out of the case.
For this installation, I'll be using the following components:
- AMD Opteron 148 CPU (overclocked to 2.7 GHz, +0.1 Vcore) with Thermaltake Big Typhoon cooler
- DFI Lanparty UT nF4 SLI-DR motherboard
- eVGA 6800XT graphics card with Zalman VF700 LED cooler
- OCZ 5002048ELGE-K (1024mb X 2) memory
- Thermaltake Purepower 600W PSU
- Western Digital WD800 SATA hard drive
- Lite-On DVD-RW drive
The PSU goes in next and Antec has provided mounting holes to orient the power supply whichever way best suits the user's situation. There is plenty of room for the longer power supplies often seen on the market today. The “PSU under mobo” arrangement demands that the cables, especially the ATX main and 12V auxiliary cables, be long enough to reach the appropriate mobo connectors. I had no such issues, and I suspect that the vast majority of late model, high quality PSUs will work fine in the Nine Hundred.
As you can see, with the drive cages in and the spare fan holder installed, it's a bit crowded in there. Since the Nine Hundred doesn't have a removable motherboard tray, getting the front panel connections made can be a challenge. With the cages out of the way, the task becomes much easier.
Speaking of which, there are power, reset and HDD activity LED connectors, but no power LED. The USB and FireWire connectors are clearly labeled and the audio cable connector also has individual connectors should your motherboard or soundcard not support the Intel standard. This is covered in detail in the manual.
With the motherboard connections made, we can move on to the drives. For those who wish to have a floppy drive in their machine, the manual is a bit confusing. It took me a while to figure out the mounting system. The above photo shows the proper configuration. The drive and adapter unit slides in from the front of the case followed by the cover. After getting everything lined up, the adapter and cover can then be secured with the included screws. DVD or other ODD drives and similar devices are covered clearly in the manual. These are also installed from the front and secured with screws in the conventional manner.
With a little planning, a relatively clean installation can be accomplished in an hour or so. There aren't very many places to hide extra cables, but the user should avoid shoving them into any empty drive cage space to maximize airflow.
