Excellent cooling and good value, but it’s
worth spending a little more
Antec’s track record with affordable cases
is impressive, and the One continues this tradition. Its black core chassis is
complemented by a removable plastic fascia, with meshed grills running the full
height of the case. Meanwhile, a front panel equipped with two USB 3 ports is
fitted to the underneath of the roof, rather than the fascia, so it’s easy to
pop off the front to connect fans and route cables.
Antec
One
Despite being narrower, shorter and
shallower than the Three Hundred Two, the One still offers a decent array of
fan mounts. The rear 120mm and roof 120mm mounts are both equipped with Antec’s
own fans, while a 120mm left side-panel mount, a 120mm frontmountanda 120/140mm
floor mount allow room for further improvement. Unlike the Three Hundred Two,
though, there’s no option to adjust fan speeds.
Despite
being narrower, shorter and shallower than the Three Hundred Two, the One still
offers a decent array of fan mounts.
Meanwhile, the One’s interior is sensibly
laid out. The trio of 5.25in drive bays are equipped with tool-free fittings,
while the hard disk cage below, accessed only via the right side panel, uses
mounting rails to clip drives into place. A pair of 2.5in drive mounts is also
provided - one on the floor of the hard disk cage and one dedicated mount at
the top of the cage.
With
its pair of fans, the One amazed us by producing superb cooling out of the box.
There have been some compromises though; the
expansion slot covers are fixed in place with steel fixings and must be snapped
out before being discarded, while a maximum supported GPU length of 275mm will
only just accommodate the largest cards. The lack of a dedicated hole through
which to otherwise, cable routeing is excellent thanks to the use of extruded
side panel bulges.
With its pair of fans, the One amazed us by
producing superb cooling out of the box. The CPU delta T of 48°C and GPU delta
T of 35°C even surpassed the Antec Three Hundred Two, and this was achieved
with noticeable but still pleasantly quiet fan noise. With stock cooling
already so remarkable, adding two Scythe Gentle Typhoon 1,850 rpm fans didn’t
advance the One’s cooling a great deal. With one fitted as a side intake and the
other as a front intake, the CPU delta T dropped to 46°C, while the GPU dipped
to 33°C - a 2°C drop that places the One among the best cases on test in terms
of cooling ability.
The
Antec One punches above its weight in terms of cooling, and at $55, offers
superb value.
Conclusion
The Antec One punches above its weight in
terms of cooling, and at $55, offers superb value. However, the Xigmatek
Midgard II and Fractal Design Core 3000 offer fan controllers, more fan mounts
and, in the case of the Core 3000, more fans. For just $15 more, they’re worth
the extra investment.
