Antec TWO HUNDRED S Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

Pros: great features for the price. excellent airflow.

Cons: top mounted 140mm fan is really close to the motherboard. same on three different builds but the good news is not enough to touch (but very close). no cutout/ outside air intake in the bottom for the power supply. i just flip the power supply around so the fan intake is facing up or cut your own hole.

Overall Review: don't try and save a few bucks and get a cheaper case because all you will end up with is a piece of junk that has thin sheet metal and sharp edges.

Pros: 10 bays (actually 9-read more later), many cooling options, basic design for a small server, bottom mount PSU.

Cons: Although this case advertises itself as having 10 bays, it really has only 9 usable ones. The 10th bay has a preinstalled 2.5" hotswappable bay. This would be a great feautre if I had a need to hotswap 2.5" drives. I assumed when I bought it, I could simply unscrew the 2.5" chassis and put a regular 2.5" hard drive there. No. There are no holes for a 3.5" drive and theres no easy way to get an adapter in there. I ended up getting a Dremel and cutting my old holes on one side and mounting a drive in that spot, and then being creative with a bent metal brakcet on the other side to support the other side of the drive. In the end, it works, and I was able to put 10 3.5" drives in the case, but it took a little bit of effort.

Overall Review: See my comments above about the 2.5" hotswappable bay not being usable for a 3.5" drive. Otherwise, this is a cheap case thats better than the generic ones out there, and is good for a small server.

Pros: Even better airflow than I thought

Cons: Top fan is slightly audible from 10 feet away (but only if your room is totally silent!)

Overall Review: If you use this case to house a system that uses a cool-running Intel Core i3 or Core i5 cpu with its onboard/integrated graphics chip then you only need the 120mm rear exhaust fan for cooling. With air intake from double-height front mesh grille and 120mm side panel grille, that single rear exhaust fan set on low speed does the trick. I disconnected the big 140mm top fan and now the system is silent when sitting 10 feet away. Of course, if you overclock or if you add a discrete graphics card then you'll want that top fan plus maybe front or side fans, too! Then it's worth paying maybe $9.99 or so each for quiet fans to give you airflow without noise.

Pros: Nice looking. It works.

Cons: VERY poorly laid out case. Virtually no space for PSU air intake. Some motherboard components may hit the top case fan. Be very careful in installation.

Overall Review: Advertised rebate was denied - this is true for most mail-in rebates. Neglect mail-in rebates by Antec. You WILL end up paying the full price.

Pros: Nice asthetics, solid construction, generally plenty of space. No rough edges inside. This case actually has spots to install two 2.5" drives, if you include the hot-swappable slot as well as a set of mounting holes on the very bottom of the case that you can mount an SSD using provided rubber washers and accompanying long screws.

Cons: Purchased this case to replace an old one that was a little cramped. The threaded-brass motherboard standoffs supplied with this case were not quite as tall as the ones in my old case. After installation of the motherboard into the new case, had a persistent "keyboard error" on POST (the keyboard was plugged in, and this was troubleshooted with multiple alternate keyboards). After lengthy troubleshooting, the only thing that resolved the issue was replacing the slightly shorter standoffs from this case with the slighter taller ones (1-2mm) from my old case. It is likely there was something underneath the motherboard touching the case, shorting out and causing the keyboard error message. Works fine now for 1+ week with the taller standoffs.

Overall Review: The fan at the top of case sits right up next (physically touching) the top of the motherboard. This is a little concerning, but doesn't appear to be causing any problems. As part of the troubleshooting mentioned in "cons" above, this fan was removed, and did not make any difference in the issue I was having. The fan was reinstalled, and though it is physically touching the top edge of the motherboard, the system has been stable for 1+ week now. Also, if you're planning on installing a 3.5" card reader or other device (floppy, etc) you can pretty much forget about it. The only space to do this in the case is taken up by the hot-swap SSD spot, and even if you removed the hardware provided for that, the front bezel is designed specifically for the hot-swap drive and does not have a space to accompany a card reader or other device.

Pros: Looks pretty cool. The front mesh catches the dust well, easy to clean it with a vacuum. Variable fan switch on the back of the case at the top, it is in the description but didn't know it at the time, nice option. It has decent room if you are going standard ATX with 2 HDDs.

Cons: The hot swap bay connector had an issue. SATA cable swaps did nothing to fix. The whole PC would freeze or not boot at random times. Troubleshooting eventually lead to swap bay's connector. After a HDD bit the dust in the hot swap bay and another started acting in same manner I stopped using it completely. I was leaving the HDD in there 100% of the time, and since moved it inside the case for good and it has zero issues. Also, hooking the front audio didn't happen, the cable supplied is too short to reach audio on my mobo (evga 680i).

Pros: Quality case from a quality brand. Nice looking, agressive yet clean styling. Mostly smooth rounded edges inside. Mesh front with filter for lots of clean airflow. Front panel latches on left and hinges out on right for easy cleaning and access to front fans (not included). Buttons, USB, and audio ports on top edge of front; easy reach if tower is on floor. Minimal blue LEDs. Performance-type case with power supply on bottom, and large 140mm exhaust fan on rear top. Two near-silent (on low) Antec 2-speed fans with controls mounted on top rear of case. (Nice; other Antec case fans have control on "dongle" inside case) Wide enough to permit creative cable routing. Finger screws for both side panels.

Cons: Retro-fitted 2.5" drive support by mounting to floor of case using silicone grommits and screws typically used with vibration-dampening drive trays in fancier Antec cases. Problem is that once installed, the screw heads tend to scrape/scratch any surface the case is on. Seems like a quick "hack" to add SSD support. I opted to purchase the BYTECC 2.5" plastic adapter bracket to mount SSD instead. Cable routing is a bit tricky. Out the box, the fan wires and front panel wires were dangling down into the case. Had to unscrew top fan to route cables better. See other thoughts below.

Overall Review: With some work, case affords some nice cable routing. There is ample space between the motherboard "plate" and right case panel to route fan and front panel cables/wires. There are holes above and below the motherboard which are perfect for routing front panel wires behind, under, and around to bottom edge connectors on motherboard. There is a conduit of sorts along the top right side of the case, above/behind the motherboard, and behind the top fan (where the right panel latches onto the case). I routed the fan wires and front panel audio cable through this space; practically invisible. The 3.5" drive section is parellel to the 5.25" section on the left side, which leaves extra space on the lower right side of the case in front of the motherboard. I was able to tuck the 24-pin main power cable, and some SATA cables back there. This was my first build with a power supply on the bottom. At first it looked bad, but with creative effort and twist ties, it cleaned up nicely.

Pros: price, quality, free shipping.

Cons: not as versatile as my other case, the cooler master centurion which I've had for about 3 years. to take off the front bezel on the antec you have to remove side panel 1st, the centurion is friction mount and pulls off easily to access innards which is useful for attaching hard drives for file transfer, etc.

Overall Review: psu mounts on bottom which you already know i'm sure, not sure if that's a con, maybe that helps improve cornering? :) there's a 2.5" sata drive hot swap, not sure why, a full 3.5" hot swap would have been golden for my uses, which occasionally involve drive troubleshooting and transferring data. fortunately the mobo has usb3 which i'll be experimenting with soon.