Introduction

When we reviewed the first of the Gaming “hundred” series cases back in January 2007 we were quite impressed by the overall layout, features and superb airflow;

Today we’re putting the smaller brother of the Nine Hundred Gaming case under the loop; aptly named the Three Hundred is a mid-tower ATX case with similar layout as the Nine Hundred.



The cardboard box and foam inside the box kept the case is mint condition; no traces of damages caused by transport.

Specifications

For its compact size the Three Hundred is packed with plenty of features to maximize expansion options:

9 Drive Bays:
External 3 x 5.25"
Internal 6 x 3.5" for HDD

Cooling System:
1 rear 120 x 25 mm TriCool™ Fan with 3-speed switch control.
1 top special 140 x 25 mm TriCool™ Fan with 3-speed switch control
2 front (optional) 120 mm fans to cool the hard drives
1 side (Optional) 120 x 25 mm Fan to cool graphic cards

Washable air filters reduces dust build up in your system, which helps keep your system cooler

Perforated front bezel for maximum air intake

Compatible Motherboards: Mini-ITX, microATX, Standard ATX

7 expansion slots

Top mounted I/O ports for easy access
2 x USB 2.0
HDA & AC'97 Audio In and Out

Unit dimensions:
18" (H) x 18.3" (D) x 8.1" (W)
45.8 (H) x 46.5 (D) x 20.5 cm (W)

Weight:
Net: 15.9lbs / 7.2kg
Gross: 18.7lbs / 8.5kg

Time for a closer look ->

Size comparison

To get an idea of the size of this case we put the Antec Three Hundred in the image below next to a 1.80m human and a collection of other ATX cases. The Three Hundred doesn’t stand out, featuring modest dimensions:



An important factor if you have a high end VGA card(s) is the depth of the case, as you can assume that a case with more depth will have a higher chance of fitting the current generation of single and dual GPU powerhouses.



In depth the Three Hundred is practically the same size as the Nine Hundred, which means it should have no issue with larger VGA cards.

Look Outside

Antec made this an entry level case, which mean steal construction with minimal fancy design features; so what do you get for your money? A nice front panel, with less spectacular side panels and top. The metal is painted black to match the series:



At the left side of the case you’ll find a cut-out for a 120mm fan, no dust-filter here though, so if you want to add a fan here that blows air into the case, better put a self-made dust filter in front of it.



The I/O panel is situated at the top of the front panel, you get 2x USB ports, audio in/out , a power button and very small reset button.



A closer look at the front panel reveals the position of the mounting for 2x120mm fans:



The front panel lets air pass through freely, there is a fine dust filter placed behind the metal grill.



The rear of the case reveals the basic building material of this case, which is steel. You can also spot the 120mm exhaust fan, and the location of the PSU which is at the bottom of the case.



At the bottom of the case there are rubber feet which do help slightly to reduce vibration noise when the case is placed on a hard surface.



Let’s take a look inside ->

Look inside & Cooling

Antec’s entry level case has some high quality finish, we found no sharp edges when working with this enclosure; opening the Three Hundred can be done with tools thanks to the included thumb screws:



Inside the case you’ll find an installation manual and two bags of screws to get your hardware installed.



The layout at the inside is quite simple yet practical, the 3.5”/5.25” bays fill the whole front area of the case. You can see the wires of the top 140mm fan dangles downwards.



A close-up of the fan power connectors (4-pin) and speed control switches, default set to L, a medium and High setting are available too.



Removing the front panel gives access to the three 5.25” bays, as well as the optional case fans, 2x120mm can be mounted here.



A picture of the right of the case reveals room behind the 3.5” bays to hide you cables, there are also cable zip-ties to help you with this. The metal front cover which can hold a 120mm fan can be easily removed with the included thumb screws.



With the front panel removed you can remove the dust filter to clean it out:




The bay covers can be easily removed without tools and replaced when needed.



Installation

There are no fancy features for mounting the HDDs or CD/DVDrom, the PCI slot covers are also held in place by regular screws; cost cutting had to be done somewhere. For the HDDs Antec included a bag of thumb screws, so installing them is quite easy;



This diagram will come in handy to figure out how the case was assembled:



Test setup details next ->

Test Setup and Test Methodology

Intel Test Setup
CPU	Intel Core 2 E6400 @ 2.8Ghz (from CSMSA)
Cooling	Coolermaster Hyper TX
Mainboard	Intel 975X Bad Axe (Modded by Piotke)
Memory	2 * 1Gb PC6400 OCZ
Other	Geforce 7900 GT + Zalman VF900 @ 5v Coolermaster Real Power M520 520W PSU 2x Western Digital 74Gb Raptor SATA HDD

Room temperature was 20°C during testing, ambient noise clocked in at 36dBA. Noise measurements were taken at 50cm from the front of the case.

Realtime HDR and Orthos were used to stress the Dual Core system; Core 2 Temp was used to monitor Core temperature (duh) and Speedfan to check the temperature of HDD and Motherboard. Rivatuner’s temp monitor checked the G80 GPU at regular intervals. Maximum values were recorded.

The Intel Bax Axe motherboard features several thermal sensors, the “mobo” values are those recorded by the sensor which can be found between the DDR2 memory banks, marked A in the overview:



Cable Routing & Larger VGA Cards

As the Antec Three Hundred is as long as the Nine Hundred we weren’t expecting any troubles; and while it is a tight fit, and you might not be able to place a 3.5” HDD directly behind the VGA card, there is room enough to maneuver around.




Onto the stress tests ->

Performance Results

We compared the test results of the Antec Three Hundred with the Antec Nine Hundred, Lian-Li PC-7 III, NZXT Tempest, Antec P182B, Silverstone KL-03 and CM Cosmos. Clearly all these cases are more expensive than the Three Hundred, the only case almost in the same price range is the Coolermaster CM690.

So here are the results under full system load:



The little engine that could. This case delivers some impressive numbers, even with both fans at low speed (which also makes it the most quiet solution) the temperature of CPU, VGA, HDD and system remain very low. Turning up the fan speed noticeably increases the noise output; at 50.7dBA it’s definitely not a silent case, temperature wise the difference is not very big, not worth extra noise.

Conclusive Thoughts

The Antec Three Hundred is available from Amazon.com for $53 (original list price is $70) which is quite a bargain. In Europe you can find the case at a price as low as €45 which makes it a steal.

We’ve always been fans on the Antec Sonata series which was used in many small tower systems on a budget; if you need more space and better cooling the Three Hundred offers an excellent upgrade (at a lower price!) and leaves you all the choice of the other components. In the included 140mm and 120mm fans are quiet when running at Low setting, they also pack enough punch to cool down high end systems.

Overall it’s hard not to be impressed by the value offer here by Antec; we heartily recommend for any enthusiast building a budget system who’re looking for enough expansion options and sufficient cooling.

Antec Three Hundred Recommend For: