Antec's Case Comeback: High Performance Cases, Wood Panels, & AMD Handheld

We were sad to see Antec go by the wayside but are happy to see the company coming back.

Antec C8

The Antec C8 case is out (watch our review)and is a relatively new case from Antec. 

Where it competes is in price. The cheapest model is $100 after discounts and doesn’t include any fans. The 3-fan model costs $160. Antec seems to be taking a page out of Montech’s playbook with hyper aggressive pricing to compete with incumbents in the industry.

The case comes with panel options that include a darker wood and aluminum, which is similar to Corsair’s 6500 series. There’s also an ARGB version, which comes with fans. 

Antec also has a version with a curved tempered glass. It sounds like glass yields have gone up in recent years as this type of curvature wasn’t really a thing years ago. The case is like a traditional C8 but there are some tooling differences the company had to accommodate due to the curve. The top panel is also different and it has deep chambers for cable management.   

Antec C7

The C7 is a new case from Antec that’s an aquarium style case with a glass side and front. Its bottom side panel pops out, which provides a little more access to air.

The case comes with 3 fans on the side and one on the back.

The back side of the case features 2 swinging doors that are held in by large Phillips #2 screws that have a rubber grommet around them. 

Antec Flux (Case Lineup)

Antec is introducing 2 cases in its Flux lineup. They feature a wood motif that everyone seems to be jumping into. Inwin’s attempt didn't make it to market and Fractal ultimately popularized it with cases like the Fractal North and North XL. Corsair now has some wood you can throw onto its 6500 case.

Flux Pro

The Flux Pro uses walnut wood and new tooling. It includes 6 fans, four of which are 140mm fans (there are three on the front and one on the back). The case also offers 2 reverse 120mm fans on top of the power supply shroud. There is mesh ventilation on both sides of the PSU shroud, and the porosity looks good from just eyeballing it. 

The Flux Pro has your standard rubber grommet pass throughs with relatively deep cable management but it does include a CPU and GPU temperature display. The case uses a standard chambered design rather than a dual chambered one, which are everywhere now.

Antec is targeting $170-180 for the case with the aforementioned 6 included fans and it’s aiming to ship it in August. The Flux Pro will compete with the Hyte Y70/Y60, the Fractal Torrent, North, and North XL cases, the latter of which is relatively new and is more comparable in size.

Flux 

There is also a non-Pro Flux case. It’s smaller and the fact that it's cheaper at around $110-120 is its main selling point. It includes 5 fans, which is a lot. There are 3 in the front, one on top of the PSU shroud, and one in the back. This is a pretty standard layout with the exception of the fan at the bottom.

Aside from offering back-connect support, the backside is pretty standard. There is a fan controller and some velcro straps to help with cable management. 

In a cost-savings measure, there is no CPU/GPU temperature display.

Performance 1M

There’s not a lot of detail on this case yet as it’s still in the design stages. The interior frame is red, which we like as an accent.

It’s a sandwich style case that has a movable tray in the middle, which can be repositioned to a couple different locations. Like the Fractal Terra, you can adjust it based on video card depth, and it supports 3-slot cards. The CPU cooler clearance is 65mm at the small end, and you can adjust that at the cost of sacrificing GPU clearance.

The Performance 1M is mostly made up of aluminum with some steel mixed in.

The case’s top panel has a color accent pull tab and the top panel was an off-green color, but Antec isn’t sure about its color choice just yet. 

The company suggests the Performance 1M might be released in Q3.

Core HS (Handheld)

The Core HS is a handheld made by AYANEO in collaboration with Antec. Antec approached AYANEO as the company makes numerous SKUs of handhelds.

The Core HS uses a 7840U processor, which every handheld basically uses right now.

What makes it unique is that its screen pops up. You can even see the coil mechanisms on the back that allow it to do so. It’s also a smaller handheld with the screen being about 6 inches. Most competing handhelds use 8+ inch screens. Its smaller size might make it appealing for traveling when space is limited.

The Core HS also has a physical keyboard like past GPD handhelds. We found them okay depending on what you’re doing.

For cooling, the Core HS appears to have a relatively large blower fan on the back. Its fin stack at the top of the device appears to be a taller height. There is potential here for a good cooling solution, though we don’t know how good it actually is without testing it, especially since it doesn’t have ventilation anywhere else on the device.

Antec Fans

Orbit (Prototype)

The Orbit is a prototype fan that has LEDs coupled with an infinity mirror in the middle. 

Nova

The Nova is an LCP fan, which is a solution to combat the issue of fans stretching out over time, causing them to clip to the sides of their frames. Antec is looking at 0.4 to 0.6 mm or so of spacing in between the fan blades and the frame.

The Nova fans come with fluid dynamic bearings. It also comes with a toggle that offers 3 different fan speeds. 

Conclusion

Antec’s recently released C8 case has made the company probably more relevant now than it has been in a decade.

The company used to be an important brand in the industry. If it can figure out how to push through and get relevant cases on the market again, that would make for an exciting comeback story.