Antec GX700 Case Review

Today we are going to take a look at the Antec GX700 case, which is one of the latest additions to their range of chassis for gamers. Antec have a reputation for producing a variety of affordable cases which have become very popular over the years, including the 300 and 900 which have found massive favour among the gaming audience. Antec are one of the most established brands in the PC case market and seem to have been around for years. It seems however, that they are keeping a close eye on competition from new entrants to the market like Corsair. After all, the GX700 is a military themed case, similar to the Corsair Vengeance C70. There is a rather large difference in price, though, as the GX700 is aimed at the lower end of the market. Specification Model GX700 Case Type Mid-Tower Color(s) Black and military green Cooling System - Includes 2 x 140 mm top fans Capable of mounting 240 mm radiator for water cooling - Includes 1 x 120 mm rear fan - Optional 2 x 120 mm front intake fans - Optional 120 mm side fan mount to cool graphic cards Maximum CPU cooler height up to 172 mm Water cooling support Rear water cooling grommets Drive Bays - 3 + 1 x 5.25" tool-less drive bays Click-on 5.25" drive bay clasps Top bay designed for controls -5 x 3.5" tool-less HDD tray each with 2.5" SSD/HDD mount Front Ports - 2 x USB 3.0 - 2 x USB 2.0 - Audio In/Out - Fan controller Expansion Slots / video card size - 7 x PCI-E with thumbscrew access / up to 293 mm (11.5") PSU None Motherboard Support Standard ATX, microATX, Mini-ITX CPU Cutout Enlarged CPU Cutout Cable Management - 13 mm of cable routing space behind motherboard tray - Cable routing holes Side panel features - Side Panel Window (Right side) - Two 120 mm fan mounts (Right side - Optional) - One 120 mm fan mount behind motherboard (Left side – Optional) Dimensions - 19.7" (H) x 7.9 " (W) x 17.7"(D) / - 500 mm (H) x200 mm (W) x 450 mm (D) Weight - Net Weight: 13.8 lb / 6.26 kg - Gross Weight: 17.2 lb / 7.82 kg The GX700 is supplied in a large brown cardboard box which is decorated in a simple black livery which has a large image of part of the case on the front. Turning the box around reveals an exploded diagram of the case which lets us see how it's constructed, alongside some basic details about the case. Inside the box, the only accessories we find bundled alongside the case are the screws and fittings necessary for installation and a concise installation guide. The exterior design of the Antec GX700 has a distinct military theme, using a combination of black and dark green in the finish of the case. The main chassis of the case is constructed from steel, although the front panel of the case is plastic. On the top of the case at the front, we find the front panel connections. These consist of two USB 3.0 ports, two USB 2.0 ports, and headphone and microphone jacks. To the right, there is a yellow and black flap which flips up to reveal a fan speed controller underneath. Behind the front panel connectors, there is a large 280 mm roof vent which is populated with two 140 mm Antec fans. The front of the case features four 5.25" drive bays which are secured in place by a series of metal clips on the sides. Moving further down, we find a large red power button and a front air intake vent with room for twin 120 mm fans. Moving round to the rear of the chassis, we find a fairly standard layout. There is a 120 mm exhaust vent which is populated with an Antec branded fan alongside the I/O panel. Further down there are seven expansion slots and a PSU mounting slot at the bottom. Inside the GX700 there aren't many surprises. Removing the side panel reveals an entirely black painted interior which will complement most component choices nicely. There is a fairly large amount of room to work with inside the case, making installation simple. Even though the inside of the case is well designed, it's clear that Antec have cut some corners here and there to keep the costs down. For example, the expansion slot covers aren't replaceable. So once they are removed, they cannot be put back into place. Over on the right hand side of the system, we find five tool-less hard drive caddies which are only accessible from the other side of the system. These caddies also feature mounting points for a 2.5" hard drives should you want to install a SSD into your system. Above the hard drive bays, there are four 5.25" optical drive bays which also feature tool-less mounting clips. These are located on both sides of the system to ensure a secure grip. Installing a motherboard into the system isn't as simple as usual as Antec don't pre-install the motherboard stand-offs like some manufacturers. This job can be fiddly and is quite a pain. There is a large cut-out in the motherboard tray to facilitate CPU cooler installation. In the floor of the system there is a dust filtered vent which means you can install the power supply with the fan pointing downwards if you wish. There are also a few slots cut into the motherboard tray for cable routing and there is enough room for all the cables as long as you tidy them neatly. There is room for long graphics cards in the system and they can easily be secured using the supplied thumbscrews. There was only just enough room for us to comfortably manoeuvre our AMD Radeon HD 7950 into the system so it's probably best to check that your desired card is under 293 mm in length. For our tests we will be using an Phanteks PH-TC14PE to cool the Intel Core i7 3770K CPU in the Antec GX700. Our test system also features an AMD Radeon HD 7950 graphics card. We overclocked the system to 4.8 GHZ for our tests using a voltage of 1.36V. Test System: Processor: Intel Core i7 3770K. Motherboard: Biostar HiFi Z77. Cooler: Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro. Thermal Paste: Arctic Cooling MX-4. Memory: 4GB (2x 2GB) Kingston HyperX Genesis. Graphics Card: AMD Radeon HD 7950. Power Supply: Corsair GS800. System Drive: Kingston HyperX 3K 240 GB. Monitor: Viewsonic VX2260WM. Software: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit). CPUID Hardware Monitor. Prime95 64-bit. Furmark V1.9.2. To test the thermal performance of the Antec GX700 we loaded our test system for 15 minutes using Prime95 and Furmark and recorded the maximum temperatures reached using CPUID Hardware Monitor. We then restarted the system and left it for 15 minutes before recording idle temperatures. Room temperature was maintained at 12 degrees C for the duration of our tests. These results are impressive considering the test system. We do feel that the system would benefit from the addition of some intake fans, however. To conduct our noise level tests, we replaced the graphics card in our system with a AMD Radeon HD 5550 Silence which was passively cooled. We also momentarily disconnected the fans on the CPU cooler so we were only taking into account the noise generated by the fans in the case. We can see from this graph that the noise level performance of the case is impressive, remaining unobtrusive throughout the duration of our tests. Overall we are impressed with what the Antec GX700 has to offer, especially considering the price. The build quality is solid and the aesthetics are ruggedly appealing, making the case live up to it's military-inspired theme. It's clear that Antec have cut a few corners here and there to reduce costs, although that is to be expected. For example, the expansion slot covers are of the snap-off variety which cannot be replaced once they've been removed. The thermal performance of the case is quite good however the fan controller on our sample was broken as the fans would only spin when it was set to low. The fans stopped whenever we moved it up to the high setting or the designated off setting. We got a new sample just before publication and it worked fine. We hope this is an isolated problem. Despite being a budget case, the GX700 has a number of high end features including space for a 280 mm radiator in the top. This is a hint that Antec may be looking to add a 280 mm model to their Kuhler range to compete with the likes of the Corsair H110 and NZXT Kraken X60. At the moment, you're 280 mm water cooler choices start and finish with the Kraken X60 which is the only model which will fit due to the 15 mm fan spacings. At a price of £55 from Overclockers UK the Antec GX700 is very competitively priced indeed. Its around £40 cheaper than the only other military themed case on the market, the Corsair Vengeance C70. Sure, it doesn't come close to the Corsair unit on a build quality level, but for those who are on a budget it's got everything you'll need. Pros Rugged aesthetics. Solid build quality. Good airflow. Room for 280 mm water cooling units. Great Value. Cons Useless fan controller. KitGuru says: An impressive case from Antec that offers excellent value for money!

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Antec GX700 Case Review

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