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For testing today we are using an AMD Phenom 1055T based system.
Antec Dark Fleet DF 85 Full Tower Case
KitGuru AMD reference gaming system:
Processor: AMD Phenom 1055T
Cooler: Noctua NH C12P SE14 Cooler
Motherboard: MSI 890 GXM-G65
Graphics: eVGA GTX460 Superclocked
PSU: Coolermaster 700w
Hard Drive: Intel 80GB SSD
Memory: Kingston 8GB DDR3 1600mhz
Windows 7 Ultimate Edition 64bit
Thermal Diodes
Raytek Laser Temp Gun 3i LSRC/MT4 Mini Temp
Digital Sound Level Noise Decibel Meter Style 2
Firstly let us have a look at the chassis design and airflow, as it comes ‘out of the box’.
As Antec don't include any front mounted fans as standard we are left with an dead zone at the front of the chassis. This won't really prove much of an issue if you are using an SSD or single 7,200 rpm drive, but for those of you with multiple drives and perhaps a few 10k Raptor units, this area could quickly heat up when under load.
All intake duties are handled by the 200mm Tri Cool fan at the side which pushed air directly over the graphics cards and motherboard. The remaining 2x 140mm and 1x 120mm Tri Cool fans handle exhaust duties.
We have placed thermal diodes in 5 case positions – 1; top optical drive bay position. 2; hard drive position. 3; top area between CPU and fan exhaust positions. 4; above PSU, graphics card (s) area. 5; motherboard central ‘dead zone’ area.
We test with our AMD 1055T at reference clock speeds and voltages. Nothing else is overclocked. Room Ambient temperatures in our labs are maintained at a constant 25c with air conditioning. Load is measured by running Cinebench R11.5 in a loop with Furmark, worst temperatures are recorded through a duration of 20 minutes.
All case fans were set to med way settings to keep noise to a limit (more on this later).
The case maintains internal ambient temperatures with our diodes at room temperature which is a great set of results. As expected the ambient air at the front 1/3 of the case raises a few degrees however the exhaust fans are powerful enough to ensure that still air won't hang, even this far forward.
We installed a 120mm fan at the front of the case – The SwiF2 1201 which we reviewed a while ago.
Several of the diode temperatures dropped by a single degree, specifically those at the front area of the case.
Next we cranked the system speeds, increasing core voltage on the 1055T and overclocking it to 4ghz. We left the additional 120mm fan installed at the front.
These are a good set of results only slightly higher than the DF85 we reviewed a while ago.
Man, no offense to antec, but both this and the DF 85 are quite ugly looking cases.
ITs not a bad looking chassis, but that side fan system which sticks out is a mess. they should have made it wider and moved that internally.
3.3 kg for the side door? christ, thats madness. It looks ok, but I agree the DF 85 seems the better case, if they had finished the front of it !
This looks much nicer than the DF 85 which is the ugly duckling of the antec range.
However, if you can get past the looks, the DF 85 is probably right up there with the Raven 02 for cooling performance.
I want to see lian li reviews here. that case is quite nice, but im a sucker for aluminum, who isnt?
It does look like metal, shame its plastic at the front and that side door would take some getting used to. fair review.
I quite like it. shame they didnt paint it black inside, I forgot how ugly raw material is.
Its quite attractive, the filtered 200mm fan is a stroke of genius ! i love the idea of a 200mm fan which moves massive air, but not having to deal with massive levels of dust later.
Its quite attractive. DF85 I didnt like, but its a shame about the fan that sticks out at the side, it ruins the whole look of it.
Antec make all their cases with heavy metals and not aluminum, thats a shame. Steel is good, but its just so damn heavy. I like the semi portability of aluminum when I move to my friends for some gaming.
It is a lot of case for the money, they dropped the price a lot from the p190 which i have.
I like these cases a lot, the insides are very spacious indeed.
That is very well designed, all the filtering makes live so much easier and I apperciate a company doing all this. I just dont know about the looks.
THe biggest competition it has is from the 900 and 1200.
Very nice looking case. not sure about the side panel either, its a bit messy looking I think.
I really think this is a lovely looking case, im tempted to pick one up.
Nice price drop, but sadly the looks have also dropped 🙁