Noctua Case x Antec Flux Pro, New Antec 900, & High Airflow Cases
This is an interesting case because the Flux Pro was already a thermal chart topper and now the company is adding very expensive, but very high performing fans to it. We’re looking forward to testing it.
In terms of changes Antec has made, besides changing the fans, they’ve added the word Noctua to it. The panel covering is also different. Antec tells us that the steel brown paneling on the case was difficult to match with Noctua’s brown hue. In general, we’ve heard that color matching for manufacturing is apparently very hard. Pretty much every factory we’ve been to has told us this. Antec told us it spent over a month trying to get the correct brown to make Noctua happy with how the color came out. It sounds like everyone is happy with the end result.
Internally, the brown rubber grommets were apparently more difficult than the steel panels to be the correct shade of brown. You can’t use the same mixture between the 2 materials. The top of the power supply shroud is another steel component that is also brown. They are removable mesh inserts, which we talked about in our review of the Flux Pro. Other than the fans and color difference, the tooling of the case is the same.
Noctua is also probably going to include the fan hub pictured above. There’s no ARGB support, which makes sense given their fans don’t have RGB LEDs. It’s simply an 8 PWM fan connector. The PCB has SATA power on one side. The case itself will ship with 6 fans, which is the same amount of fans that the original Flux Pro offered.
The case is the same size and layout as the original Flux Pro and has 2x120mm fans on the bottom (the original featured reverse blade fans on the bottom). The fans used here are the NF-A12 G2s, which are new fans. The rest of the case uses NF A14 G2 fans. This includes 3 of them in the front and 1 in the back. The G2 model we talked about in our NH-D15 G2 review has its fans slightly offset the RPM intentionally to try and avoid beat-frequency phenomenon and such that will create an undesirable noise.
Looking at the back side panel of the case, the unit we saw had extension cables for its fans, which Noctua may also use, but that’s not certain at the moment given the build we saw is early. They’re pretty nice and we use them in our test benches.
The case is essentially the same case we liked but with fans that should perform a little better or at least roughly the same with a different RPM.
The price is currently TBD. The original Flux Pro is about $180 with its 6 fans. The Noctua case, however, comes with roughly $200 worth of Noctua fans. Doing the math, it seemingly adds up to a case amounting to around high $300s or $400s, we think. The case will be sold by Noctua and they are targeting a Q4 release date. The case is also supposed to include a tiny Noctua keychain.
(New) Antec 900
Antec is also bringing back the Antec 900, which originally came out way back in 2006. We know a lot of people in our audience had it.
There were 2 versions of the Antec 900. The 2006 model is the one most people probably remember. It was a very different time and the case was very well liked. If they launched it today, however, it wouldn’t work. Cable management back then didn’t exist as it wasn’t really a thing yet.
It did get the thermal side right as they went with larger fans and it was heavily ventilated. So the company is trying to bring that back with a TBD named Antec 900 model.
The case has a lot of aluminum in it. The model at Computex also came with Noctua fans, but they’re not brown. Specifically, the case featured Noctua’s black NF-A20s, which are fans we’ve reviewed and benchmarked. They did pretty well in our testing.
Antec told us it will also provide a 6-fan variant of the case with the same fans used in the original Flux Pro, which is pictured above.
Antec sort of disappeared for several years in the mid 2010s and then came back with the Antec C8 (read our review), in particular, and has re-emerged on our radar. This new version of the 900 is pretty different from the old one, which is a good thing at this point. The old one was a great case but isn’t anymore.
There’s going to be 2 versions of the case. 1 will come with dual 200 mm fans, potentially using Noctua ones. Pricing on the case is still TBD. We imagine one with Noctua fans will cost at least $300 or so and we don’t have pricing on the model that will come with 6 fans.
The case will have fan rails for its front fans. The fan rails can be offset to different locations via a couple screws. The case we saw was set up for 200mm fans but they can also be moved to accommodate 180mm, 140mm, and 120mm fans.
Looking at the top panel, it uses massive holes in its design coupled with a dust filter. In some ways, this is traditional. The upside is that the actual panel itself isn’t doing a whole lot other than just providing the structure, which means it’s not really getting in the way of airflow because of how huge the holes are. It’s really going to come down to the dust filter for how much air can get through. If you’re going to use the top panel for exhaust, we would recommend pulling the dust filter off because it’s not stopping a whole lot of dust.
One other thing we wanted to point out is an inner plastic on the filter as it actually ends up completely obstructing the outermost row of holes. Antec has got to cover something to get it in there and we guess that they covered the outer row on all sides to create a symmetry aesthetic. This does make it lose a little bit of accessibility.
Looking at the top of the case with the filter removed, you can see that there’s partial obstruction for motherboard clearance. The top of the case can accommodate 120 or 140mm fans. The top tray is held together by a couple of removable screws, which allow you to pull it out.
Removing the glass side panel, which is a gigantic piece of glass, gives us a better look at the inside of the case and exposes the region for the possible shroud top fans. Fortunately, Antec has ventilated the bottom side panel, which is good. There’s no filter included on it so it’s just a mesh panel. Antec has also punched a bunch of holes into the bottom of the case. So if the case uses shroud top fans, they should be able to breathe.
Another thing we liked is that the dust filter is accessible and pulls out from the front. This is nice so you don’t have to pull the case away from a wall to remove it.
The case also has big rubber standoffs for the power supply to sit on top of. It also has the iSHIFT PSU mount, which is also seen in Antec’s Flux series of cases.
For drives, it has 2 SSD mounts on top of the shroud and 3 on the back side of the case.
The “cheese grater” of holes that you see in the image above means that it’s BTF compatible. The case also has 2 sets of grommets, which we like as it accommodates larger motherboards in case the board covers the first set of grommets.
The back panel is also humongous and is perforated on the bottom, which is a good thing for breathability if there’s a shroud top fan.
Our understanding is that in the 6-fan model, Antec wants to do the same exact configuration as in the Flux Pro. This means 2x120mm (probably reverse blade) on the shroud top and 4x140mm fans.
The frame is aluminum and the motherboard tray is steel, which we think is .8 millimeters thick. Aluminum is very expensive. Sometimes case companies use it to employ a “premium” feel to cases. The plus side is that it makes the case a little lighter but will also make it more expensive. Currently, there are also additional tariffs on aluminum imports into the US, which could affect pricing even further. The case will be over $300. We’ll find out more probably towards the end of the year.
The last feature worth pointing out is that the front top panel with the front IO pops out. This provides access to the top, which is good for open-loop access and getting a radiator in and out.
