Antec Performance 1 FT

[Darksaber]

The Antec Performance 1 FT marks a refresh of their P line of cases and one of the brand's first new full-tower enclosures in quite some time. Packed with four 30 mm fans and tons of room for additional cooling or AIOs, the Performance 1 FT checks all the right boxes and adds a few visual and functional cherries on top.

Show full review

 

[Ferrum Master]

They dropped the ball making the front intake fins movable like in a car

 

[Chaitanya]

Their own P160 had a LED display on front for temp monitoring. Other than stupid HDD cage it looks like a decent case.

Since Motherboard makers have decided debug leds are for motherboards costing atleast $500, as Gamersnexus mentioned in a recent rant video solution would be a header for 7 segment leds to be added externally and case makers can start adding 7 segment displays to cases like what Antec has added to this case.

 

[bonehead123]

Hahahahahaha...

leave it to Antwec to make such a silly-ass lookin front panel, and then top that by including a temperature readout which is covered up by said front panel.....

Can someone please wake me up when they come up with some moar stupid garbaggio....

 

[Ferrum Master]

Hahahahahaha...

leave it to Antwec to make such a silly-ass lookin front panel, and then top that by including a temperature readout which is covered up by said front panel.....

Can someone please wake me up when they come up with some moar stupid garbaggio....

They could have added knobs for some zone temp settings... chair heating... wipers

 

[Sysop]

Needs a 4090 for scale in these new case reviews.

 

[Magician]

This case feels merely 'okay' in my opinion. All the basics (size, appearance, storage slots, expansion slots) are good, but the price is a bit high and the additional screen and software feels really gimmicky and tacked on.

If they'd dropped the screen, and dropped the price to 110-120 USD, that'd be more compelling I reckon. At 150 USD, competition is too tough for this.

 

[enb141]

Definitively not for me, 2 glass windows (I hate glass windows), top power button and USB connectors (instead of being at front), no power or HDD led.

 

[Scrizz]

So now they call mid towers "full towers"

 

[Anymal]

Hahahahahaha...

leave it to Antwec to make such a silly-ass lookin front panel, and then top that by including a temperature readout which is covered up by said front panel.....

Can someone please wake me up when they come up with some moar stupid garbaggio....

And also dust carrier.

 

[Athlonite]

• Four Storm 30 mm T30 fans included WTF I failed to see any 30mm fans unless you mean that the 4x 140mm fans are 30mm thick in which case you should have stated it that like this
• Four Storm 30 mm THICK T30 fans included
• otherwise people might think it actually comes with 4 x 30mm fans

 

[Mussels]

"There are silver fins bent away from the user"
Did you just assume that all users have the PC on their right side? What if they dare to have it on the left side?!
Clearly you must do another review with the images inverted.
(Serious answer, it should direct noise away from you - key word being should)



"Antec iUtility and Display"
"Antec iUnity app"
iConfusion on the name

I like the little temp display, but the appeal of something like that is that it doesnt need software to work - it should have had a temperature probe or two, to insert where you want them.
The obvious flaw here is that you're hoping they keep updating that software every new CPU and GPU release, or it'll become useless - or cause problems like iCue did when they didn't update their code for a long LONG time (many years) causing performance issues on ryzen CPUs, just for temperature monitoring.

As always with mandatory software, it's a worry that to get that feature working is going to come at a resource cost, or even something as simple as limited OS support could make it useless to linux users

 

[cokker]

This looks like a slightly re-tooled and face lifted Fractal Design Meshify 2 Compact

 

[enb141]

"There are silver fins bent away from the user"
Did you just assume that all users have the PC on their right side? What if they dare to have it on the left side?!
Clearly you must do another review with the images inverted.
(Serious answer, it should direct noise away from you - key word being should)



"Antec iUtility and Display"
"Antec iUnity app"
iConfusion on the name

I like the little temp display, but the appeal of something like that is that it doesnt need software to work - it should have had a temperature probe or two, to insert where you want them.
The obvious flaw here is that you're hoping they keep updating that software every new CPU and GPU release, or it'll become useless - or cause problems like iCue did when they didn't update their code for a long LONG time (many years) causing performance issues on ryzen CPUs, just for temperature monitoring.

As always with mandatory software, it's a worry that to get that feature working is going to come at a resource cost, or even something as simple as limited OS support could make it useless to linux users

I also have my case at the left, my old P180 soon to be replaced by a Cooler Master C700m, with that case you can put the motherboard inverted.

Back to Antec software, yes, that software will become obsolete in no time, I bet it won't get more than one update, something that is common now days, they are not the only one, my old Moneual Moncaso has been without screen since windows 10 because they are not produced anymore.

Asus and EVGA soundcards are a clear example of not updating software/drivers, they release just one or two updates and then good luck.

 

[Mac the Geek]

So now they call mid towers "full towers"

I have a hard time justifying "full tower" being applied to anything that doesn't have a single 5.25" bay. Maybe that's an outdated definition, maybe that's an example of Old Man Ranting; either way, this "full tower" is cordially invited to stay off my lawn.

 

[Gmr_Chick]

I actually like this case. Just a little bit of flash courtesy of that front panel, with no gaudy gamer vibes. You could actually use this baby in a more professional setting, or if you simply don't care for the "gamer" aesthetic.

 

[enb141]

I actually like this case. Just a little bit of flash courtesy of that front panel, with no gaudy gamer vibes. You could actually use this baby in a more professional setting, or if you simply don't care for the "gamer" aesthetic.

Professional Cases are pretty much dead now days, 99.99999% of cases build since the last 8 years have glass panels.

 

[Aleksandar_038]

Professional Cases are pretty much dead now days, 99.99999% of cases build since the last 8 years have glass panels.

Moar RGB and moar watercooling that nobody asked for... And yet, people using 360 and 280 mm watercooling in one rig are bellow 1% of users...

Only two cases released recently actually look like they are made by adult people (not that they do not have fair share of flaws):

CW-01B-OP-Chieftec
SETA D1 (silverstonetek.com)

 

[bonehead123]

CW-01B-OP-Chieftec
SETA D1 (silverstonetek.com)

May be my imagination, but did anyone else notice that the product pages for both of these cases, which are from 2 different mfgr's, look almost identical in the way they are laid out ?

 

[enb141]

Moar RGB and moar watercooling that nobody asked for... And yet, people using 360 and 280 mm watercooling in one rig are bellow 1% of users...

Only two cases released recently actually look like they are made by adult people (not that they do not have fair share of flaws):

CW-01B-OP-Chieftec
SETA D1 (silverstonetek.com)

Those cases look what a case should be for this days, but unfortunately they are not perfect, the Chieftec CW-01B-OP doesn't has vertical installation for the video card and I'm not sure if you can remove the hard drive cages at the mid to install longer video cards.

The SETA D1 has vertical video card installation, but is limited to 2 slots, now days pretty much all 4XXX series cards uses 3 or more slots, also I don't know if you can remove the hard drive compartments in order to fit your video card.

The only two cases that nowdays have the specs I need are the Phanteks Eclipse P600S (steel panel) and the Cooler Master C700m (side panel replacement)

Eclipse P600S

Cosmos C700m

May be my imagination, but did anyone else notice that the product pages for both of these cases, which are from 2 different mfgr's, look almost identical in the way they are laid out ?

Totally agreed with you, those look like 95% similar.

 

[Aleksandar_038]

Those cases look what a case should be for this days, but unfortunately they are not perfect, the Chieftec CW-01B-OP doesn't has vertical installation for the video card and I'm not sure if you can remove the hard drive cages at the mid to install longer video cards.

The SETA D1 has vertical video card installation, but is limited to 2 slots, now days pretty much all 4XXX series cards uses 3 or more slots, also I don't know if you can remove the hard drive compartments in order to fit your video card.

The only two cases that nowdays have the specs I need are the Phanteks Eclipse P600S (steel panel) and the Cooler Master C700m (side panel replacement)

Eclipse P600S

Cosmos C700m

Yes, those two looks great. But they are high-end, much more expensive than Chieftec and possibly SS (though they commonly have some crazy pricing without reason...).

Chief is on the other side 100 EUR. It is in no way comparable to Phanteks or Cosmos, and it is not intended for high-end VGA system... But for that kind of money, it is eons above moar-RGB junk in same price range.

And yes, both cases have removable HDD cage, though I still would not like to see RTX4090 in either of them...

 

[enb141]

Yes, those two looks great. But they are high-end, much more expensive than Chieftec and possibly SS (though they commonly have some crazy pricing without reason...).

Chief is on the other side 100 EUR. It is in no way comparable to Phanteks or Cosmos, and it is not intended for high-end VGA system... But for that kind of money, it is eons above moar-RGB junk in same price range.

And yes, both cases have removable HDD cage, though I still would not like to see RTX4090 in either of them...

Totally agree with you, if you want a sub $150 case, Chieftec and Silverstone are they way to go, mid tier, get the phanteks, high end, get the cosmos.

Still as you can see the selection is very limited in comparison to the zillion window panel cases that are sold today.

 

[Mussels]

I have a hard time justifying "full tower" being applied to anything that doesn't have a single 5.25" bay. Maybe that's an outdated definition, maybe that's an example of Old Man Ranting; either way, this "full tower" is cordially invited to stay off my lawn.

5.25" bays are fully retired now, you'll only see them rarely or in server style cases
The simple reason being that USB enclosures cover that market, letting you run those devices externally - and not many do.


Yes, i'm well aware of all the cool devices us nerds can throw in the space ourselves - i'm sad mines blocked by my front radiator.

 

[Aleksandar_038]

5.25" bays are fully retired now, you'll only see them rarely or in server style cases
The simple reason being that USB enclosures cover that market, letting you run those devices externally - and not many do.


Yes, i'm well aware of all the cool devices us nerds can throw in the space ourselves - i'm sad mines blocked by my front radiator.

I have no problem with 5.25" bays being retired, as long as we are offered reasonable alternative.

During the years, 5.25" bay had many uses - optical drives withstanding, but expansion of 2.5 / 3.5" storage capacity, hot swap bays, additional USB ports, fancy controlers... Hell, my junk case - Raidmax Narhwall - is still useful thanks to those 5.25" bays - now it has front USB-C, new front USB ports because junk ones on top died long ago, hot-swap 2.5" bay and card reader.... And two 3.5" hdd mounted on 5.25" bays, allowing me to remove middle HDD Cage to have better cooling for VGA.

Contrary to that, modern moar-RGB-glass shitcases leaves me with 2 front USB ports, 3 at best, and zero expansion possibilities. But I can use 2x 360 AIO in them - I repeat, we are talking about single-digit % of users that have such need. And even than would be served better by cases where there are space for bottom and top 360, and PSU and drives go up front...

This is just perfect way for casing producers to offer less for more money and nothing else...

 

[ADB1979]

• Four Storm 30 mm T30 fans included WTF I failed to see any 30mm fans unless you mean that the 4x 140mm fans are 30mm thick in which case you should have stated it that like this
• Four Storm 30 mm THICK T30 fans included
• otherwise people might think it actually comes with 4 x 30mm fans

The only reason I started to read this review is because I assumed that it was a typo and Antec had released a monster case with 4x 300mm fans. That would be awesome, huge, but awesome.!

Sadly disappointed, especially with the temperature / noise testing. Looks like an OK case to me, but I would only consider this if they did a "cheap version" with no LCD screen on the top, steel side panels and no fans for a sensible price.