Antec Titan 650 Server Case

[Polarman]

I wanted to post my own little review of this case(enclosure).

When i made my recent build, i was looking for something great without breaking my budget. Something that combined both case and psu in the same package that would fit my bill and under my desk too. I use to have an Antec Sonata case which was pretty darn good for my needs. But this time, the latest Sonata III could not fill my needs. I needed something a bigger and more powerfull to accomodate my new system that included a faster CPU, Dual video cards for Crossfire, 3 HDD and two optical drives. After looking around for a couple of weeks, i found what i was looking for.

Antec's Titan 650 Server case.

http://www.antec.com/us/productDetails.php?ProdID=91561#

You can see additional pictures here

First thing i noticed when i got the box, was the weight. This thing is 30+ pounds heavy. The case is made of 1.0mm steel. When you get this monster out of the box, you can see why... This thing is big. 17.6" (H) x 8.1" (W) x 23" (D). Yes i know, there's bigger than this. What i liked was the depth, at 23 inches, there's enough room in there to put the longest video cards on the markets. There's plenty of storage area too, 10 Drive Bays, 4 External 5.25" (one with 5.25" to 3.5" adapter) and 6 internal 3.5". The four external bays are behind a double hinged door that can open up all the way to the side of the case (270 degrees). This is the only part that i find a bit flimsy. The door and hinges are all plastic and could break if not carefull. But it does cut down on noise coming from a spinning CD/DVD.

The entire case is painted black (not piano finish) and there's no windows or artwork on this thing. This not a case to impress people at a LAN party. It's a very plain case, but still very sexy like a woman all dressed in black. Hahumm! moving on... The front has 2 usb ports, 1 IEEE1394, audio in and out. The power button and reset are behind the door. When you remove the side panel, the whole front part can open up like a giant door so you can access the bottom part where all the HDD goes. These are behind a second metal door(grill) that you can add 2 optional 92mm fans to cool your HDD's and at the same time get some fresh air inside the system. I put one 92mm Smartcool fan here to help if need be.

The side panel has a hole that you can mount an optionnal fan (80mm) to blow some cool air directly where your video cards should be. I also put one fan there and connected it to a speed control thingy to keep the noise down. In the back, You have a 120mm Tricool fan that serves as the main exhaust. The Tricool fan lets you adjust the speed making your system more quiet if you want. There's 7 expansion slots for your motherboard needs.

Now the best part. This case come equipped with Antec's TruePower Trio 650W Power supply.

http://www.antec.com/us/productDetails.php?ProdID=23650

Crossfire/ SLI certified. 5 year warranty. Very nice indeed. You can check some reviews here and here.

Installing everything was made much easier thanks too the longer size of this thing. Even my two X1950Pro wich are 9 and a half inch long are still far away from the HDD's. I was even able to hide some of the PSU wires behind the other panel in the back of the motherboard making the overall look of the inside much neater. I did not install the CPU back plate that came in the box because it would have interfered in my case. It's not has quiet has my old system, of course not. But its not that bad considering how much stuff there's inside. I paid 200$(can) when i got it wich is a good deal for a case/PSU package.

Overall, i'm very pleased with the Titan 650. I'll give it a score of 87%

Pros: Roomy, Elegent, Easy to work on, excellent PSU with a 5 year warranty

Cons: Flimsy door, May need more fans for cooling, Not the most quiet.

[Rob2687]

I have the TX1050 which has the same plastic double hinged door. The axle thingamabob on the hinge is a tiny piece of plastic that cracks very easily. They should have made that metal. It was the only weak part of the case though. Everything else was built like a tank.

[Napalm Frog]

I have the Titan 550 (essentiall the same, but with 550W power supply), and it is definately a very nice case. Only major downsides: Could be about 1" higher, as with the Socket A CPU the Big Typhoon wouldn't fit in with my CPU. And 2, I'm not fond of the plastic door, but it does its job.

[+Warwagon MVC]

case looks nice, though I would never get another cause if it didn't have the hard drive bays facing the outside of the case for easy access.

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