CES 2009 - Cases, Coolers, and Power Supplies
by Christoph Katzer on January 14, 2009 3:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Trade Shows
There was a difference at this year's CES: fewer companies with coolers, chassis, and power supplies were actually on the show floor and more in suites around the Strip. This is why we have toured hotel suites for the first couple of days and didn't even come close to the actual show floor until Saturday. Some companies had many new products to show or at least initial samples. Some others came with products that already launched and didn't show anything new. Antec is one of the companies with a whole new lineup of products, the P1000 chassis perhaps being the most interesting.
Antec's New P1000 Gamer Chassis
Antec is showing off their new P1000 at this year's CES. It's a new gamer chassis that Antec put a lot of work into creating. Even though this chassis is still in development it could be out very soon. Antec showed it at the show to get feedback from editors and customers and it seems that feedback was very positive so far. Please give us your thoughts about in the comment section, and you can be sure Antec will see them.
The chassis has a metal structure covered with plastic sheets to improve the appearance. The surface is rough instead of smooth, which we found appealing. There are handlebars on all four corners to aid in moving the case around, with the chassis standing on the two on the bottom.
The venting concept seems to be very cool and we are looking forward to testing it. The front is totally closed and the air comes in through the large openings on the sides. Antec wants to keep larger openings facing away from the user to keep noise down. The side panel has another large fan installed with the opening angled towards the back - again to keep noise from projecting at the user. The top has a 200mm fan that exhausts most of the air from the chassis. The back sports another 120mm fan at the height of the CPU to help exhaust air.
Antec installed three hard drive cages, each supporting three vertically mounted hard drives. The bays are easily removable to the front. (Please note that the fan on the one picture of the drive bay is installed facing the wrong direction). The inside of the chassis is all black. You will be able to install a normal ATX size power supply or Antec's own standard like the CP-850. We do hope this case is available soon, with a price of around $200 to $250.
Power Supplies: CP-850, a New Earthwatts, and a New TruePower
Antec is one of the first retail brands to say good-bye to the normal ATX standard - at least on one of their products. The CP-850 uses Antec's own standard that is basically just a taller casing for the power supply. With this design Antec is able to stick a large 120mm fan at the front of the PSU to push air through the power supply. There are two main PCBs inside as we have seen in the Signature series. The taller construction also enables Antec to choose larger components that are obviously cheaper than special smaller ones that fit in normal sized power supplies. That means the CP-850 should be cheaper than other power supplies with the same specs, with the big disadvantage that it won't fit in any cases other than some of Antec's latest offerings.
The Earthwatts and TruePower series both extend to 750W with the EA-750 and TP-750 Blue, and the TruePower Quattro comes now with up 1200W. We have seen this model before and we hope it's finally ready to ship to the retail market. In general, we see more high-wattage power supplies these days from Antec; we hope the company doesn't forget the smaller wattage offerings that many have come to appreciate.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
39 Comments
View All Comments
legoman666 - Wednesday, January 14, 2009 - link
You said they'd see our comments about the case, so here it is.Get rid of the door. It serves no purpose, it is probably easily breakable, and it just blocks access to the drives.
JonnyDough - Thursday, January 15, 2009 - link
I'm in agreement about the doors. What would be nice is to have OPTIONAL doors. Some cases have doors that just aren't easily removable if at all, and while some cases give you the option of removal, removing the door just leaves your case looking less than desirable/unsymmetrical. Also, the whole mesh cover thing is way overused. I personally don't much care for the look, and it serves little benefit. A very small FILTERED air slot between EACH bay would be ideal. Keep this in mind on future designs please. We want to keep the inside of our cases CLEAN, we want easily removable/washable filtration, and we want EACH BAY to receive a tiny bit of air flow. In fact, why not have a stick with filter "fingers" that slide into a slot. One pull and all the filters between the bays come out. Make it flexible/attachable/replaceable. I'm sure it can be done.My idea is kind of like this:
|----
|----
|----
|----
|----
|----
|----
Where the | = a connecting bar on the front side edge of the case
and
---- = filter fingers between bays.
Thanks.
JonnyDough - Thursday, January 15, 2009 - link
Also, if any case designers like my idea feel free to get a hold of me through Anand. I have a ZILLION other fantastic case design ideas. I am creative, but unfortunately I am not very good with CAD.Christoph Katzer - Thursday, January 15, 2009 - link
You can be sure that the companies are reading each comment. The problem with front-doors is that some like it some not.JonnyDough - Saturday, January 17, 2009 - link
Doors provide a nicer look, and they protect the drives. Arguably, they can also keep the drives cleaner. The problem is that you have to open the door before you can use the drive. So if designers can make the front of the case look better, while still providing some protection then the problem is solved. I think what case designers need to do is perhaps borrow from the HTPC drive cases. HTPC cases sometimes incorporate an aluminum flap for the drive bays, which requires one to sometimes remove the front bezel or tray bezel from the DVD drive.What we really need is a new standard for disc drives and cases. The fundamental DVD drive bezel and case bezels need to be reinvented.
9nails - Wednesday, January 14, 2009 - link
My only purpose for the door = Windows COA stickers.I don't like the looks of the COA stickers on my case, but from time to time I need to rebuild and read and need the number from the sticker. (I actually buy my software, so I have the sticker.) This is, when I don't bother to slipstream a CD/DVD with the Product Key preloaded in setup. It would be helpful for me, at least, to have an ID Card that slides out (maybe this can be a part of the Antec took box?) that I can put my XP, Vista, and probably soon to be Windows 7 stickers.
gemsurf - Wednesday, January 14, 2009 - link
To Antec- Please upgrade the quality of the front usb port modules that come with many of your cases. The quality seems to have slipped the past year-(I have had 3 or 4 replacements for approximately 50 Antec builds). I love and am loyal to Antec cases, but these have been an annoyance!Additionally, with USB everything being used nowadays, and most motherboard manufacturers having atleast two internal USB headers, why are 4 front port usb connections so rare? I build or modify many systems based soley on the fact that I put either 4 or 6 (easy to get to) front usb ports.
gemsurf - Wednesday, January 14, 2009 - link
Just to add to my above suggestions- I build alot of workstation systems and have been using the NSK 4400/4480 as my primary case. I like them for the quality and look and the Earthwatts 380 PS. A similar case, with the addition of 4 front USB ports, and an easier to open design would be near perfect in my little world.7Enigma - Wednesday, January 14, 2009 - link
That's why the 500-550w PSU article hasn't been put up on anandtech. OK vacations over, gimme the review please! :DHopefully you have included the Tuniq Potency 550PS that Mr. Fink mentioned in the comments section of the $1000-2000 system builders article. I ended up purchasing it sight unseen due to the incredible price ($40 after $40 rebate). I didn't really want a new PSU, but couldn't pass up this *possible* deal.