Antec Eleven Hundred: The P280's Gloves Come Off
by Dustin Sklavos on April 9, 2012 12:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
- Antec
- mid-tower
Introducing the Antec Eleven Hundred
Towards the end of last year, I took a visit out to Antec's campus in Fremont to see two new cases: the headlining P280, and the shortly-to-follow Eleven Hundred. The P280 we've already reviewed; it's as much a complement to the existing P180 series as it is a refresh, but our review of the Eleven Hundred has been conspicuously absent since its launch. That's due to a combination of bad timing and the fact that, superficially, the Eleven Hundred has an awful lot in common with the P280, pushing other cases to the front of the line.
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With the refreshed case testbed I decided it was time to take a look at the Eleven Hundred, if for no other reason than to at least get a comparison point that was similar to the P280 in our results. As it turns out, though the Eleven Hundred shares the same fundamental framework and chassis as the P280, the differences between the two are far more notable than they seem.
The chassis used as the foundation of the Eleven Hundred is identical to the one the P280 enjoys (including the fan power hub in the back), but the side, top, and front panels are all different, as is the stock cooling configuration. The result is an enclosure that looks similar in many ways, but has a few different strengths and weaknesses, and most definitely performs differently.
| Antec Eleven Hundred Specifications | ||
| Motherboard Form Factor | ATX, Micro ATX | |
| Drive Bays | External | 3x 5.25” |
| Internal | 2x 2.5"/6x 3.5" | |
| Cooling | Front | 4x 120mm intake (two in front of the drive cage and two internal) |
| Rear | 1x 120mm exhaust | |
| Top | 1x 200mm blue LED exhaust | |
| Side | 3x 120mm fan mounts (one behind the motherboard tray) | |
| Bottom | - | |
| Expansion Slots | 9 | |
| Front I/O Port | 2x USB 3.0 (via motherboard header), 2x USB 2.0, 1x Headphone, 1x Mic | |
| Power Supply Size | Standard ATX | |
| Clearances | HSF | 180mm |
| PSU | 300mm | |
| GPU | 13" / 330mm | |
| Weight |
15.3 lbs. 6.9 kg |
|
| Dimensions |
20.7" x 9.3" x 21.5" 527mm x 237mm x 546mm |
|
| Special Features |
Silicone grommets for side fans USB 3.0 via motherboard header Internal fan mounts Toolless SSD installation Fan mount behind motherboard tray Molex-powered internal fan hub |
|
| Price | $100 | |
If you go back and pore through our Antec P280 review, a lot of what you'll see with the Eleven Hundred will look very familiar. Specs are almost identical, but what's interesting is that the Eleven Hundred removes the option to mount a 240mm radiator to the top of the enclosure that the P280 has, instead replacing it with a massive 200mm exhaust fan. The fan control switches in the back are gone, too; the opening is still there since the Eleven Hundred uses the same basic chassis as the P280, but instead there's just a single switch to toggle the blue LED for the fan. The conclusion these elements (and more) lead up to is that though they share a chassis, the P280 was engineered for acoustics while the Eleven Hundred was engineered for performance.
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Stahn Aileron - Monday, April 9, 2012 - link
Would it be too much to ask that you actually place the ambient tempurature during testing somewhere on the graphs themselves so we have a readily accessible reference point right there on the graphs? It would also work as a reminder to readers what the conditions are.Dustin Sklavos - Monday, April 9, 2012 - link
The ambient temperature is going to vary from test system to test system, that's why I switched to listing the delta.Rick83 - Monday, April 9, 2012 - link
You did check, that the delta is a constant over ambient temperature though, did you? It may not be for every case. Also, of course, fan speeds will be impacted by ambient/internal temperature.If you can, you should probably run two series of tests, one in the morning and one in the evening, and then either average that or use one measurement, but at least comment the other. At least for noise, we need ambient temperature, as otherwise that value is completely without base for comparisons.
kandrtech - Monday, April 9, 2012 - link
Those familiar with thermodynamics, and the equations utilized, would agree that the delta approach is the best. Variances of a few (or 10) degrees on ambient will not appreciably change the delta results. By appreciably, I mean you'll see differences out to one or more decimal places . . . .niva - Monday, April 9, 2012 - link
Are you talking 10 deg C or F?Ideally your ambient temperature should be somewhere in the +/- 5 deg of 70 deg F. These are the normal temperatures most households are kept at. There may be a significant difference between the noise produced by components at 65 deg F, and someone's house which may be normally kept at 85 deg during the summer daytime because of lack of AC?
And I'm talking about idle situation here...
The point was valid, just include the temperature in your test data.
bobbozzo - Monday, April 9, 2012 - link
The article describing their new methodology for case testing seems to indicate that ambient temps are maintained between 71-74F.http://www.anandtech.com/show/5709/introducing-our...
ShieTar - Tuesday, April 10, 2012 - link
But those familiar with modern PC design are aware that fan-control systems generally try to achieve a constant CPU/GPU-temperature. Thus when you raise the ambient temperature to somewhat higher levels, CPU/GPU fans tend to speed up, giving you lower Delta-T values at increased noise.Thus it is important to still run these tests at comparable ambient temperatures, and if this is indeed checked at each test, it should be no problem to change the title of the temperature graph to read "Delta over ambient at 20+/-2°C". Or whichever is the range that is controlled and accepted by the tester.
O8h7w - Saturday, April 14, 2012 - link
I feel perfectly good about showing the temperature as delta above ambient instead of absolute temperature. But it seems many readers would like to see the ambient temperature at the time of testing reported as well, and I have to agree.The way of doing this that would make perfect sense in the graphs is to modify the labels to look like this:
Antec 1100
@ 23°C ambient
Lucian2244 - Monday, April 9, 2012 - link
Good review, i was wondering how it would look with a mATX in there.Is it just me or their cases get uglier and uglier ?
Iketh - Monday, April 9, 2012 - link
It's not you... this case is ugly... AND stupid...Enough with filterless side vents already! Why even have side vents? That's a damn 80's design, speaking figuratively...