Antec S10 10-Slot EATX Premium Case Review

[Crashman]

Antec goes beyond its normal budget-to-professional range in its solid-aluminum paneled S10, but does the performance of this premium-material case help to justify its premium price?

Antec S10 10-Slot EATX Premium Case Review : Read more

 

[youcanDUit]

for 200 bucks you'd think they would throw some of those super thin cables. that usb 3.0 port plug thin and at a right angle would've been sweet. 200 bucks tho. geez.

 

[Crashman]

for 200 bucks you'd think they would throw some of those super thin cables. that usb 3.0 port plug thin and at a right angle would've been sweet. 200 bucks tho. geez.

Has that even been done before? The people I've talked to say it's not possible. Remember that each cable feeds two ports, so it's two cables, and each of those two cables has to carry separate USB 3.0 and USB 2.0 signal wires.

 

[Scorpionking20]

I'm a consumer of higher end cases. This thing doesn't appeal at all to me. Plastic? Please, no. I'm hoping to see more aluminum cases with tempered glass in the future.

 

[turkey3_scratch]

It doesn't appeal to me very much either. Good review though!

 

[Adhmuz]

Typical Antec design, cable routing behind the mother board tray was not thought of, it never is. For being a "Server" oriented case I would have liked to have seen more 3.5" slots for real storage, considering the lack of ODD bays you'd think the front of the case would have been nothing but 3.5" with adapters for 2.5" units. I really find it hard to understand why cases need room for so many 2.5" drives, I doubt people will have the need for more than two SSDs, they've gotten to the price where it's easier to upgrade to a larger unit and hand me down the smaller one to another system. They could have easily put 8 or 10 3.5" slots, but I guess then they wouldn't be able to do the worse thing ever which is appose the natural convection of heat and blow it out the bottom of the case? What we're they thinking... And it comes in at a monstrous 38 pounds, I never like Antec cases, this one gives me even more reason to dislike the brand.

 

[RedJaron]

Newegg has this on sale for $200 right now. Not a bad deal.

Reading this, it seemed to me to be a more professional looking CM HAF X ( that things looks horrid to me ). I see a lot of good ideas in here, like the split side panels for separate drive / mboard access and the hidden external bay compartment. Combined with great cooling and less noise, it definitely sparked my interest. But yeah, panels popping open and the segmented cable paths trip it up at the finish line. So frustrating to see a product so close to being great, but miss out because of the small obvious things.

 

[Crashman]

Newegg has this on sale for $200 right now. Not a bad deal.

Reading this, it seemed to me to be a more professional looking CM HAF X ( that things looks horrid to me ). I see a lot of good ideas in here, like the split side panels for separate drive / mboard access and the hidden external bay compartment. Combined with great cooling and less noise, it definitely sparked my interest. But yeah, panels popping open and the segmented cable paths trip it up at the finish line. So frustrating to see a product so close to being great, but miss out because of the small obvious things.

It was $300 when tested. At $200, I think some people will want to consider whether they should tolerate the cable management workaround (pulling some of their cables through the motherboard compartment), in order to get a case with a super-high cooling-to-noise ratio.

 

[gilbadon]

I would love to see a water cooled build (custom) inside this thing.

 

[joex444]

I want to see a Mini-ITX board in there.

 

[Daniel Ladishew]

This is a case specifically designed for the EATX and larger mobos, yet testing was done with the normal test bench... WHY? I think it's very obvious that normal components are going to fit, what we need to see is how everything fits and works when your using the parts the case was designed for.

 

[Crashman]

This is a case specifically designed for the EATX and larger mobos, yet testing was done with the normal test bench... WHY? I think it's very obvious that normal components are going to fit, what we need to see is how everything fits and works when your using the parts the case was designed for.

Why? To get useful numbers to compare all the other ATX-or-larger cases tested.

 

[RedJaron]

It was $300 when tested. At $200, I think some people will want to consider whether they should tolerate the cable management workaround (pulling some of their cables through the motherboard compartment), in order to get a case with a super-high cooling-to-noise ratio.

Right, didn't want to make it sound like you got the price wrong in the review, just pointing out a sale. As you said in the review, the case is definitely worth $200 in terms of cooling/noise performance.

This is a case specifically designed for the EATX and larger mobos, yet testing was done with the normal test bench... WHY? I think it's very obvious that normal components are going to fit, what we need to see is how everything fits and works when your using the parts the case was designed for.

Because testing cases involves checking their cooling and acoustic performance. And to keep the tests consistent to properly compare one case to the next, the internals need to be kept consistent.

It's not feasible for Thomas to try every combination of hardware in trying to find something that doesn't fit. From the pictures it's perfectly clear that the mboard has at least two inches ( if not, more ) of space below, above, and to the front. What board, GPU, or other component are you suggesting won't fit in this case?

 

[-Fran-]

I just bought a Thermaltake Urban S41 and it's brilliant for it's price (got it on sale, ~65GBP is ~120USD-ish?). From what I could read, this case does not make a good point, unless you want to go big. And even then, you have the CM Cosmos line and the HAF-X for heavy duty builds. I mean, they have wheels! That is bloody brilliant, haha. There are very good options in that price range in all honesty, so if anyone is looking for a case, you'll be in for a lot of reading and video watching. I mean, I spent like 5 hours choosing between the Aerocool 800, TT T81 and the CM Storm Scout. I loved the CM Storm Scout when I put together a build for a friend, but I didn't like that stupid front door, the Aerocool had issues with backplates for some coolers (I'm using a TT Frio, so I wasn't gonna risk it) and the T81 was just too freaking expensive, haha. I did like the T81 the most, but the S41 is great.

Sorry, back on point: I just don't see the appeal for this case at that price point. I read some saying it was at 200USD, which makes more sense for the features and drawbacks it has, but by no means the best choice in the bracket IMO.

Cheers!

 

[nikolarun]

Meh,
I've had the Lian-Li V2100 for nearly 12 years. All Alu 12x 3.5" hdd slots 7" 51/4" slots plenty of room and all.
I don't see what this case has above it

 

[SinxarKnights]

Newegg has this on sale for $200 right now. Not a bad deal.

Reading this, it seemed to me to be a more professional looking CM HAF X ( that things looks horrid to me ). I see a lot of good ideas in here, like the split side panels for separate drive / mboard access and the hidden external bay compartment. Combined with great cooling and less noise, it definitely sparked my interest. But yeah, panels popping open and the segmented cable paths trip it up at the finish line. So frustrating to see a product so close to being great, but miss out because of the small obvious things.

It was $300 when tested. At $200, I think some people will want to consider whether they should tolerate the cable management workaround (pulling some of their cables through the motherboard compartment), in order to get a case with a super-high cooling-to-noise ratio.

I'm not sure what is up with those price links you guys use but it shows as $350 and $500 in the "PRODUCTS IN THIS ARTICLE" section.

What is up with that?

 

[thundervore]

This case is terrible! It is worse than terrible and rather that doing a write up of why its terrible here is a video outlining the terrible design of this case

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIgkdhq-4FM

In short:
- cable routing nightmare when running cables to the hard drive chamber
- the fan orientation in the hard drive chamber makes no sense
- for such a huge case it hacks HDD space

 

[Crashman]

This case is terrible! It is worse than terrible and rather that doing a write up of why its terrible here is a video outlining the terrible design of this case

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIgkdhq-4FM

In short:
- cable routing nightmare when running cables to the hard drive chamber
- the fan orientation in the hard drive chamber makes no sense
- for such a huge case it hacks HDD space

That explains the wrong price. The wrong price is for the glass version. I'll let my boss know since he does the product links

 

[f-14]

[/quote]From a marketing standpoint, the only option available to case manufacturers was to scrap existing "right sized" cases and come up with new EATX-compatible models.[quote/]
that explained so much when i got to the pictures of it opened up, i lol'd so hard.
i was hoping for a bottom to top air path and was almost certain of it by the case base that this was an awesome solution. sadly it was tricked by the pictures, tricked by the interior despite warning about the antec marketing guys as the reason for this case.

well this case at the least inspired the proper design i was hoping it would be, and i shall built it myself and see if i can't sell it to them. if not i have a nice server replacement case that i don't need as my modification to a 2002 server case made by supercase makes the price tag on this antec thing look ridiculous.

i'm of the same opinion as the other guys about the cable management nightmare this thing is.

there is no cable management option that came with my supercase because the m/b is on a folding down tray and quite frankly there's so much room i just used plastic cable tubing because all my drive cables were labeled anyways and zip tying them to the frame of drive bay racks was so incredibly easy and convenient.

that thought just inspired an even cheaper, easier and nicer looking solution to cable management for the drives. i think i better get a patent form now..... see ya bye

 

[dfryda]

The case I chose for my build was from Supermicro. If you truly want a high powered gaming rig that can handle large mother boards, 4 double wide video cards with dedicated power hooks-ups for them and tons of hard drives, check out this case. This case is also super quite, can hardly hear it running, unless of coarse all 32 cores are at 100%, then the fans kick up to full speed and I can heat my entire basement when it gets cold outside.

http://www.supermicro.com/products/nfo/files/GPU/GPU_SC747TG-R1400B-SQ.pdf

 

[Pedro_The_Swift]

I know I'm getting old,, but has your camera man ever thought of using a flash/spotlight? I understand about shadows,, but those pics were all shadows anyway,,

 

[Crashman]

I know I'm getting old,, but has your camera man ever thought of using a flash/spotlight? I understand about shadows,, but those pics were all shadows anyway,,

It's kind of hard to shoot black cases when direct lighting causes harsh reflections.Occasionally I use flash to get inside the case and then edit out the reflections

 

[VM_Guy]

I decided to buy it. At $200, it is a great price compared to what i have seen for it in the last 3-4 months. The main reason i am getting the case beacuase it has Ultra or "XL" E-ATX. still lookin at MOBOs but XL is plenty of space.

 

[Virtual_Singularity]

This case has settled at a price of $199, which seems reasonable compared to the ~ $500 it debuted for. Though, imho, even the current reduced price point still fails to make up for the inherent design flaws and lack of quality construction that come with the S10. I doubt I'd go for it even if it was offered for $100.

Some of us were hopeful Antec would be offering genuine innovation with this case; that, regardless, it surely would have to be a product of excellence for the initial asking price. That it turned out to be neither, is rather disappointing.