Antec Gaming 900 or Rocketfish Full Tower?

I've seen/read a lot of Antec 900 vrs. threads on here, but I wanted to get your guys's opinions on this.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8013366&type=product&id=1156203597045

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8428604&type=product&id=1183160363476

My local BB has both in stock for the prices listed here, and I can pick one up today (hopefully). The Rocketfish is much larger, almost a monster of a tall tower compared to the Antec and up until now it was the Antec's price that was making me lean towards that. Then this morning I noticed that the price on the Rocket had dropped quite a bit.

I don't know much about Rocketfish but the case dose seem appealing. Any thoughts? Running a normal ATX board with a single 8600 GTS in it and soon I plan on putting a Thermaltake BIG Typhoon on the 5000+ BE I'm running. (Yes, I know, it's huge and please no jokes about the size of things. I want it just for that "It's HOW freaking big?" expression when others look at it.)

Also only a single HD and single DVD RW, though I plan on upgrading to another 2 HD's in RAID when I get the cash.

they are both good solid cases (looks like it) and I'd say go with what looks best in your mind. I like the "rocketfish" case because it looks nice and thick.

The Rocketfish is a Lian-Li, so it should be solidly built. Here a better picture of the interior. http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1255915

To me the Rocketfish case looks more elegant and stylish. It also has tons of space. Huge but doesnt scream "Look at me!"

On the other hand the Antec case has more fans and thus most likely better cooling.

My vote goes for the Rocketfish.

I did think that looked a lot like the stuff Lian Li makes. I'd get it, its beautiful and huge lol

If you change your hs to a thermalright ultra 120 extreme, then I'll say, go for antec though you may not add a side fan. Antec has excellent air flow and nice blue led lights in the front.

Regarding your GPU, are you sure you wana get a 8600 gts and not a gt?

8800 GT FTW and the new GTS with the G92 is also FTW (but more money)

I'm a lian-li fan and i chaged my old PC-7 for an antec 900 ... my surprise this thing was so small inside ... it s verry cramped ... just tke a look to those pics ... next time i will return with a lian-li ...





and i you still wanna buy a 900 check this link here

If you want a 900, check your local Fry's. I picked one up for about sixty dollars one Saturday.

No local Frys in Northen New York.

Also, I already own the 8600GTS. I plan on going to a Xfire board with 3850's or 3870's later next year when those cards become more avalible for their normal price.

It really does seem to come down to cooling vrs beauty as that Rocketfish's interior looks very sweet. I didn't know it was a Lian Li but after looking at those inside pics it should have been obvious.

Thanks guys. Now lets just hope I don't have to deal with any issues making my purchase at BB.

I just got back, OMG this case is beautiful. It's the nicest case I've ever owned.

I'll post pics once it's up and running.

Damn, can't find my Camera right now. Have to wait until later for pics.

Ok, where to start on this thing? This Rocketfish is definatly a great 150$ case, but at it's normal 200$ price I'm not so sure about it's value.

First the bad parts.

The case itself is not screwless. In fact the only thing that doesn't require screws are the CD/DVD mounts and even then if you don't put screws in the mount feels flimsy and not 100% secure. The size is both a plus and a minus on this case. It's a minus because of Case Wiring. I've got an Antec True Power 480W power supply and in all of my other cases the wires were so long they were a nightmare to try and hide. Well, this is sort of true on the Rocketfish too, but for a slightly different reason. Now I'm having to have the wires fully streached out in some cases just to fit the proper location on my MB and DVD-RW. Granted, this case doesn't have a side window so no one is going to see the slightly messy job, but still it kind of disapointed me.

Also while on the subject of wiring, for those that like to run some cables behind the Motherboard this is quite hard to do with this case. There is virtually no room between the back plate and the right side case pannel so anything thicker than a fan header won't fit.


Now onto the good things.

The case comes with 3 large 12 cm fans, one in front of the HD bays, 1 behind the Processor, and 1 that go's over the PCI slots. I found no jagged edges along any of the metalic parts of the case and didn't cut myself (for once) so that's also a huge plus. The CD/DVD bays have aluminum brushed covers that easily pop out, and the HD's slide on rails to fit onto the lower drive bays on rubber feet keeping the HD very quite. Also if one wished it would be very easy to take those 2 lower bays out leaving one plenty of room to put a water pump extra long power supply with no issues at all.

The door comes locked with 2 keys, and while the way the door locks definatly prevents one from just opening the side of the case and flipping the lock around to unlock it there is nothing to prevent anyone from taking the side of the case off. So no one can just turn the machine on, but anyone can take the machine apart? Seems like an oversight to me. The door is kept in place by a ball bearing instead of magnets to which I am most grateful. Magnets always seem cheap to me, and sometimes they stick due to the magnet being more powerful than needed but this setup allows for easy access to the drive bays (which there are 6 full and 2 small) without any worry of the door accedently flying open.

On the very top of the case is a small flip up panel that lies almost completly flush against the top. Inside are the normal audio connections along with USB and a Firewire Port. I was kind of hoping for an ESATA but again not a big deal, just something to know about.

There is about 3" of dead air space between the top of the MB and the top of the Rocketfish case with venting holes along the back top side so adding another fan there seems to be incouraged.

The case comes with a ton of different screws and bolts, each in their own bag with easy to read lables. It even came with a screwdriver to help put the motherboard mounts in, a very nice touch.

Overall working inside the Rocketfish was a very plesent experience. The only slight hangup I did have was during the MB installation. There are so many different holes where you mount the MB that it was easy to get confused as to which hole you needed to put the mounts into. Nothing a sharpie couldn't help fix and definatly not a bad thing as it just go's to show how many different types of systems this will work for.

I'll go back and edit this post later with pictures. If anyone has any questions they'd like to ask feel free, otherwise thanks for your help in my original question. I feel I definatly made the right choice here. Like I said before, if I had paid 200$ for this I definatly would have expected screwless design on almost all of it and E-SATA port, but at 150$ for those 2 small gripes (which to me seems a bit like nick picking) it's a great box to own.

Digging your insight, cant wait for the pics. Its a real shame my local Best Buys do not have this case on Display. Would really like to check it out in person.

I see what you mean about the motherboard mounting holes. Took a closer look at the picture of the interior and its just littered with holes. However, I guess that's a good thing. Doe not have a negative impact I suppose.

Also I do not mind screws one bit. I actually found that on some cases that do not require screws that things tend to be a bit loose and likes to vibrate. I'm sure this is not true for all Toolless case but its just been my experience. I like to screw in things nice and tight.

The only case I've come across so far that has really sharp edges has been a Silverstone case. I cut my finger real deep on that one.