# Antec Case @ Best Buy



## kiregar (Jul 22, 2004)

Hi all, 

I just wanted to let you know that if you are in the market for a nice case look no further than your neighborhood Best Buy. I was in my local store last night just browsing and I found this great deal. It's an Antec SOHO File Server case which included an Antec 450W PSU for less than 100 bucks. I don't make that much money and I've never had any problems with Antec in the past so I went ahead and picked it up. Besides, my little Hewlett Packard OEM mini-tower case was just begging to be replaced. 

I did have one problem but it wasn't the cases' or my fault. I had to splice the wiring harness for the power switch and power LED, along with the HDD LED because of the way it was set up for the motherboard the lights weren't acting right, but all is well now. 

I don't know if this deal is at every Best Buy, but it's worth a shot to go look back in the computer isle if you need a new case and PSU. 

Just a little review by yours truly, kiregar


----------



## I Fix 4 U (Jul 19, 2004)

sounds like something nice to put on my hp, unfortunately i'm not going to let bestbuy mess with my computer again. I wouldn't buy a case from them, and i'm upset the hp is from them. (i should've installed that hardrive, i know i wouldn't have borken the sound )


----------



## kiregar (Jul 22, 2004)

Well, I have a HP system, just that it's in the new case now. I just transferred everything from the old case other than the wires I didn't need and the PSU because it wouldn't fit of course and besides I got a better one included in the case  I have had mixed feelings about Best Buy. Sometimes they are a great place to shop and other times they are a nightmare. I guess it depends on your circumstances and what store you go to I suppose  At any rate, I'm happy with my purchase and again, if you need a good case at a great price, check them out. My case is the Antec SX 1045BII Performance Series II Black SOHO File Server Case. Just in case you all want to see what it looks like you can use that to search for on the net if you are bored  

kiregar


----------



## CoasterFreak (Aug 22, 2003)

Man, HP cases really do suck. I guess I'm not the only person that moved everything from my HP case to another case.  lol


----------



## I Fix 4 U (Jul 19, 2004)

they look ok but they do suck. ur right. but then ofcourse i'd rather spend the money on ram.


----------



## kiregar (Jul 22, 2004)

Well, my system was in the Pavilion a250n case which was nice to look at and had the awesome blue LED lit power button, but it was just to small. I had absolutely NO airflow in that case and now it's like night and day with this new case    I could dry my hair after taking a shower with the airflow that's coming out of the back of it  It's awesome, and I'm not even remotely done modding it  I'm probably going to add two more fans, one on the window I'm going to be making which will be blowing onto my processor and a blow-hole fan on top. Will probably switch out the fan in the front grille and move it up to the hard drive cage so it can cool the HDD off and then put a blue LED lit fan in the front bottom, that will make for some cool lighting coming out of the grille on the bottom   Slap some CC lighting in there and wallah, perfectomundo  I still have the old case, I might sell it for parts or something on eBay, I wonder how much I can get out of that PSU    

kiregar


----------



## CoasterFreak (Aug 22, 2003)

Not much, the PSU probably isn't that strong (200-350W) But yea, they are really small, good looking cases though.


----------



## I Fix 4 U (Jul 19, 2004)

yawn- i have an a320n and that explains why it stalls when doing to much at once. Darn psu sux. Not much room for expansion in that pc either.   i do like the glowing blue button though. Too bad its set to blink when on standby, which seriously takes the life outta the button. (imo it should just change orange like others)- hey if you can tell me how to keep it a constant glow even in standby that would be nice, i know blinking ones aren't that good.


----------



## kiregar (Jul 22, 2004)

thugedout said:


> Not much, the PSU probably isn't that strong (200-350W) But yea, they are really small, good looking cases though.


Yeah you're probably right,  someone might want it bad enough if they are making a SFF case for LAN parties or something like that though 



iXneonXi said:


> hey if you can tell me how to keep it a constant glow even in standby that would be nice, i know blinking ones aren't that good.


I think that it's programmed to do that. There's a chip on the motherboard that controls the LED's e.g. the power switch LED and HDD activity LED. So I don't figure you'll be able to change that? 

I don't have my system go into standby mode. I leave it on almost all the time because startup and shutdown is hard on a system. Espescially shutting down the system. The CPU is still hot right after shutdown, but yet the fan's don't keep running till it's nice and cool. I'd like to figure out a way to keep mine running for say 20min. after shutdown and then they'd turn off automatically. That'd be nice 

kiregar

*P.S. I'm not getting the email notifications saying that someone is replying to my threads like I should. One day I'll get them and then the next I won't get any  Beat's me why too  *


----------



## I Fix 4 U (Jul 19, 2004)

Different for random, check your user cp. Oh, and i'm sure if i checked hard enough there are jumpers on the motherboard to mess with LED. standby is good for ur computer i think, but i agree with you i seldom shutdown my computer. The fans are still on in standby AFAIK. It will stanby really fast, but harddrives shut off after and hour. Monitor 15 minutes, and so on for other devices. But all i have to do is press the ESC key and they start back up. I usually just logout when i leave my computer, but for long periods of time i will either standby or shutdown.


----------



## CoasterFreak (Aug 22, 2003)

O yes, forgot to add, HP cases usually only work with the mobo's that came with them. My dad wanted my hp case for his older comp (not too old), but the connectors (i.e. power button, hdd led) are designed for that mobo


----------



## I Fix 4 U (Jul 19, 2004)

sux major.


----------



## kiregar (Jul 22, 2004)

thugedout said:


> .........., but the connectors (i.e. power button, hdd led) are designed for that mobo


LOL, I had that problem with my new cases' LED connectors. *see my first post* Luckily I'm pretty good at splicing wires  I'm not an electrician by any means but I get the job done and it works MOST of the time 

kiregar


----------



## I Fix 4 U (Jul 19, 2004)

if you like splicing wires for fun, try converting a SNES controller to a pc gamepad.


----------



## frenat (Jul 6, 1999)

kiregar said:


> I don't have my system go into standby mode. I leave it on almost all the time because startup and shutdown is hard on a system. Espescially shutting down the system. The CPU is still hot right after shutdown, but yet the fan's don't keep running till it's nice and cool. I'd like to figure out a way to keep mine running for say 20min. after shutdown and then they'd turn off automatically. That'd be nice


I've seen a device that does just that. 
http://www.cyberguys.com/templates/searchdetail.asp?T1=148+0515
That site has a little bit of everything. Here are some other sites that mention it. It appears that you need to have a system with a Wake-on-lan port. http://www.telecommander.com/pics/links/cases/postshutdownfan/postshutdownfan.htm

http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=1011

Also you could add a second power supply to your system to just run the fans. Either use an AT style PSU that doesn't need a motherboard to provide power or use an ATX PSU by connecting the green wire to any of the black wires on the motherboard plug. It will then think it is plugged into the motherboard and you can turn it off by the switch on back of the supply. (by the way, make sure it has a switch on the back)


----------



## kiregar (Jul 22, 2004)

Thanks for the links frenat,

That's exactly what I was thinking about  Why is it that all the ideas I have for cool stuff are already made by someone else?????  Guess I didn't think of it soon enough.  

Thanks again, kiregar


----------



## I Fix 4 U (Jul 19, 2004)

well stuff sux for me even worse. I had an idea for something and then 2 days later in the newspaper i see patents for it from some guy miles away from me. Sux really bad b/c if its sucessful it could've been my money.


----------

