The Outside

This content was originally featured on Amdmb.com and has been converted to PC Perspective’s website. Some color changes and flaws may appear.

Antec Performance Plus 1080B SOHO File Server - Cases and Cooling 23 Antec Performance Plus 1080B SOHO File Server - Cases and Cooling 24
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As you can see above, this is one sleek case. All black (Not really black but you will see later), with a door to hide your CDRs and floppies. I like the door on the case. They just keep the lines clean, although others do not like doors, I do. It’s a personal preference. The case is lockable and does come with the round keys for the case. Great feature for a server room as you never seem to know who has access to the room.

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As in the previous pictures you may have been able to notice the side (blowhole) case fan. This is a great feature for those systems that run hot or have a high-end video card like a CAD station. With tons of RAM and dual RAMDACs many high-end video cards can really heat up a system. This added feature of the Antec PP1080B helps in this situation. You can then move onto the back of the case with two more 80mm fans installed to exhaust all that heat from your system. With cheap cases today coming with 1 60mm exhaust or 1 80mm exhaust, this case has two. That should be plenty to do the job.

Antec Performance Plus 1080B SOHO File Server - Cases and Cooling 27 Antec Performance Plus 1080B SOHO File Server - Cases and Cooling 28
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In these pictures you can better see the front of the case. It has some new and unique features such as the USB and FireWire ports up front just below the door for the demanding user. You will also notice several (read as allot) of LEDS up front. I have yet to find a use for all of them, but I’m sure someone who has allot of drives or other functions from their motherboard can be put to good use with those LEDs.

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The above pictures show another new feature in the front fan filter. The unique part of this feature is you don’t have to open nor pull apart your case to remove and clean it. The picture on the right shows a couple of legs that stick down on either side of the fan. Just pull those two ends together and pull down the filter screen, clean it, and put it back. Real simple. Well, sort of. My first couple of times removing the filter was a bit troublesome. I couldn’t get the knack down for easy removal of the filter screen, but by my third or fourth try I figured it out. Fat fingers, didn’t help. Perhaps a longer extension to the arms to remove the filter would have helped.

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As I said earlier this case is all black, but not really. It is a dark charcoal grey and not pure black. As you can see in the above picture when compared to a generic black power cord, it’s much easier to tell the color of the case. Since most people have seen the black power cord before, any picture quality degradation is removed to get my point of color across to you. Now we move on to the inside.

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