Final Thoughts, Pricing, Conclusion
Final Thoughts
The DF-30 gives power users a lot of unique options and features to think about when they consider their next mid-tower chassis upgrade. The front panel access doors in combination with available fan controllers give this case a considerable edge against other cases at this price point. The additional swappable 2.5″ drive bay at the top of the case is a great functional addition, but I’m not sure how many users will take advantage of it. Most users still use 3.5″ SATA hard drives for their secondary storage drives and I don’t know too many who can afford SSD’s for storage. It might have made more sense to add a swappable 3.5″ SATA drive bay instead.
I also think Antec could have added a couple case handles to the top of the DF-30 and integrated these features seamlessly into the overall theme of the case. I personally would have liked more honeycomb windows on the side panel instead of acrylic, but I can’t complain too much with how Antec designed the exterior of the DF-30. It might have been cool to add covers over the PCI slots on the back of the case to match the covers Antec used over the optical drive bays.
Retail Pricing
The Antec DF-30 mid-tower chassis is available at Newegg.com for $89.99 after mail-in rebate. Consumers can also purchase the DF-30 at Amazon.com for $94.88 and eCOST.com for $101.99.
Conclusion
We’d like to thank our friends at Antec for providing the DF-30 mid-tower cases for our review today. Antec worked extremely hard in 2010 to meet the enclosure needs of enthusiasts and PC gamers and the DF-30 is proof that they did their homework with this target audience. The $89 (after mail-in rebate) price tag is perfectly positioned to make the DF-30 a unique option for those users looking for a standard mid-tower chassis with unique features that won’t be found with any other chassis in its price range or class. The DF-30’s interior and exterior design features made installation and usage an absolute pleasure, but I would have preferred a 3.5″ swappable drive at the top of the case instead of a 2.5″ drive bay. I’m sure Antec will continue to improve upon the feature set available with their Dark Fleet series and integrate more SATA3 and USB 3.0 options into their enclosures.
Strengths
- Solid design and construction
- All black exterior and interior chassis
- Front panel access doors include two 120mm blue LED fans for better airflow properties
- Affordable and small form factor
Weaknesses
- No tool-less installation options for optical bays, hard drive bays, and PCI slots
- No blue LEDs on top 140mm exhaust fan
- Optical bay covers not functional when added additional fan controllers or other optical bay devices
