Introduction and First Impressions
A massive full tower is Antec’s new flagship
The Antec Signature Series S10 is the company's new flagship enclosure, and it looks every bit the part. A massive full-tower design with seemingly no expense spared in its design and construction, the S10 boasts many interesting design details. So is it worth the staggering $499 price tag? (Update: A day after our review was published Newegg cut the $499 MSRP by $150, taking the S10 down to $299 after a $50 rebate.)
The Signature S10 is an interesting product to be sure. Antec, long renowned as a maker of premium cases has in recent years lost some of the cachet that they once had with enthusiasts. This is no reflection on Antec and more a result of the industy's flood of enclosures into the market, with virtually every brand filling all price segments. Corsair, SilverStone, Fractal Design, Lian Li, Cooler Master, In Win, NZXT, BitFenix, Phanteks, and the list goes on and on…
So where does the new S10 enclosure fit into this market? Antec made the daring move of placing the Signature enclosure directly at the top with a shocking $499 retail price – which subsequently dropped to $449 and then again to $349 before a $50 rebate. I can think of no other recent enclosure this expensive at launch other than the In Win S-Frame, and it positioned the S10 as an unattainable object for most builders. So was Antec successful in creating an aspirational product – even before the recent price cuts?
Is that… Batman??
First we'll take a look at the specs:
Specifications
Enclosure Material: Aluminum, Plastic (version with tempered glass panels available)
Enclosure Dimensions: (HxWxD) 23.7" x 9.5" x 23.2", 39 lbs
Motherboard Size
Up to 12” x 13” (304 mm x 330 mm)
Mini ITX / Micro ATX / Standard ATX / XL-ATX / E-ATX
Drive Bays
6 x 3.5" Quick Release Tool-Less Bays (HDD)
8 x 2.5" Quick Release Tool-Less Bays (SSD)
Top I/O Panel
4 x USB 3.0
5.25” Shallow Depth Bay for Control Panels
HD Audio In and Out
Power / Reset Button (Tap for Power, Hold for Reset)
Cooling
Motherboard Chamber
2 x 140 mm top exhaust fans
3 x 120 mm intake fans
1 x 120 mm rear exhaust fan
Water cooling support :
Top: 240 / 280 mm radiator
Center: 240 / 280 / 360 mm radiator
Rear: 120 mm radiator
Washable air filter – Large
Chamber Dimensions: 14.76 in (W) x 7.08 in (D) x 17.51 in (H)
Power Supply Chamber
1 x 120 mm intake fan (optional)
Washable air filter – Medium
Chamber Dimensions: 15.15 in (W) x 8.07 in (D) x 4.01 in (H)
Hard Disk Drive Chamber
1 x 120 mm exhaust fan
Washable air filter – Small
Chamber Dimensions: 5.51 in (W) x 7.87 in (D) x 18.11 in (H)
Our thanks to Antec for supplying the Signature S10 enclosure for our review!
- Antec Signature S10 Enclosure: $499 – Amazon.com | $449 – Newegg.com
First Impressions
We had a close look at the enclosure in the studio, and it's an impressively large (nearly 2ft high and deep) and heavy (nearly 40 lbs) thing to behold. With its thin profile the S10 is dominated by the wide side panels, and the case is divided into two separate chambers with thick aluminum doors on each side.
The S10 features Antec's "Three Chamber Design" (Image credit: Antec)
The S10 is large but it has a slim profile with a width of 9.5 inches, tapering down to a very narrow 6.5 inches on the front. This tapered front section is rather surprisingly made of solid plastic (as is the top panel), and it gives the S10 a tall, angular look.
Though there is a 5.25” drive opening on the top above the I/O, this doesn’t support an optical drive as it is very shallow. This seems to be meant for a fan controller or other control/display device, though one is not included with the enclosure.
Around back we have a 120mm exhaust fan and no less than 10 expansion slots (this is full-tower after all), enabling the S10 to support quad-GPU setups for that true cost-no-object gaming rig; appropriate for a case positioned as it is in the market.
Next we'll take a look inside the S10 and then check out a system build with this giant case!
Weaknesses
*butt ugly
Weaknesses
*butt ugly
*costs more than my first car
*no
“Costs more than my first
“Costs more than my first car”
hahaha f’in hilarious
Christ almighty that is
Christ almighty that is expensive. For the same price you could get a better looking, limited run boutique case.
I like the looks, and the 10
I like the looks, and the 10 expansion slots gets a big thumbs up from me. Lots of nice touches as well. The price – well, as Sebastian and Ryan said, would be more acceptable in the $350 range, or less. For $500 I wouldn’t want any plastic components in the otter case at all.
Nice review Sebastian. 🙂
$450 is Caselabs territory,
$450 is Caselabs territory, and I don’t think many people would choose this over one of those
Twinsies!!!
I see you guys
Twinsies!!!
I see you guys settled on uniforms. Black T-Shirt with blue jeans.
You just need to make Josh follow the dress code.
What an expensive ugly
What an expensive ugly joke…
My next pc will be a zotac zbox with a nvidia 970m or something.
Gona mount that to the back of a 34″ 21:9… fuck all your fugly tower cases.
Horrible trolling…enjoy
Horrible trolling…enjoy playing Minecraft at 2560×1080 🙂
FYI – It’s currently listed
FYI – It’s currently listed on Newegg.com for $349 plus a $50 mail-in rebate. Still $499 on Amazon.com.
That was really quick! It’s
That was really quick! It's almost like they read our review… 🙂
Even at $300 it is too steep.
Even at $300 it is too steep. There is no technology in this thing that puts it at advantage. $200 tops. SO many flaws which Hardware Canucks point out.
I don’t like to post other reviews on here normally but I feel Sebastion missed some really important points.
1. Can’t fit a corsair 105 240mm rad on top..
2. Rubber grommets soft and fell out really easy + poor location
3. Top 3rd of the inside top intake fan is blocked.
4. SSD slots wobble on the front compartment
5. Dust filter mesh is too course and lets too much dust by.
6. No rubber pads on the bottom.
7. Main interior of the chassis is a normal rectangle
8. 3 Pin fan hub in a top of the line case? They are $2
Sebastion, In general I like your reviews but would like to see a little compilation starting of case/gpu/cpu temperatures using higher grade GPU’s that run hot. It is unlikely someone is going to buy this case and run a R9 280 dual x. The 290 or 290x are good candidates to use as a template. Fury X is a bad idea because it is water cooled.
I bought this thing. Here’s
I bought this thing. Here’s my points …
1 – Butt ugly? Who cares, I look at my monitor, not the case.
2 – You don’t mount a radiator at an exhaust, you mount it on the intake, which can take a corsair or anything up to 380mm.
3 – I have a Titan X, no problem with size or cooling. I could easily fit a four-way SLI Titan setup (which I don’t need).
4 – Plenty of room for my Asus Rampage V with 64Gb Corsair Domminator with cooling kit. I’m using a Cooler Master Nepton 240M on the CPU, with the radiator at the front intake. I use an i7-5960x and when running all 8 cores (16 threaded) at full load temp never climbs above 58 degrees (c). (I use this machine for 3D rendering using LuxRender, so I do use all of the RAM and cores often. I don’t game, at all).
5 – Been running this for months and live in a dusty urban environment and I do not have any dust inside. I keep the multiple filters clean and use the airflow according to the designed methods (like not using a radiator on an exhaust).
6 – Cable management is clean, with no cables interfering with airflow, since most run under (on the side) the motherboard
7 – Grommets should be soft (to do their job properly) and mine weren’t loose.
8 – SSD slots only wobble if you do not use the guide rails supplied with the case.
9 – I paid $199USD
10 – Love the fact I can use a separate intake fan and filter just for the PSU in its own chamber. Keeps the 1200w PSU heat away from the motherboard and storage bay (which also has its own isolated fan and filter.
For me … it’s all about performance. This case does what a case is supposed to do, keep thing organized, accessible and cool. And I happen to like the simple clean look.
I have to ask how the heck
I have to ask how the heck did you get the bracket to fit onto the water cooler. I have the H115I Corsair 280mm and no matter what I try I can (Not) get the bracket to work.
The screws included (small ones) will only screw into the bracket if you turn it upside down but then the rear fan is then in the way and you can not use the thumb screws to put it in place.
Also the small screws won’t work on the bracket when turned supposedly the right way because they are too small. Did you have to purchase longer screws to complete your build or do you have smaller than a 280mm cooler?