Internals and System Build
The three chamber design for the S10 separates the components from the power supply (pretty standard these days), but also completely separates storage as well.
The two sides of the enclosure are connected for power and data along the bottom edge, but cooling is handled independantly with a single downward-blowing fan under the HDD/SDD bays.
This fan pulls air down from the top, where a removeable filter keeps things clean.
The bays themselves are 100% tool-less and work extremely well. There is a soft rubber lining wherever a 3.5" HDD would be installed to prevent vibrations, and each section holds a pair of 3.5" drives and a single 2.5" SSD. With three of these sections up to 6 hard drives and 3 SSD's can be installed in this part of the S10.
Down under the motherboard there's another area for SSDs, and here we have a simple 5-bay slotted bracket with a quick-release latch up front.
A removable 120mm fan bracket is located next to the lower SSD mount
The S10 comes equipped with no less than 7 fans pre-installed, with three 120mm fans for the main air intake, a pair of 140mm fans up top, and a 120mm fan on both the exhaust and the HDD section.
We already saw the fan filter for the storage section, and there are also screen filters for the main intake section and PSU.
Finally, no enclosure review would be complete without looking at the door panels, and on our S10 sample they are made from very thick aluminum (a version with tempered glass will also be available).
The doors simply lift straight off their hinges and are easy to remove/replace.
Completing a Build
Moving things back home (aka: Casa del Sebastian, though my wife refuses to call it that for some reason) I completed a build using components a bit less impressive than you saw in the video. No Fury X or $1k processor this time, but I will still go over some of the notes from the build process.
Simply put, this case is extremely easy to build in. There was no part of the process that was even remotely difficult, and the alternative dual-chamber design posed no challenge. I was initially concerned about how far away the hard drives would be from the motherboard, until I looked at the included accessories and found a half dozen extra-long SATA cables. Why was I worried? Antec has clearly thought this enclosure through.
I used a micro-ATX motherboard since I've adopted that standard to allow the same system to be used in smaller cases, but this system screams for a huge gaming or workstation board. There's certainly enough room for wide boards to fit easily, especially if you were to take out the triple intake fans.
Speaking of these fans, both the primary intake and upper 120mm/140mm fan mounts are actually removeable brackets, attached only with a pair of thumbscrews for easy removal. With the last couple of Phanteks cases I've looked at I noted that radiator mounts should be on removeable brackets on all cases – and I was very pleased to see it here. What should I have expected for the flagship enclosure? Everything. So far I haven't been disappointed.
Storage is completely tool-free and very well designed
Next we have the storage, and for this example I installed a pair of 3.5" hard drives and as you can see there's still a space for an SSD to slide in next door on the right side of the chamber. With three of these chambers there's a very good amount of hard drive storage capacity, and Antec provides 6 extra-length SATA data cables to connect them.
For SSD storage I would personally use the lower SSD bracket under the motherboard, which accommodates 5 more 2.5" drives.
Another nice touch is a pair of hard foam sleds for the PSU mount, not only preventing vibration but creating a chamber for very good airflow for your PSU fan. Very large power supplies are supported, and in this example my standard ATX PSU leaves a lot of room to tuck away extra cable mess.
Next we'll take a closer look at the completed build from both sides, and then see how the S10 performed!
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?