The GOAT: Antec 900 Case Revisit & New 900 (2026) Review, Benchmarks, and Thermals
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Date: 2026-03-07
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Comments and reviews: 20
45eno
I still have a original Antec 900 in use! I had two of them and parted out the 2nd one taking the solid back metal panel to replace the ugly plexy window on the one still in service. Looks much nicer with the old plastic window gone. It's my primary HTPC / File Server in our living room. 9600X w/ Noctua D15/X670 Aorus Elite/6700XT/32gb 6000 CL30/2x8TB mirrored HDD/3tb Gen4 Samsung NVMe/2tb Gen3 NVMe/Seasonic 500watt Gold. The Noctua D15 has like a MM or 2 of clearance from the metal side panel, it doesn't touch though. The 200mm fan failed but I pulled the other fan off the parts case. I have 8 other modern AM5 builds and this is the only one with a old case in service. The main reason I still use it is because the 5.25 bays can be installed on the bottom portion of the case which works great for having this PC up in the TV nook. I can access the optical drive, hot swap drive(8tb offline back up) and USB-C add on ports at basically eye level. We still occasionally use an optical drive for homeschool videos so it's still needed. I even added magnetic dust filter on the front that looks like it was designed for the case. The case is great for the front modular design if old tech is still needed in a 5.25 bay, it also has great airflow. The design though is very dated so cable management sucks which isn't a issue as I covered up the insides with that metal side panel so it looks much more modern. I have looked for options to replace the case but couldn't find any solutions. Soon enough the optical drive will retire and I will someday do a case swap. I've had this in service what 18-20yrs My kids builds have modern cases, with very clean styling and cable runs. Most all of them get used except the other 2 media PC's that get minimal use. I'm typing on my garage PC with a 7600X/B650/32gb 6000MT CL30/3060ti on 1080p 24 180hz Samsung G3. PC's are fun.
I see the beige SX830 Antec case in the video. That was my first build case I ever used. Got rid of that long long ago though, good heavy case for it's day. Nice locking HDD drive bays with 80mm purple fan frames.
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I still have a original Antec 900 in use! I had two of them and parted out the 2nd one taking the solid back metal panel to replace the ugly plexy window on the one still in service. Looks much nicer with the old plastic window gone. It's my primary HTPC / File Server in our living room. 9600X w/ Noctua D15/X670 Aorus Elite/6700XT/32gb 6000 CL30/2x8TB mirrored HDD/3tb Gen4 Samsung NVMe/2tb Gen3 NVMe/Seasonic 500watt Gold. The Noctua D15 has like a MM or 2 of clearance from the metal side panel, it doesn't touch though. The 200mm fan failed but I pulled the other fan off the parts case. I have 8 other modern AM5 builds and this is the only one with a old case in service. The main reason I still use it is because the 5.25 bays can be installed on the bottom portion of the case which works great for having this PC up in the TV nook. I can access the optical drive, hot swap drive(8tb offline back up) and USB-C add on ports at basically eye level. We still occasionally use an optical drive for homeschool videos so it's still needed. I even added magnetic dust filter on the front that looks like it was designed for the case. The case is great for the front modular design if old tech is still needed in a 5.25 bay, it also has great airflow. The design though is very dated so cable management sucks which isn't a issue as I covered up the insides with that metal side panel so it looks much more modern. I have looked for options to replace the case but couldn't find any solutions. Soon enough the optical drive will retire and I will someday do a case swap. I've had this in service what 18-20yrs My kids builds have modern cases, with very clean styling and cable runs. Most all of them get used except the other 2 media PC's that get minimal use. I'm typing on my garage PC with a 7600X/B650/32gb 6000MT CL30/3060ti on 1080p 24 180hz Samsung G3. PC's are fun.
I see the beige SX830 Antec case in the video. That was my first build case I ever used. Got rid of that long long ago though, good heavy case for it's day. Nice locking HDD drive bays with 80mm purple fan frames.
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AustinClick
I feel like even the target marketing is a miss too. 9 drive bays and 5 are 2.5 SSD. If you're building with SSI EEB, you're building with high PCIE lane mobos that probably have additional PCIE connections for 2.5 or U.2 drives in addition to the GPUs. There should be STACKS of drives at the front of that case to ACTUALLY store data. It supports 200MM fans, so ship with 200MM fans that are noise engineered for me to game or build AI in utter silence. Provide a shroud to direct airflow right at the GPUs for me to use the passive models. This would be a fantastic opportunity to do a dual cooling chamber design for the best possible CPU temps while you have 4 GPUs drawing more power than a circuit can actually provide. Give me custom rad support, 420 on top and front, with a 240 or 360 on the bottom. Even considering an AI WS view, I would look for other options that are actually professional. The ball drop on this is actually stunning, and I say this as a long time Antec fan.
I will say, their review brief is probably right. If you load this up with 96 cores and quad RTX 6000, it would give the best performance out of every case on your list, but it's probably the only one designed for that.
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I feel like even the target marketing is a miss too. 9 drive bays and 5 are 2.5 SSD. If you're building with SSI EEB, you're building with high PCIE lane mobos that probably have additional PCIE connections for 2.5 or U.2 drives in addition to the GPUs. There should be STACKS of drives at the front of that case to ACTUALLY store data. It supports 200MM fans, so ship with 200MM fans that are noise engineered for me to game or build AI in utter silence. Provide a shroud to direct airflow right at the GPUs for me to use the passive models. This would be a fantastic opportunity to do a dual cooling chamber design for the best possible CPU temps while you have 4 GPUs drawing more power than a circuit can actually provide. Give me custom rad support, 420 on top and front, with a 240 or 360 on the bottom. Even considering an AI WS view, I would look for other options that are actually professional. The ball drop on this is actually stunning, and I say this as a long time Antec fan.
I will say, their review brief is probably right. If you load this up with 96 cores and quad RTX 6000, it would give the best performance out of every case on your list, but it's probably the only one designed for that.
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RetroToilet
I worked in the marketing department at Antec during the release of the NINE HUNDRED. Great to see there are still fans of that case and that people remember it. Definitely my favorite product from when I worked there. Part of my job was writing box and ad copy; so, I actually wrote the ridiculous box copy that you highlighted (good times!). I was deep into the local LAN party scene at the time. In fact, the first time the case was shown to the public was at Showdown LAN 2006 in San Jose. We showed early production samples at the event because it was just before the product launch. My boss gave me one of the samples and I built a system into it using a Danger Den water-cooling kit that I got at the LAN. So, my Nine Hundred is the first one to ever have a water-cooled system built into it (yes, I still have it). Also, I looked through my old notes and found some copy I wrote for a Nine Hundred Fan naming contest. Apparently the idea was to solicit names from the public for the 200mm fan. I don't recall if we ever did it, or if Big Boy was something the head of the marketing department came up with.
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I worked in the marketing department at Antec during the release of the NINE HUNDRED. Great to see there are still fans of that case and that people remember it. Definitely my favorite product from when I worked there. Part of my job was writing box and ad copy; so, I actually wrote the ridiculous box copy that you highlighted (good times!). I was deep into the local LAN party scene at the time. In fact, the first time the case was shown to the public was at Showdown LAN 2006 in San Jose. We showed early production samples at the event because it was just before the product launch. My boss gave me one of the samples and I built a system into it using a Danger Den water-cooling kit that I got at the LAN. So, my Nine Hundred is the first one to ever have a water-cooled system built into it (yes, I still have it). Also, I looked through my old notes and found some copy I wrote for a Nine Hundred Fan naming contest. Apparently the idea was to solicit names from the public for the 200mm fan. I don't recall if we ever did it, or if Big Boy was something the head of the marketing department came up with.
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DTA-Music
I owned _two_ of those venerable old Nine Hundreds, one of which (the updated version with USB 3!) I still have, still housing my Devil's Canyon i7-4790k with the insanely expensive custom dust filter I had made for the front. I've considered fitting it with modern components and putting it back into service in some capacity. Cable management was a challenge for sure, but not as horrific as advertised--it just required some thought and care. The little rubber sheet they included for the cutout on top is still providing vibration damping for a portable drive that sits atop my Fractal Define 7, which owes its two top exhaust fans to how much I liked those old Big Boys. The new one may be a serviceable case, but it's kinda ugly and certainly not revolutionary or iconic. Disappointing, especially with the price and all that overblown AI-centric hype.
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I owned _two_ of those venerable old Nine Hundreds, one of which (the updated version with USB 3!) I still have, still housing my Devil's Canyon i7-4790k with the insanely expensive custom dust filter I had made for the front. I've considered fitting it with modern components and putting it back into service in some capacity. Cable management was a challenge for sure, but not as horrific as advertised--it just required some thought and care. The little rubber sheet they included for the cutout on top is still providing vibration damping for a portable drive that sits atop my Fractal Define 7, which owes its two top exhaust fans to how much I liked those old Big Boys. The new one may be a serviceable case, but it's kinda ugly and certainly not revolutionary or iconic. Disappointing, especially with the price and all that overblown AI-centric hype.
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gamersnexus
My home server lived in one of these for many years. It was a great case for that, it was easy to mod it so that you could fit a dozen drives in the front, and they’d be well-cooled by the intake fans.
I do think you need to lay off on ragging on AI though. The future of consumer gaming is in APUs, not bulky GPUs. A properly integrated APU with a hybrid of shared memory and VRAM would perform on par with mid-tier graphics cards, which frankly is more than you really need nowadays with how good upscaling and framegen are getting. I’ve played modern AAA titles on my laptop just fine, and that thing only has a 780M for graphics. Big cases will be reserved for workstations, and the main workload requiring one of those these days is just AI. The times are changing and you need to change with them.
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My home server lived in one of these for many years. It was a great case for that, it was easy to mod it so that you could fit a dozen drives in the front, and they’d be well-cooled by the intake fans.
I do think you need to lay off on ragging on AI though. The future of consumer gaming is in APUs, not bulky GPUs. A properly integrated APU with a hybrid of shared memory and VRAM would perform on par with mid-tier graphics cards, which frankly is more than you really need nowadays with how good upscaling and framegen are getting. I’ve played modern AAA titles on my laptop just fine, and that thing only has a 780M for graphics. Big cases will be reserved for workstations, and the main workload requiring one of those these days is just AI. The times are changing and you need to change with them.
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CaseOfSpace2695
I still run my Antec Nine Hundred, with a modern AM4 in it (still have the Phenom II 4x I'd originally done the build with; it still boots fine). I've swapped the fans (but drilled holes for the LEDs and hot glued them in) and modded the front IO with USB 3 and replaced the firewire with a USB C port. It's louder than my main PC (Fractal Torrent), but it's been my main workstation for 20 years and seeing a video with the old girl in it just made me all smiles.
I've known a bunch of people who had the case over the years, and most of them the Big Boy 200mm fan went out. Mine's spent most of it's 20 years on and spinning, and it's still going strong. guess I won the lottery.
I just wish the new 900 was named anything else. It's not an hommage. At least, not that I can see.
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I still run my Antec Nine Hundred, with a modern AM4 in it (still have the Phenom II 4x I'd originally done the build with; it still boots fine). I've swapped the fans (but drilled holes for the LEDs and hot glued them in) and modded the front IO with USB 3 and replaced the firewire with a USB C port. It's louder than my main PC (Fractal Torrent), but it's been my main workstation for 20 years and seeing a video with the old girl in it just made me all smiles.
I've known a bunch of people who had the case over the years, and most of them the Big Boy 200mm fan went out. Mine's spent most of it's 20 years on and spinning, and it's still going strong. guess I won the lottery.
I just wish the new 900 was named anything else. It's not an hommage. At least, not that I can see.
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jarnobot
I'm still using my first gen Antec Three Hundred. It's the only part of my system that I haven't replaced since my first real gaming built I did in 2010.
I've thought about replacing it a few times, but always came to the conclusion that money was better spent on peripherals and upgrades that actually improved performance.
I will probably keep using it for my gaming system for many more years. Once I will finnaly replace it, it will probably become the case for my homeserver.
Amazing case. Together with my Steam Deck, It's one of the best value things I bought for gaming.
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I'm still using my first gen Antec Three Hundred. It's the only part of my system that I haven't replaced since my first real gaming built I did in 2010.
I've thought about replacing it a few times, but always came to the conclusion that money was better spent on peripherals and upgrades that actually improved performance.
I will probably keep using it for my gaming system for many more years. Once I will finnaly replace it, it will probably become the case for my homeserver.
Amazing case. Together with my Steam Deck, It's one of the best value things I bought for gaming.
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gamersnexus
This video has inspired me to go pull mine out of the closet...after i post this. I had put a wofedale cpu in there and a crossfire setup if im remembering correctly with 2 - Saphire 4870's i think ...with vapor cooling technology!! Lol. 4 gigs of ddr800 reaper ram. Cant believe i didn't just put in one good video card...crossfire was a waste. I think i parked it for a bad stick of ram or defective slot..cant remember. I guess ill go find out! Battle for Middle earth 2 here we come!
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This video has inspired me to go pull mine out of the closet...after i post this. I had put a wofedale cpu in there and a crossfire setup if im remembering correctly with 2 - Saphire 4870's i think ...with vapor cooling technology!! Lol. 4 gigs of ddr800 reaper ram. Cant believe i didn't just put in one good video card...crossfire was a waste. I think i parked it for a bad stick of ram or defective slot..cant remember. I guess ill go find out! Battle for Middle earth 2 here we come!
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ELCrisler
The original Nine Hundred with that 30 degree front IO and the tray was awesome. The size of the new case reminds me more of the Twelve Hundred. The Nine Hundred was the first case I ever reviewed for the radio show I was doing. This feels like they want to money grab off the name of one of the greatest cases of all time and missed the mark. The Nine Hundred could be remade with triple front intake and some case management with the same features externally and the 20mm fan at the top back.
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The original Nine Hundred with that 30 degree front IO and the tray was awesome. The size of the new case reminds me more of the Twelve Hundred. The Nine Hundred was the first case I ever reviewed for the radio show I was doing. This feels like they want to money grab off the name of one of the greatest cases of all time and missed the mark. The Nine Hundred could be remade with triple front intake and some case management with the same features externally and the 20mm fan at the top back.
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bradwicks5438
I keep all my classic cases from at least 15 yrs ago and just rebuild them and will never part with them. Because I have been saying for at least that long that so called modern cases with bottom mount PSU and no external drive bays are a piece of crap. If you have no external drive bays you can't even add a front USB hub, which I consider a necessity. The so called modern PC is neither personal nor utilitarian and it's case is just as much of a piece of crap as its OS is.
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I keep all my classic cases from at least 15 yrs ago and just rebuild them and will never part with them. Because I have been saying for at least that long that so called modern cases with bottom mount PSU and no external drive bays are a piece of crap. If you have no external drive bays you can't even add a front USB hub, which I consider a necessity. The so called modern PC is neither personal nor utilitarian and it's case is just as much of a piece of crap as its OS is.
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TwistedDTM
I'm still rocking my Antec 900 and I've always loved it. I have one of the slightly updated ones, tiny bit of cable management and water cooling holes (not that I've ever used them). Mine originally came with the 8800 GTX and couldn't fit a side panel fan with the scythe orochi CPU cooler I ended up putting in being as large as house radiator. The front fans whine a bit every now and then these days, but they are about 15 years old so I can't complain too much.
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I'm still rocking my Antec 900 and I've always loved it. I have one of the slightly updated ones, tiny bit of cable management and water cooling holes (not that I've ever used them). Mine originally came with the 8800 GTX and couldn't fit a side panel fan with the scythe orochi CPU cooler I ended up putting in being as large as house radiator. The front fans whine a bit every now and then these days, but they are about 15 years old so I can't complain too much.
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fremenondesand3896
Really appreciate this retro case review.
I had a lian li aluminium case that looked like the apple one of the era.
Not only did it have the hard drive on the bottom, but had the motherboard upside down. I liked that. CPU on the bottom, AGP/PCI slots above. Let the heat from the graphics card waft up.
The hard drives though made the side panels resonate.
Shame really, nice case, would do well these days with SSD's.
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Really appreciate this retro case review.
I had a lian li aluminium case that looked like the apple one of the era.
Not only did it have the hard drive on the bottom, but had the motherboard upside down. I liked that. CPU on the bottom, AGP/PCI slots above. Let the heat from the graphics card waft up.
The hard drives though made the side panels resonate.
Shame really, nice case, would do well these days with SSD's.
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durdy911
Geometric Future M8 Series is a way better case then the new 900 for AI or HPC. I been through countless cases for my EPYC builds. The build quality is second to none and the airflow is great since the board is mounted vertically. I got mine for only 129 on sale. Its a good try though. I wish them well. Still love Antec. Had a Dual Pentium 3 build in my old 900 with 3GB SDram (had 3 slots on the mobo, 2 socket 370 cpus). the good times.
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Geometric Future M8 Series is a way better case then the new 900 for AI or HPC. I been through countless cases for my EPYC builds. The build quality is second to none and the airflow is great since the board is mounted vertically. I got mine for only 129 on sale. Its a good try though. I wish them well. Still love Antec. Had a Dual Pentium 3 build in my old 900 with 3GB SDram (had 3 slots on the mobo, 2 socket 370 cpus). the good times.
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ValentinNadolu
I had an Antec Nine Hundred on my first personal build! Still have it stashed somewhere! I was the original revision without any cable routing holes in the motherboard tray so I cut my own. I learned how to properly use a dremel with a cutting disk on metal on that occasion. Oh yes, I 'member the good ol' days!
Thanks for satisfying my curiosity on how the old 900 would do with a more modern setup! I guess I'm going to keep it!
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I had an Antec Nine Hundred on my first personal build! Still have it stashed somewhere! I was the original revision without any cable routing holes in the motherboard tray so I cut my own. I learned how to properly use a dremel with a cutting disk on metal on that occasion. Oh yes, I 'member the good ol' days!
Thanks for satisfying my curiosity on how the old 900 would do with a more modern setup! I guess I'm going to keep it!
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gosuprime
that 2006 case was WAY ahead of its time for airflow, it's honestly not far off a Lian Li 216 which is an amazing performer (I got a 216x for my build, and love it). Also, that custom side panel shows they actually cared instead of slapping a steel panel on the side. Aesthetics and airflow, and this was out way before the Lian Li or Fractal cases. And it stills outperform many cases today.
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that 2006 case was WAY ahead of its time for airflow, it's honestly not far off a Lian Li 216 which is an amazing performer (I got a 216x for my build, and love it). Also, that custom side panel shows they actually cared instead of slapping a steel panel on the side. Aesthetics and airflow, and this was out way before the Lian Li or Fractal cases. And it stills outperform many cases today.
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vyvian8
Did you ever do a full review of the Lian Li SUP-01 I remember a video where you talked about it as an interesting up and comer in an interview with Lian Li's designers, but I'd be curious if the design actually improves thermals any since it is very different from the common case layouts or if it's just marketing fluff. I tried searching for it, but I only find the interview video.
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Did you ever do a full review of the Lian Li SUP-01 I remember a video where you talked about it as an interesting up and comer in an interview with Lian Li's designers, but I'd be curious if the design actually improves thermals any since it is very different from the common case layouts or if it's just marketing fluff. I tried searching for it, but I only find the interview video.
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Waffls
The first PC I ever built completely from scratch for myself was in an Antec 900 in 2007. My dad also used a 900 for many years because it had all the drive bays. In 2013 I picked up a gunmetal gray 900 from Craigslist for $50 and I still have that one. I've been thinking about doing a retro build in that or the P180 I've had since 2009. (I'm definitely not a hoarder )
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The first PC I ever built completely from scratch for myself was in an Antec 900 in 2007. My dad also used a 900 for many years because it had all the drive bays. In 2013 I picked up a gunmetal gray 900 from Craigslist for $50 and I still have that one. I've been thinking about doing a retro build in that or the P180 I've had since 2009. (I'm definitely not a hoarder )
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ItsJustElenore
They do make some nice cases, though. My CX700M is a really nice case for the price. The new 900 is kinda crap tho lol.
The name of a legendary case slapped on the most generic full tower imaginable. Oh but it's so great for AI!! Yeah, because it's a full tower and fits SSI EEB and multi-gpu. We get it. A 2013 Corsair 750D or 900D can do the same thing.
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They do make some nice cases, though. My CX700M is a really nice case for the price. The new 900 is kinda crap tho lol.
The name of a legendary case slapped on the most generic full tower imaginable. Oh but it's so great for AI!! Yeah, because it's a full tower and fits SSI EEB and multi-gpu. We get it. A 2013 Corsair 750D or 900D can do the same thing.
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tomferguson9250
I always wanted one of these, but I ended up getting the early 300 model. Now I'm back with Antec again using the F.Lux wood model & it's one of the best I've bought in recent memory.
Also love the MaxPC shoutout, I had a subscription years ago before they went fully digital, they were a big reason I got into the tech scene back in the day.
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I always wanted one of these, but I ended up getting the early 300 model. Now I'm back with Antec again using the F.Lux wood model & it's one of the best I've bought in recent memory.
Also love the MaxPC shoutout, I had a subscription years ago before they went fully digital, they were a big reason I got into the tech scene back in the day.
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cc0767
Always interesting to see old cases from before I got into the hobby. My first build over 10 years ago now was actually just a dell office prebuild I saw for cheap and managed to swap a proper GPU in. Now I have a Fractal North and I will likely keep it for a long time, but I do wish there was a mATX version of it because it really is kinda big.
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Always interesting to see old cases from before I got into the hobby. My first build over 10 years ago now was actually just a dell office prebuild I saw for cheap and managed to swap a proper GPU in. Now I have a Fractal North and I will likely keep it for a long time, but I do wish there was a mATX version of it because it really is kinda big.
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