Noctua Compromise – Antec Flux Pro Noctua Edition PC Case Review

Meet the Antec Flux Pro Noctua Edition

Noctua has released its first PC case; it’s a custom Antec Flux Pro

The Antec Flux Pro Noctua Edition has arrived, the first official Noctua-branded PC case. The idea is simple: take Antec’s highly successful Flux Pro PC case and Noctua-fy it. Add Noctua’s newest fans, some subtle Noctua branding, and splash some brown into the mix. It’s a simple process, but it works.

Noctua isn’t reinventing the wheel here. They are taking a case design that works and combining it with top-tier fans. Add on some Noctua branding, and we have a Noctua Edition product.

Why Noctua Edition?

Why buy a Noctua Edition product? The simple answer is that Noctua Edition products deliver improved cooling performance and lower noise levels than their “standard” counterparts. Noctua makes good fans, so adding them to a product can deliver noise and thermal benefits. Depending on how users configure their Antec Flux Pro Noctua Edition, users can expect much lower noise levels, greater cooling performance, or a mixture of both. It all depends on how you set your fan speeds.

Noctua Edition products are for those who appreciate the huge efforts that go into crafting Noctua fans. In a sense, they are for Noctua fanboys. They are also for PC builders who want to create quiet systems. Right now, PC builders can create PCs with a Noctua Edition PC case, power supply and GPU. Add a Noctua CPU cooler (remember that Noctua has an all-in-one liquid cooler coming soon!), and you’ll have an almost all-Noctua PC. Right now, there appear to be no plans for Noctua SSDs, DRAM, or motherboards… yet.

iSHIFT PSU mount

At its core, the Antec Flux Pro Noctua Edition is an Antec FLUX Pro. As such, the case is basically the same as Antec’s standard model, albeit with some customisations.

One interesting feature of this case is its 90-degree PSU mount option. Yes, this case supports PSUs in a “standard” configuration, but users who want a twist on this design have the option to reconfigure their PSUs. While Antec says this iSHIFT config supports PSUs up to 180mm long, we will discuss later why that isn’t entirely accurate. This length appears to include cable length, so I wouldn’t try to fit a PSU much longer than 160mm this way.

Fans are not pre-installed

Unlike most PC cases, the Antec Flux Pro Noctua Edition doesn’t ship with its fans pre-installed. While I first thought this was strange, it all made sense once I realised how these fans would be mounted, at least ideally.

Noctua ships its fans with two mounting options. One option is to use rubber mounts, and the other is to use traditional screws. Rubber mounts would provide additional noise damping, while screws would offer a more secure mount for shipping. If these fans were screwed in, silence freaks would want to uninstall them and use rubber mounts. If these fans were installed with rubber mounts, none of the fans would be in place by the time this case reaches you.

Instead of asking would-be rubber-mount users to unscrew 24 fan screws, Noctua opted to provide its fans in a separate box and let users install them themselves. This also lets users install their fans exactly where they want them. While installing these fans is a chore, there’s a reason why things have been done in this way.

Accessories box

Another accessories box includes a Walnut sample, a box of case screws, a PSU mounting bracket, and two PSU shroud blanking plates. Also included is a Noctua key ring, a neat addition for Noctua fans.

Noctua Edition products are for silence-freaks and Noctua fans, so it makes sense for Noctua to send a little keychain to let their users express their fandom further. No, this fan can’t be powered. Don’t expect this thing to help keep you cool in the summer…

One nice addition is the Antec Flux Pro’s screw box. It gives users a place to store their spare screws, which is useful when it’s time to upgrade. No loose screws to loose, just a neat little box to store somewhere.

Non-matching browns…

One annoyance for some users is that this case’s brown tones do not match Noctua’s fans. Not even the case’s rubber grommets match Noctua’s fans. We have been told that these brown tones match other Noctua Edition products, such as those from Seasonic and ASUS. Noctua signed off on these browns, so at least they don’t match on an official level. It is strange, but at least all Noctua Edition hardware matches. Perhaps the intention is to make Noctua’s fans a brighter highlight on Noctua Edition PCs.