Antec Performance P120 Crystal Review
Up Close: Interior
While not strictly speaking the interior of the case, we think the reverse side of the right hand side panel qualifies, if not purely because it enables us to examine the large magnetically attached air filter that guards the large intake area on the right hand panel.
Having looked at the side panel. the first thing that strikes us about the Crystal is that the PSU is mounted at the top of the case, as opposed to the bottom. From a thermal dynamics point aspect, this is a better choice, as the PSU will not be disgorging heat into the case, although as the fan on the PSU is actually sucking air from the interior of the case, there’s a chance that if this air is too warm, it will adversely impact on the performance of the PSU. In reality, we think this factor is of little relevance.
The PSU mount is enshrouded with an attractive plastic casement that displays the ‘Performance Series’ pedigree of the case. Although it may be plastic, the shroud does look to be of high quality, with the effect being finished off with a removable end piece, more of which later. The casement also has a cut out, which we assume is to show the pedigree of your PSU, that is, of course assuming that your PSU side graphics line up with that cut out.
In the upper right hand corner of the case we find a pair of 3.5″ drive cages. While we appreciate that the Antec Branding does add to aesthetic, we’re not too sure how much a pair of drawers for 3.25″ drives is something we want to have displayed in the side, and indeed the front of of our ultra-bling case. Thankfully though, these can be removed, but f you’re looking for additional .3.5″ storage elsewhere in this case then you’re going to be disappointed.
With the PSU mounted up in the rafters, the base of the Crystal is blissfully free of superfluous knobs and excrescences. Antec have chosen to make full use of this area by giving it over to either air ventilation or water cooling radage. If you want to know just what the base can handle, then take a look at the tech spec.
The rear of the case has the usual 7 vented PCI slots, but what’s that? No less than 3 vertical PCI Slots. Antec do seem to mean business with this case.
Above the PCI area there’s a space for either a 120mm or 140mm fan. As mentioned before, it might seem odd that Antec haven’t included a fan here, but when you think this case is most likely going to be housing RGB LED fans when it’s built into, the inclusion of a stock fan here would have been a waste of time and only bumped the price up unnecessarily.
When viewed from underneath we can see that the PSU area has a large cut out. This coupled with the roof having zero ventilation, means that the PSU must be mounted with the fan facing down into the case.
