The Antec Performance TX1050B Case Review

Post by **Apoptosis** » Sat May 21, 2005 2:29 pm

Today we continue our look at Antec's 2005 line of enclosures with an in depth look at their Performance TX1050B Server Case. The Performance TX happens to be Antec's third generation of cases and has been updated to include the latest technologies. All models are designed to meet Intel's Thermally Advanced Chassis (TAC) design guide and come with ATX12V v2.0 power supplies.

Here is a comment from the article:

With a fantastic external look, and an even more impressive interior design, topped with an immense amount of room and excellent cooling properties, Antec is really raising the bar when it comes to high quality enclosues. Though this case is marketed as a Server case, I think the average home user who doesn't attend LAN parties will appreciate this case for its cooling, durability, and looks.

Article Link

deadly-app · Post by **deadly-app** » Sat May 21, 2005 3:29 pm

Did you send it to the affills? I havent gotten any emails in my mailbox about it yet ;)

zepper · Post by **zepper** » Mon May 23, 2005 3:21 pm

I quote: ... why many consider Antec to be among the best case builders around.

Except for the fact that Antec is a brand marketing company - not a manufacturing company. Almost everything with the Antec name on it is actually made by someone else. Their cases are mainly Chenming and Casetek.

.bh.

LVCapo · Post by **LVCapo** » Mon May 23, 2005 3:30 pm

zepper wrote:I quote: ... why many consider Antec to be among the best case builders around.

Except for the fact that Antec is a brand marketing company - not a manufacturing company. Almost everything with the Antec name on it is actually made by someone else. Their cases are mainly Chenming and Casetek.

.bh.

Dooohhhh....thats just plain not true. I actually spent the better part of a day talking to their development team at CES, and met the brain behind most of their case designs, Han Liu.....Now, Antec's name is on their products, so i would classify it as Antec even if they design it and send it out to someone else to be built. Oh, and as far as marketing company, that would be pretty unique, as Antec actually has their own marketing company..

zepper · Post by **zepper** » Mon May 23, 2005 3:46 pm

Oh, and their PSUs are made by Channel Well.

Antec may add some styling touches, but the basic chassis is designed elsewhere. They do tend to choose decent designs as a basis for their products though. Would be interesting to see where Antec's annual budget falls between their "design" and marketing functions.

.bh.

LVCapo · Post by **LVCapo** » Mon May 23, 2005 4:12 pm

Zepper,
First of all, when we review a product, the name on the box is the name used for the review. If a company puts their name on something, they take responsibility for it, good or bad. Second, my talking of Antec's cases was in reference to the Sonata, LanBoy, etc, very fine and very popular cases. Most every company around sends out at least part of their work. Han Liu, who I mentioned earlier, does 100% of the case design to include materials used and end design.

Post by **Apoptosis** » Mon May 23, 2005 5:05 pm

Antec does for a fact design their own products, but like millions of other companies around a world hire a company to build their ideas and plans. Nothing wrong with that as many companies do it in the hardware industry. I'd consider a sticker company one that buys built parts and then sells them as their own. Antec designs their products then hires companies to build them. It's highly possible they used the companies you mentioned from time to time, but they can leave with their designs at any time to build them at another plant at their leisure!

Welcome to the forums! Hope this clears up the air!

gvblake22 · Post by **gvblake22** » Mon May 23, 2005 6:11 pm

Very nice review and a very nice case. The thing that expecially cought my eye was the beast of a powersupply Antec chose to include with this case. A 500w modular psu with dual 12v rails and is ATX2.0 compliant that comes with a case is simply unheard of!!!! Way to go Antec!!!!

bubba · Post by **bubba** » Mon May 23, 2005 8:09 pm

I have an antec case for my current machine, I love it. The only thing I dont like about it is the wieght, but other than that its one nice box, built like a tank.

LVCapo · Post by **LVCapo** » Mon May 23, 2005 8:31 pm

yeah, you know, its a catch 22.....you can always get a smaller and leaner case, but risk easily damaging it. this Antec case can take a beating without worry.....my only complaint is/was the plastic door.
thanks for the kind words guys.

unclechoochoo · Post by **unclechoochoo** » Tue May 24, 2005 1:58 am

Did you really install anything in this case? Looks like stock photos to me. How about showing us what it looks like with your H2O cooling kit in it.

Thanks chuck

LVCapo · Post by **LVCapo** » Tue May 24, 2005 2:47 am

wow, I actually feel honored you think those are stock photos.....my camera skills must be getting much better. Actually, Nate did replace the two intro pics with stock Antec pics, but the rest are mine Right now I have this setup with my P4 3.2 E, P5WD2 Premium, an X850 XT, and a DM10 HDD.
I'll actually be posting some pictures of it shortly as part of my new secret project................

bfduck · Post by **bfduck** » Fri Jul 01, 2005 3:47 pm

Well I just received two antec tx 1050b's after reading this review I couldn't help but order them. Well that was the good part till I recieved them.

Impressions

The door is cheaper than cheap. The second unit arrived with a broken door. The double hinge mechanism causes the doors to slag slightly and prevents a smooth closing door unless, you lift the door as you close it.

The side panel cut out for the heatsink fan just screams, hey this is an afterthought. The screws aren't symetrically placed and you can see them.

One case came with a bent fan protector on the power supply. The one on the inside of the case. I was just lucky that I noticed this one.

If you have one of these check out the power supply mounting. This is once again your afterthought mod. They used an adapter plate to mount the power supply.

Ok, I became really ambitious and removed the front panel. I was surprised to see that all of the leds readily came out of their slots. They are just free floating in their slots.

If you have kids, rip the door off now and get it over with; otherwise, your just going to make them feel bad later.

If your into mods then this may be a good case cause it's already been modded.

Antec Sonata excellent case. Put this power supply on a sonata and it would rock this puppy.

The search for a good server case continues.

Post by **Apoptosis** » Fri Jul 01, 2005 4:04 pm

hum... thanks for the feedback. I personally have the Sonata and after updating the PSU to 600W it is by far the best case I have ever owned. I'm sure Rich will respond to your comments the next time he comes online. Thanks for reading the articles and joining the forums. Antec reads these threads, so hopefully they will think over what you said!

LVCapo · Post by **LVCapo** » Fri Jul 01, 2005 4:43 pm

The front panel also features a familiar Antec design with a plastic front bezel and door assembly. As with the Titan 550 I am a little confused by the use of a plastic front after the rest of the case is so solidly built and attractive. In my opinion plastic gives the impression of cheap and breakable, though this only slighty bothers me and doesn't sway my overall opinion of the case.

The only real drawback I could find with this case was the front bezel. Not to beat a dead horse, but to build such a wonderful and durable enclosure, then put a plastic bezel is akin to taking Salma Hayek and having her chase parked cars (For the slow people, a great body with a messed up grill). If Antec had instead used the same 1.0mm steel for the front bezel, this case would be as close to perfect as a chassis could be. Outside of that, my only gripe was the use of 80mm fans for cooling the HDD and PCI/-E slots, 120mm would have been quieter and cooler.

I touched on the plastic front bezel in the review, however I have been using this case every day since then (and switching out components all the time) without issue.
To be honest, I have recieved a lot of positive feedback on this case, and yours is the first negative i have seen. I also have to tell you that this sounds like a shipping/handling problem, as these cases are packed pretty well. I just can't see the damage you describe being done any other way. The front door should not be a problem, as long as your kids treat it like a computer case, and not a jungle gym....
The side panel fan mount fit perfectly on every motherboard i mounted, both AMD and Intel, but I'm sure there are motherboards that may not line up perfectly.
Thanks for the input, and sorry for your experience

NAiLs · Post by **NAiLs** » Sat Jul 02, 2005 11:20 pm

I love the Thermaltake Xaser III, Nate!

Rock solid case!

Antonik · Post by **Antonik** » Tue Jul 12, 2005 7:50 am

I just assembled my antec 1050b, pretty nice case, but the door is soo cheap. Another thing is the card guide, which is useless and takes up space. Also the CPU air duct doesnt align with my CPU. The cpu is too low.

I like the case though it has a ton of space, and was easy to work with especially with the detachable expansion slots.

Having problems with cable managment though, cables are everywhere, and the IDE cables dont help ( wish i had SATA drives)

Is it possible to put wires beneather the motherboard? i got 2 front panel wires that go to the other end of the DFI lanparty board and it would be nicer if they were underneath.

Good case though :o

LVCapo · Post by **LVCapo** » Tue Jul 12, 2005 11:33 am

I put wires under my board and have never had a problem.
As to the case door, i complained about it too, too bad as the rest of the case is very nice. I am using mine with my DFI board and Koolance kit, very nice setup.

Antonik · Post by **Antonik** » Tue Jul 12, 2005 1:52 pm

I managed to clear up the motherboard area from wires, but now the bay area a cluttered with wires and looks horrible, oh well. I'll show some pics when i open it up again ( getting my HIS X800 XL on thurdsay..can oyu belive the card dropped 12$ a day after i ordered it form newegg I might call them see if i can get that back casue im cheap ^_^ )

killswitch83 · Post by **killswitch83** » Sun Jul 17, 2005 7:24 pm

I'm hearing some kind comments about the 1050B, and I'm glad too because that's the exact case I want to use for my A64 build, as we all know that Athlons are heat monsters, but I'm not so sure with the 90nm rev. E though. As far as your concerns go with the CPU funnel, Antonik, there's always some experimentation available with that, such as extending the funnel with a short length of PVC or rubber tubing, personally I would go with the rubber as it's a lot easier to work with