Recently they launched a couple of new products including CPU AIO Liquid coolers and gaming cases. The Antec Kuhler H600 Pro was one such offering that we reviewed some time back and today Antedc India was generous enough to send in their latest and quite ambitious product the GX1200 Mid-Tower Gaming Chassis for review.
Packing and Accessories
The Antec GX1200 comes in a plain and simple cardboard box something which is quite common but I was expecting a more vibrant or colorful packing considering the whole them of this case.
Inside you'll find the case wrapped inside a plastic bag tucked in nicely between two thick styrofoam blocks to protect it during transit process.
Accessories are conventional and to the point with a bunch of zip ties, screws for SSD/HDD, motherboard, PSU and four long screws for mounting an additional fan. An installation guide and manual are also provided along for assistance.
Closer Look
The first impression of the case is quite impressive but at the same time its heavy with its use of plastic which I'm not too big of a fan of. There is a transparent window to show off your precious hardware & the side panels are made out of metal which is quite solid and not at all flimsy.
Front is very much curvaceous & tapers to the top giving it a futuristic touch which i personally like. The entire front fascia is meshed with two conical vents running along the side to ensure good air flow. No provision for a 5.25' bay is provided so you can bid your optical drive good bye!
The opposite side is opaque and streamlined with no bulges or curves. Metal used is of good quality & the panels are strongly build.
There is no fan pre-installed at the back though a 120mm fan can be accommodated easily. Seven expansion slots along with a PSU mount at the bottom completes the rear of the Antec GX1200.
Upon the top there is a power button with the Antec's A logo which is not LED backlit, a mic and headphone jack, LED color/pattern change button and two USB 3.0 ports. The entire mesh panel covering the top is removable to ensure clean vents for the fan's below it to suck in or dissipate air.
In the front the two LED fans are a pair of 120mm fans that are silver in color to reflect the lights and create a distinguishing pattern to which we'll come later on in the review. These are PWM fans and are by default connected to the LED light controller hub but can also be connected to the motherboard fan headers if required though you'll not want to do that as this will cost you the ability to change the patters/lights. The case has provision for 3 120mm fans so you can add another one if you wish to.
At the bottom of the front panel you'll find a LED strip which is connected directly to the controller box. The strip imparts a soft light at the bottom of the case and can be quite soothing at times.
The controller box or the Magic Box what Antec calls it is powered by a SATA connector & has provision to connect upto six LED fans and three LED strips out of which two fans and one LED strip is already provided with the case. The lights can also be turned off and the speed of the fans varied by altering the voltage which is a pretty basic speed control mechanism. A point to be noted is that the pattern/color of the LED strip and fans are synchronized so one cannot differ from the other.
Inside the case you'll find a non removable cover at the bottom that encloses the PSU and even has a mount for a 120mm fan at the very front to cool the set of HDD/SSD that one may mount in the caddies located there.
The two HDD/SSD are removable and can be accessed from the rear side of the case. They are tool-less, flexible and apart from them one can mount their SSDs on the three SSD exclusive mounts, one is located at the back and two are in the front ahead of the motherboard.
Hardware Installation
To get the Antec GX1200 up and running we stuffed it with the following hardware --CPU: Intel Core i7 5930K 3.5Ghz hexacore processor OC at 4.1Ghz
Motherboard: Gigabyte G1 Gaming X99-Gaming 5P
RAM: Kingston HyperX Predator16GB 3000Mhz (4x4) DDR4 Quad-channel Memory
Cooler: Antec Kuhler H2O H600 Pro
Graphics Card: Inno3D GeForce GTX 980 4GB DDR5 iChill Black Accelero Hybrid S
Storage: Corsair Neutron GTX 480GB SSD
Secondary Storage: SkHynix Canvas SL300 500GB SSD
Power Supply: Corsair AX860i 860W 80+ Platinum
Being a mid-tower chassis the GX1200 provided more than enough space to fit in all these beefy components including two 120mm radiators and still has space for a lot more.
The benefit of having no drive bay in the front is very simple, your components get direct unobstructed cool air from the front fans hence keeping your components cool in a very efficient fashion.
Wire management is easy in the GX1200 and we mounted the SkHynix SL300 SSD at the back with the Corsair Neutron GTX 480 in the front.
Coming over to the LED lighting, yes I know you were waiting for this part eagerly, the front aswell as the bottom can be illuminated in seven colors and three patterns namely as breathing, flashing, still and obviously off.
To keep the story short the Antec GX1200 is one of the very few mid-tower cases out there that can accommodate a 120mm radiator, a 240mm radiator and probably a 360mm radiator aswell all at the same time. All this with an ability to accommodate four storage drives.
My Verdict
The mid-tower chassis market is at a stand still these days with just one or two brands rolling out cases that are new in their approach, design and appeal. Antec is one such brand today with their GX1200 which is optimized for fast and easy builds, the GX1200 includes builder-friendly features–a spacious interior with ample clearance for graphics cards up to 410 mm, support for water cooling radiators on top, front, and rear, tool-less SSD/HDD bays, and a windowed side panel to show off your build.Coming in at around Rs 7000 in India Antec has also found the right blend when it comes to the much hyped RGB lights which are quite subtle in the GX1200 and don't become a distraction when working around the case. Personally I feel that the case looks a bit cheap in terms of build quality due to the extravagant amount of plastic that Antec has put into the GX1200 but that's strictly upto ones personal choice & a subjective matter nonetheless.
All in all I'd say that with the GX1200 Antec might've found a much needed game changer which would appeal to gamers and system builders alike.
I give it a 7.5/10 earning our Silver award!
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