Antec SLK2650-BQE Case Review

Antec has been a provider of excellent quality cases for many years. One of their more recent lines of cases "The Solution Series" focuses on low noise and stylish looks. The SLK2650-BQE can be had for a very reasonable price of around $75-100. It provides a temendous value for such a practical and sleek case.

Here is the box it comes in and the items included. You get screws, a power cord, an Antec case badge, and a manual. The case features thumb screws (as seen next to the case below) for easy access to the inside of the chassis.

The front of the unit is a very minimalist style with outward scoop-like vents for the fan behind the lower portion. A small area is given near the top to place one case badge of your liking, perhaps the included Antec logo. It features 2 USB ports and 4 LED indicator lights. These include the obvious Power and Hard Drive activity lights as well as two auxiliary lights marked with the roman numerals I and II.

For 5.25 inch drives there are 4 bays, and for 3.5 inch drives there are 2 bays.

On the side of the case there is a grill and a duct. Notice there is NO FAN HERE. The duct is used to pull air outside directly to the processor heatsink. This is a very nice feature if it actually lines up with your heatsink. So depending on what motherboard you have, your mileage will vary.

The back of the case features a quiet and large 120mm fan and a small black box for storing the extra screws and mounting hardware.

The small black storage box is also used to hide the AGP/PCIe/PCI mounting screws. Easy accessibility is added here. This also gives the back of the case a more flat look, usually the add-in card mountings and the motherbaord plugs are recessed.

The inside of the case features many rounded edges with nowhere to accidently cut yourself. There is no removable motherboard tray, but there is enough room to work inside the chassis. The 5.25" bays are almost completely tooless. The black plastic peice has to be pushed back, and one screw put in to lock a device.

On the front portion of the inside there is a removable hard drive cage with rubber mounting gromets to lessen noise, both are very nice features.