14 DAY TRIAL // Phanteks opened the floodgates to a whole new ballgame when it released the Enthoo Mini XL the other day, and while Antec isn't doing something totally similar, it does have a dual-compartment enclosure to show off. Or, rather, did, at CES 2015.
When we first noticed the “dual-compartment” nature of the Antec P50 cases, which the company brought to the Consumer Electronics Show, we had a moment when we believed they were capable of holding two systems.
This, however, is not the case, meaning that Phanteks gets to enjoy its monopoly for a while longer. Instead, Antec divided its new case in a different way.
We actually encountered this design philosophy before, but less than a handful of such enclosures exist, so the company definitely has a lot of ripe soil to exploit.
The Antec P50 case
The case is quite stocky, though not quite cubic. Ironically, it's actually wider and squarer than most chassis which do have “cube” in the name, but we digress.
The chassis is divided into two halves by the motherboard tray. The left side is where the mainboard is installed and the other primary hardware components go.
You can place graphics cards as long as 300 mm / 11.81 inches, and CPU coolers up to 160 mm / 6.29 inches in height.
In the right-side compartment, there are two ventilated drive bay stacks, each with three 3.5-inch and two 2.5-inch bays. Also, there is a PSU bay, for power supply units of up to 140 mm / 5.51 inches in width.
Add to that a top vent with space for a large 200 mm fan (or one 240 x 120 mm radiator) and you can install a lot of hardware in this short enclosure.
In fact, there is space for eight fans if you choose the sizes carefully, but you'll risk making your system a lot noisier than it has to be.
As for optical drive support, there is a single 5.25-inch drive bay in there somewhere, parallel to the plane of the base instead of vertical like everything else.
Finally, there is an I/O panel on the front, with six USB 2.0/1.1 ports, two USB 3.0 connectors and, of course, the obligatory 3.5 mm audio and microphone jacks.
Availability and pricing
The Antec P50 case, made from high-density polycarbonate (and thus, being naturally noise-dampening) should be priced in the $40-$50 / €34 - €42 range, but it's unclear when sales will begin. Possibly at the end of February or in early March.
