Antec’s Three Hundred case is the newer, smaller cousin of the larger, more robust (and more expensive) Nine Hundred case, which has been a major choice for gamers for a long time. The Three Hundred is a similarly styled case, with fewer features, and a lower pricetag. The case has a matte black paintjob, with all of the front bezel controls and connectors at the top of the case. It’s very plain looking, with three 5.25” bays in the front. The area below those bays is also separated into similarly sized faceplates, but have no mounting hardware behind them for optical drives. Instead, they are perforated to suck in air for the system. No fans are included on the front, although there is mounting room for a pair of 120mm fans if you want or need to add them.
The fans that ARE included with the system are a rear-mounted 120mm tri-cool fan, as well as a “custom” (unusual size) 140mm fan on the top, with more fan blades than the 120mm fan, and obviously, more airflow. In addition to the optional fans in the front, there is a mount for a 120mm fan on the side of the case, for cooling the CPU and GPU specifically. All of the fans have washable air filters behind them, which is very important, considering how many fans and opening this case can support. Inside the case there are SIX 3.5” drive bays for hard drives, which is really a lot for a smaller mid-ATX case. Of course if you actually plan on having more than a couple of hard drives, you should take advantage of the fan mounts right in front of these drive bays to keep them cool.
Antec boasts that this case has “enough room for an Nvidia 8800 series graphics card”, and it does. Some of this is thanks to the fact that the power supply is mounted in a separate chamber below the motherboard, like in the P180 series. Speaking of power supplies, this case does not come with one. Of course Antec recommends that you use one of their units, but any standard ATX PSU will fit. You could say that this is a good “starter case”. That is, to really get the full potential of this case, you’ll need a good power supply and some extra fans. The good thing about that fact is choice – you don’t HAVE to get extra fans and you get to choose whatever power supply you want. Overall this case is clearly the lower-end of the “X-Hundred” series, with no firewire or eSATA connections, but it still proves to be a great performance choice for the budget-minded.
