Antec Skeleton

I

Intel_Hydralisk

Supreme [H]ardness
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Feb 6, 2005
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Anyone own one of these? I saw one on display when I went to microcenter... it's really impressive in person. I probably would have impulse bought it had it been in stock. Now that I've thought about it, is this case just a bad idea? I've only read one review and the reviewer found it frustrating to get everything setup as well as the fact that tall CPU coolers cannot fit under the top fan.
 
i believe the concern in general is that the case is just cluttered... i mean i guess it could be cool because it literally is just sitting in the open per say, but design wise it just looks like an open air crowded case... maybe better off something more traditional i suppose
 
no hands on experience, But to touch on 2 points.. Yes its cluttered, But I believe that that is by design due to having everything out in the open.. It would look kinda stupid if there were alot of room inbetween thing.. As for the Tall coolers, You shouldn't need too much with that big of a fan right above it & since its open air cooling should be at top notch anyhow.

I Did allot of research on them as I almost got the Mini Skeleton for my mITX build, but in the end the not being able to fit a full height video card was too much so I went with something else.
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6dX2K8ydDo

^ that video was actually pretty good. I'm not too concerned about the CPU cooler issue since I have a stocker cooler at the moment. I was thinking about getting a new cooler, but I'll live with it since there would be a giant fan right on top of everything. Now my main concern is if my 5870 can actually fit in it. The video says "11 inches" for video cards... but the 5870 is just a hair over 11". I understand it would be cluttered, but a modular PSU shouldn't be too bad.

Amazon has it for $150 with the free shipping option... very tempting.

EDIT: I just noticed that you can remove the plastic dohicky in the back if you need more room for the graphics card... which is what one reviewer did. Not even sure what that plastic piece of crap is for.
 
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The Skeleton is too short to support normal sized tower coolers like the Megahalems and CM V8. Maybe the V10 won't fit also, YMMV. With a hacksaw you could make them fit.
 
Intel_Hydralisk said:
Anyone own one of these? I saw one on display when I went to microcenter... it's really impressive in person. I probably would have impulse bought it had it been in stock. Now that I've thought about it, is this case just a bad idea? I've only read one review and the reviewer found it frustrating to get everything setup as well as the fact that tall CPU coolers cannot fit under the top fan.
Click to expand...

Hi Intel_Hydralisk,

The Antec Skeleton does not support big/tall CPU coolers. You probably don't need a CPU cooler that size when you have an open case like the Antec Skeleton. In addition to that, there is also a big 200mm fan to keep the system cool.

As for the 5870, the maximum video card size that would fit in a Skeleton is about 9.5 inches. So depending on the size of your 5870 you will probably need to somehow make adjustments or modify the case to fit the 5870.

Please let me know if you have any questions. I will be more than happy to answer them.

Regards,
Antec
 
Antec_Rep said:
Hi Intel_Hydralisk,

The Antec Skeleton does not support big/tall CPU coolers. You probably don't need a CPU cooler that size when you have an open case like the Antec Skeleton. In addition to that, there is also a big 200mm fan to keep the system cool.

As for the 5870, the maximum video card size that would fit in a Skeleton is about 9.5 inches. So depending on the size of your 5870 you will probably need to somehow make adjustments or modify the case to fit the 5870.

Please let me know if you have any questions. I will be more than happy to answer them.

Regards,
Antec
Click to expand...

Thanks for the post. I actually nabbed a skeleton off of Amazon ($149.99 with FS compared to $179.99 at microcenter). I put everything together in under 2 hours (pretty good considering one of the reviewers said to clear an afternoon for it...). Snaking the PSU cables around took some ingenuity, but everything is nice and snug now.

My load temps on my CPU went down by 5-6 C... but what's more amazing is that my 5870 now loads at an impressive 74C @ 30% fan speed (81C @ 33% fan speed before).

I'm not sure what you mean by the max card length is 9.5 inches - are you sure you're talking about the skeleton instead of the mini-skeleton someone mentioned earlier? My 5870 fits with more than 1" to spare. The 5870 is a tad over 11". This is great considering in my previous case I had to dremel out the HDD cage to fit my 5870... leaving my HDD's in the floppy bay without a fan.

My biggest complaint is actually the front audio port... it just doesn't reach the connection on my mobo period. Literally the worst case of bad luck... the audio port is the furthest it could possibly be from the connection on the mobo. Although, my mobo decided to stick the connectors in the very bottom left corner.

The top fan is very cool with adjustable speed + LED settings. Very happy with this so far.
 
Intel_Hydralisk said:
Thanks for the post. I actually nabbed a skeleton off of Amazon ($149.99 with FS compared to $179.99 at microcenter). I put everything together in under 2 hours (pretty good considering one of the reviewers said to clear an afternoon for it...). Snaking the PSU cables around took some ingenuity, but everything is nice and snug now.

My load temps on my CPU went down by 5-6 C... but what's more amazing is that my 5870 now loads at an impressive 74C @ 30% fan speed (81C @ 33% fan speed before).

I'm not sure what you mean by the max card length is 9.5 inches - are you sure you're talking about the skeleton instead of the mini-skeleton someone mentioned earlier? My 5870 fits with more than 1" to spare. The 5870 is a tad over 11". This is great considering in my previous case I had to dremel out the HDD cage to fit my 5870... leaving my HDD's in the floppy bay without a fan.

My biggest complaint is actually the front audio port... it just doesn't reach the connection on my mobo period. Literally the worst case of bad luck... the audio port is the furthest it could possibly be from the connection on the mobo. Although, my mobo decided to stick the connectors in the very bottom left corner.

The top fan is very cool with adjustable speed + LED settings. Very happy with this so far.
Click to expand...

Hi Intel_Hydralisk,

I apologize for telling you the wrong specs regarding the 5870. I was actually reading the specs to another case. On paper, the maximum video card size for the skeleton is 11" (without removing the hard drive cage) so I'm surprised how you were able to fit the 5870 and have room to spare.

You should take some pictures of your system for us, I would like to see how your computer is setup and everything.

Regards,
Antec
 
Here's a shot of the 5870 showing some clearance in the back despite being slightly over 11". I think a 5970 might have problems:
Photo0064.jpg


Here's a shot of the case overall. The rear of my computer is cable hell due to triple monitors and just about every USB port being taken up:
Photo0063.jpg


I think if the top fan were removable or if the cover didn't come down so far you could fit taller CPU coolers. I actually just ordered the Cooler Master Geminii S from Newegg. CPU HSF's seemed to only fit into two categories: extremely tall or extremely short with extremely short being poor coolers. I think the Geminii S is perfect since it's just short enough to fit in the skeleton without being terrible at cooling. The stock 1156 HSF is really awful so I've been meaning to replace it for a while.
 
Hi Intel_Hydralisk,

Looks nice! Thanks for the pictures. When you receive the Cooler Master Geminii S, tell us how it works out in the Skeleton.

Regards,
Antec
 
from what i can see and reviews ive read its a really bad design. cramped, no airflow (having it open does not promote proper airflow) psu mount is hilariously placed... id say maybe a testbed....but id rather build my own.
 
Antec_Rep said:
Hi Intel_Hydralisk,

Looks nice! Thanks for the pictures. When you receive the Cooler Master Geminii S, tell us how it works out in the Skeleton.

Regards,
Antec
Click to expand...

The Geminii S fits very nicely under the fan of the Skeleton. I searched around for a lot of shorter coolers and I think this one was the best that I've found. My load temps prior to the Geminii were hitting 70C with the stock cooler at stock speeds. After the Geminii, it hit 53C at stock and now 65 C at 3.4 ghz OC.

from what i can see and reviews ive read its a really bad design. cramped, no airflow (having it open does not promote proper airflow) psu mount is hilariously placed... id say maybe a testbed....but id rather build my own.
Click to expand...
I'm not sure what you mean by having it open does not promote proper airflow. The point of airflow inside a case is to remove the hot air generated by the electronic devices and replace it with air from the ambience. It doesn't really get better than literally placing your components in the ambience in that respect. Also, the giant fan on top very noticeably pushes a lot of air, you can really feel it.

Yea it's a little cramped, but you gotta expect that since everything's just out there, nowhere to 'hide' your cables. The PSU is a little tricky but you just gotta be smart about snaking the cables to their desired locations. I like my final cable arrangement from the PSU right now. Having a modular PSU helps considerably.
 
Well, personally I've got my Xeon box in one, and I don't care for it. At all. I bought it because it was the only thing I could get locally at the time that would do what I wanted, and I didn't have the time to wait on UPS/Fedex. But it was a purchase borne of pragmatism; I've never liked it very much.

It's ugly, it's a pain to work with, the lack of an off switch for the LEDs is just stupid (why do I have to push the stupid button half a dozen times? How difficult is it to just put an on/off switch next to the fan speed and color selection switches?), the fan isn't of great quality and I have little faith that it'll last more than a couple of years, the black sticker that covers the hub and supporting struts on the fan has lost its adhesiveness and falls down on top of the motherboard every time the system is turned on (I haven't bothered removing it yet), a number of the front panel cables are either too short or just barely long enough (and this is with a micro atx board!), the power supply location is, to put it mildly, less than ideal, and the transparent plastic rail that the cards screw into feels ridiculously flimsy.

I can see the appeal of the concept, but I think the end result was poorly executed and hysterically overpriced for what you get. If I hadn't needed a case ASAP, I would have bought something else.
 
Purchased one of things today at Fry's for $99.99 to play with. Have been interested in this since it was introduced but couldn't bring myself to pay $150 + for it.
 
oh boy this thing is gonna get dusty and prob requires clean pretty frequently.
 
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