SPCR

When the first time I saw it from Computex news, I was surprised on its ugly appearance comparing with original Solo. Today I saw some more pictures (it's said that it will be available in Japan within one week) and change my mind that it worths trying. The major improvement is cooling design, as we can see, there are two large input fans' position (I suppose it's at least 12cm). Though the PSU is still placed in the top, it looks like there is a vent position there (considering X-400 like fanless PSUs). Anyway, I still dislike its appearance.

Not too bad, not too good. Too expensive.

Looks like it still uses those crappy power/reset buttons. Ruins what is otherwise a good case. After switching to Silverstone, I have seen the light.

It looks like a rather conservative style, which many people will like. There also seem to be enough cable routing options, for a small system, at least. I think it would make a good office desktop PC. However, there's steep competition from Silverstone and Lian Li (e.g., PC-A05NB), and the gorgeous Fractal Mini. Not sure how well this is going to sell.

My P150 is sturdy and well builded, i can not find one as strong and compact.
It miss space for a powerful gfx card, and for a good psu ventilation. Solo II seem to solve this issue, but with some compromises.

Anyway i can't see it on Antec site, some time ago it appeared, now disappeared... re-thinking?

I am also thinking that the new design would be perfect for a 360mm radiator on the floor. Not quite in line with quiet computing, but it's an intriguing idea. I am going to pursue it further

Anandtech review it: http://www.anandtech.com/show/4730/ante ... ta-evolved

_MarcoM_ wrote:Anandtech review it: http://www.anandtech.com/show/4730/ante ... ta-evolved

Unfortunately, a fairly ignorant review IMO

Worker control wrote:

_MarcoM_ wrote:Anandtech review it: http://www.anandtech.com/show/4730/ante ... ta-evolved

Unfortunately, a fairly ignorant review IMO

I agree. Comparing the thermal behaviour of a quiet-oriented case with other cases with fan grilles everywhere, meh, what they think, nobody will put triple sli in Antec solo II. And what about the pesky bar? Removable or not? It seem is not removable, but no word about this.

This case has more empty space than most. It would be nice if they included a removable bottom drive cage. Or at least one drive mount (removable or not) at the bottom.

Another possibility is an intake fan duct.

Sorry, I didn't realize this had already been linked.
First reviews are cropping up: http://www.anandtech.com/show/4730/ante ... ta-evolved

_MarcoM_ wrote:And what about the pesky bar? Removable or not? It seem is not removable, but no word about this.

Non-removable, I asked Dustin in the comments for the Anandtech review :/.

mentawl wrote:

_MarcoM_ wrote:And what about the pesky bar? Removable or not? It seem is not removable, but no word about this.

Non-removable, I asked Dustin in the comments for the Anandtech review :/.

"RE: PSU support bar by Dustin Sklavos on Tuesday, September 06, 2011
Double-checked, this is my error. The case uses small phillips head screws, not rivets. The crossbar can be removed!"

Thanks Lord, stupid Antec lol.

Ah good

Nice to see Antec paid attention to some of what has been said on this forum. Secont intake (this alone got me sold), removable bar (its about time) and the motherboard tray has so many routing holes it can now be called a motherboard frame

It obvious that Anand's noise testing is still lacking. Their idle noise levels for High were lower than Low. This could only be explained if a noisy video card is the dominant sound source (one that is so hot and inefficient that it ramps the fan on idle ) . I also think their OC testing using only the one 120mm fan is nothing short of amazing, considering the other cases have 2-3 or more fans and some are larger than 120mm. It would have been interesting to see some tests using positive pressure 2*120 intakes on the Solo II (maybe with a Seasonic X-400 FL PSU?).

I do agree with the main conclusions - this isn't a case for GPU/Gamer enthusiasts, not by the external looks nor by internal design, which leads to the obvious question - why go with such a small drive cage? I can't imagine anyone who will buy this case and couple it with an over sized GPU.
And the price is a bit high. Original Solo has been going for ~$99 or less, and the Solo II is an update, not an upgrade.