I haven't started migrating my current machine into the new case yet, but I did unpack it and examine the case. I also took a bunch of photos of areas of interest (to me and hopefully some others) not covered by MikeC that I'll post later. Here are some of my impressions:
1. The top panel is plastic. The side panels are plastic with a square aluminum plate over the interior and exterior. The part where the screws attach it to the steel body is plastic.
2. The drive cages slide in and out along rail guides. The guides are plastic on the top cage, and metal on the bottom cage. The rails are plastic on both top and bottom cage. It feels really sturdy sliding the cages in. There is no looseness. I really like this.
3. The front door doesn't easily open 270 degrees. It opens 180 degrees, then you'll have to press gently along the top and bottom to dislodge the latch to allow the side bezel with holes (whatever you call it) to open another 90 degrees. See MikeC's photos and you'll know what I mean.
4. The 3 fans all come with a little switch for you to select the speed. The two fans on top are 25mm thick fans. The one at the PSU chamber is a 38mm thick fan. They're all hard mounted. There is space in front of the top drive cage for another fan. The fans are hard mounted / screwed on (boo! hiss!)
5. The top cage has a small storage area. It will rattle if there's any vibration in your case. The front drive bay covers will rattle as well. Tape them down if that is an issue.
6. The thumbscrews are damn tight - I couldn't unscrew them by hand.
7. For some reason, the 4 5.25" drive bays are partitioned 3 on top and 1 below with a sheet of metal between the two compartments. Basically it is a 3 drive bay and an additional 1 drive bay, one on top of another. Only an issue for people who need to install two full height 5.25" devices.
8. The grommets for the drives, when viewed edgewise, has one side thicker and one side thinner. I'd imagine that having the thicker side between drive and drive cage will be more effective. However, in the lower cage, the bottom has the thicker edge between drive and cage, and the top has the thinner edge between drive and cage. (edited - I got it reversed initially)
9. There are strips of some soft material where there might be contact between the side panel and the case. Nice touch.
10. There is no ATX extension cable included. There is, however, a couple of extra silicone grommets. Two more pairs of drive rails are included, not attached to the VGA air duct. I guess the assumption is that most people will have at least one optical drive and one floppy / card reader, or two optical drive.
11. The PCI bracket blanks (or whatever they are called - can someone enlighten?) rattle when tapped. Another item to tape down if vibration is an issue.
12. There's some rust on my unit! I just noticed this when reviewing the photos. It's on the edge of the metal separator I mentioned in (7). I think this is inexcusable for a case at this price point. I'll be contacting Antec regarding this. (Update : Antec called me back. Since they're not far from where I live, they asked me to bring my case in and they'll replace it.)
Other than the rust, I really like the case. It may not look as nice inside as the all aluminum cases, but I admire the attention to detail evident in many areas. I'm somewhat disappointed at the lack of fan isolators. I'll post more when I move my system into its new home.
)
It won't? what is your PSU? I can't think of anything longer than the Antec Phantom 500 (which I know fits). The fanless Thermaltake might be longer, but most of that length is outside the case.
And techonweb seems to have the most reasonable price, too: ~$107 or something like that. Plus $20 for shipping, and it still comes out as a better deal than any other place I found. But still... I want it NOW!! All my OTHER components have come... 